Captain Dapper is giving in to wanderlust this summer.
For the past few summers I've been tied up with work projects and other commitments that kept me from traveling. This year I'm free and easy and crisscrossing the country. I hopped in the Prius with The Mister last weekend and set off to visit my oldest and dearest friend in Minneapolis. ROAD TRIP!

Minneapolis is a 7 hour drive from Chicago. We set out early on the 4th of July holiday so it was a breeze getting out of the city. As I listened to the traffic reports while I was packing the night before, I was reminded that it's better to leave town on the holiday itself. Traffic out of the city on the 3rd was a nightmare! Score one for us!
To pass the time on the drive, I checked out audiobooks from the library. Listening to Ellen DeGeneres' Seriously... I'm Kidding made the miles pass quickly. We whizzed through Wisconsin and before we knew it we were crossing into Minnesota.

I love it when states have welcome centers at rest stops. You usually only find them at state border crossings, like this one at the first exit in Minnesota. Rest stops are often overlooked, smelly little boxes on the side of the highway so it's always refreshing to find one that's clean. That it stocks maps and other reading material is a bonus.
By the way, this is the trip when I decided that I needed to invent a pre-stamped postcard machine that could be installed next to mailboxes at rest stops. Think of the uptick for the postal service as bored kids write postcards to their parents. "Stuck in the back of the minivan watching Harry Potter while Mom & Dad argue. Apparently I was an oopsie. What does that mean? Love, Timmy."

We arrived at my friend Amy's apartment and were greeted with a personal message on the chalkboard. Such a nice touch! Since it was the 4th of July holiday, we commenced drinking and grilling straight away.
The next morning, The Mister left us to make the 3 hour drive to Fargo, North Dakota to visit family. While I always enjoy the trips to visit his family, I wanted to stay behind to enjoy a weekend with Amy. As I mentioned, Amy is my oldest and dearest friend. That's no small feat. My family moved around a lot while I was a kid so I don't have many solid friendship memories between the ages of 5 and 13. Eventually, however, we settled in a very small town in Ohio where I became fast friends with Amy. We remained friends through high school, even briefly dating at one point, but our relationship really grew in our adulthood. We went to the same college - well, briefly, I dropped out to explore being young and dumb - and shared some very formative adventures experiencing love, loss and alcohol. I moved to Chicago in 1997 and Amy moved to Minneapolis soon after that. And yet despite the distance we have remained in touch and in tune with each other.

For the record, I wouldn't say that Amy is particularly a fan of either Duran Duran or Frank Zappa. But when you're walking by First Avenue, you have to snap a photo!
Since the trip was mostly about visiting Amy, we kept it fairly low key. Here are the general highlights:

We enjoyed breakfast at this insanely cute little coffee shop called Parka. It's attached to an equally cute retail space called Forage.

I love this concept of a shared restaurant/retail space. Amy mentioned that there can be long wait times for a table on weekends so browsing the shop locally made wares is a great way to kill time.
We played mini golf at Walker on the Green, an interactive exhibit at the Walker Art Museum. Each hole on the green was designed by a different artist. The course was a mix of art and physics lessons - which means they were much more difficult than a standard mini golf course.

We drank Bloody Marys and looked through photo albums. Have you ever noticed that when you look in the mirror every day you think Yeah, I'm holding up pretty well. But then when you look at old photos of yourself you realize Wow, I used to look so young! There was a lot of that. And then we laughed at our hair/fashion/model poses and drank a little more.

We walked across bridges.

How I do love nicely designed bridges!

And stumbled upon tennis centers that look more like alien structures.

We shopped for architectural salvage (I wrote a post about it!).

And always parked for cupcakes.

We told old secrets over craft cocktails at Bradstreet Crafthouse.

And spent time adoring Amy's cat, Curtis, in between mini games of trivial pursuit.
And then, before I knew it, the holiday weekend had passed and it was time to make the trek back to Chicago. The Mister and I set out on Monday morning, finishing our time with Ellen DeGeneres and stumbling upon the cutest little coffeehouse I've ever seen along the interstate.

"There's gotta be a Starbucks soon," I had been whining for about 50 miles. There wasn't. But there was School Grounds Cafe at the Gaston School Gallery. Even better! I love supporting local businesses. Especially when they're housed in old schoolhouses and serve delicious coffee!
It's good to be home but I'll admit that I fell in love with Minneapolis a little bit. Much of that love can be attributed to the company I kept but it really is a happenin' little city. Of course, there is the little matter of harsh Minnesota winters. That, more than anything, would keep me from planting roots in Minneapolis.
There are more photos of my Minneapolis adventures over on my Flickr feed. And be sure to follow me on Instagram for up to the minute Dapper doings.
Images: Jason Loper
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