For my final day in Minneapolis, I drove to a place called Minnehaha Park. It claimed to have a waterfall, so I was intrigued. It was a bit blustery and overcast -- not really ideal weather to be going for a stroll, but at 49 degrees, it is important to have perspective and remember that this area of the country has the potential to be much, much colder. After a short walk, I found the falls and wandered along the river bank for a mile or so. By now pretty much everything is dead. Only a few rogue leaves cling to the trees.
Later in the day it began to rain. This did not stop for about 20 hours. Imagine now that the temperature was 10-15º colder. It was estimated that it would have resulted in 2 1/2 FEET of snow. That doesn't sound appealing at all. I departed this land of 10,000 lakes and (I can't believe I'm saying this) unseasonably high temperatures to return to much nicer weather back in Los Angeles. It was about 80 degrees my first day back.
For a while now, Nicole has wanted to stay in this quaint looking place down the street called the Inn at Playa del Rey. It's essentially a bed-and-breakfast overlooking the Ballona Creek Wetlands -- a view that momentarily makes you forget that this is all in Los Angeles. As a treat to ourselves, we made the arduous 1 mile trip down the street to the Inn. I was happy with our decision when we found chocolate chip cookies waiting for us in the room. In fact, there was a lot of free food. Wine, cheese, and other appetizers at 5:00pm. All free. For dinner we walked down the street to Mo's Place, a dive bar that Nicole surprisingly enjoys. It is, in fact, the inspiration for Moe's Tavern in the Simpsons.
We spent the rest of the evening playing the board game LIFE, and drinking wine. Nicole was not completely satisfied to have retired as a police officer/computer programmer with no children. I, on the other hand, with my veterinarian expertise and law degree found that my two twin daughters were a burden to my bank account from the moment they entered my life. And why the hell was I buying sailboats and going to art auctions? This is not responsible behavior.
