Is this normal?

What is my deal? Why must I hunt down the Castle at every stop I make, and actually plan my trip around a quick lunch there? I mean, sure, it a nutritious and all. Lets do the break down. First, you start with a pure, 100%, beef like substance. Next, you add fresh, dehydrated onions. For God's sake, there is a pickle on it, that's a vegetable, right. Throw in the cheese like substance and a now soggy bun, you are talking about natures perfect food. I'm not sure what my fascination is. Maybe its a psychological trigger back to my childhood, where we had these and my brother and I had competitions to see who could eat the most sliders. In these battles, I am current champ with 9 gut busters. That isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, but if you have ever eaten that many, you know the damage it does to your insides, so you are taking your life into your own hands when you consume this much goodness. Not to mention the harm you do to those around you with the aftermath. Today, I stuck to my normal number, five. If you ask me if I had fries with that, then you my friend, are not a true slider fan. Why in the hell would you contaminate the brew in your gut, with potatoes and more grease? Stupid question. They should remove the offending vegetable from the menu. That is my opinion. And yes, I will be going back tomorrow for a double dip.

For as much as I love Iowa, it is always fun to get to Minnesota for a few days. The city is set up kind of crazy, compared to Des Moines, even though we are heading down the same path. The Minnesotans put there housing, right smack dab in the middle of their business districts. In Iowa, for the most part, you have housing in one area of town and businesses in another, so if you want anything, you have to travel. But up in the great north, you can step out of your house, walk 20 feet and you are at a restaurant, or store, or bar. I'm not sure I would like to live so close to the noise and hubub, but it would be nice if you cracked open the fridge and had a carrot and ketchup. You could be seated in a dining establishment in a matter of moments, chocking down a burger from Applebee's, and might not even have to put on pants. I've never seen a sign that says "No shirt, no shoes, no pants, no service," so I'm guessing pants are optional. You might not want to hike a couple of miles, pantless, but walking right next door might not be out of line of the things you would do for a Klondike bar.

On this trip up, we were walking from the building we were visiting to a Panera Bread to get Marcy some lunch, since I had all ready chowd down at the Castle, and we came across a large pile of snow with an interesting pink glove inbeded in it. I decided that this appeared to be a keeper and bent down to pick it up. Well Marcy reacted like I was scooping up a pile of dog shit, totally flipping out like I was going to acquire some hideous disease that would eat the flesh off my fingers. My thought was, claim this one and wait till spring to see if the other one surfaces so I would have the matching pair. They were pink, so I wasn't going to wear it, but I was thinking about a Christmas present. Granted, they would have to be laundered, but a quick run around the washing machine and you have a slightly less offensive gift for the one you love. OK, maybe not love, but certainly like enough to give a used pair of gloves. The chances of the other glove showing up, or not being claimed by some other Christmas savvy shopper, were slim, but if you don't score Lefty, you'll never know if Righty will complete the set. Needless to say, Lefty is still sitting on it's perch is St. Louis Park, Minnesota, if you are interested. I guess the thing I hadn't considered, was when this snow melts, and Righty shows himself, will the former owner still be attached? I certainly don't want to be in possession of Lefty, if Righty is the prime piece of evidence at a crime scene. I guess you all will not be receiving a sweet pair of gloves for Christmas.

If you've ever been to the twin cities, then you know that they are really set up for outdoor activities. Minnesota is "The Land of 10,000 Lakes," and there is a paved trail around all of them. I can't speak for all of them, but the one that Marcy and I walked around, was fairly clear of snow. You have to remember, no matter what the temperature it is at your part of the country, the northern states are still in winter, even if it is close to the end. At home, all of the snow has melted and the temps have been in the 50's. I heard it was getting into the upper 60's today, and since in was in the mid 50's when we left, I'm sure it did. However, as we drove north, the temperature dropped until we got here and the thermometer read 42 degrees. The hotel we are staying at, has row houses right next to it, then it is right back into the businesses. I decided to let Marcy have the van for her afternoon appointments, so I walked over to the Quiznos to pick up my dinner. Like I said, there are sidewalks and trails everywhere, so I wasn't worried about having a paved trail all the way there, about a mile or so. The weather is beautiful, so I put on my stocking cap, which I learned today that Marcy thinks I look like a dork in, and my headphones and started my hike. I saw a funny thing as I walked, that I see at home as well, and it cracks me up. I passed a woman, I'd guess in her late 20's to early 30's, and she caught my attention for her very short shorts, Ugg boots and bag of dog crap she was carrying. I'm glad to see that she is a responsible pet owner, but it makes me laugh to see someone who appears to be trying to look sexy, carrying a bag of shit. I see it in my neighborhood all the time. I don't live on a street with expensive houses, but they are right across a cross street. I see the rich ladies, in their nice, stylish clothes, their french cut nails, there expensive hairdo's, walking their fluffy white dogs, carrying a big bag of poop. I will say that most of the walking I did today was dominated by the doggy poop hop skip and jump. I guess the lady with the shorts was an exception to the rule in MN. Getting back to my walk, I made it all the way to the shopping center that housed the Quiznos and a few other stores, and started to try and plot my path from the side walk, through the parking area to the opposite side to my dinner. The public works department might clear the sidewalks well, but the owners of this particular shopping center, sucks at it. The trails I was on kept disappearing into Mount Everest size mountains of slowly melting snow. I kept walking further and further from my destination, so I decided to go off road and cross a grassy knoll so I could get to a concrete oasis I saw a bit closer to my objective. As I stepped off the safety of the semi clear sidewalk, I sunk into the uber soft tundra of what I now call, the Costco swamp. I have one pair of shoes with me, and they are now in danger of become water socks at a rapid rate. I tried my best Jesus move and took off running to try and stay on top of the water. As I said in an earlier post, I am NOT Jesus, so I did not achieve my goal of keeping my shoes dry. I will say, do to my incredible speed and cat like reflexes, the full depth of the swamp was not felt in my Reeboks, so I should be good to go tomorrow. I made it to my destination, purchased my yummy food, and headed back into the parking lot. Using the information I gained from my first summit attempt, I worked my way back to the southern tip of the lot, and arrived safely at my hotel for dinner. As I cut through the Costco lot, side stepping the swamp, a gentleman was walking to his car, which was parked as far as you could get from the store. He was carrying his purchases and his eyes were locked on me. I know I'm tall and not the smallish of people, but am I that scary? My newly discover dork cap was on, so the bald head was not a factor, which it is in a lot of children encounters. I have frightened many a small child when I wave from the heights that I do. Maybe it's because they can't see my face in the clouds, I don't know. If this guy had mace, he had it at the ready. I'm pretty sure this guy was ready to toss me his pizza and whatever else he was carrying, and he would run off into the hills. I tried to give him my best "I'm not going to hurt you" smile, but it didn't appear to calm his nerves. I think he snarled at me. I wanted to do that thing you do to kids when you are acting like you are going to run after them, by kind of jumping at them so they will react, but I'm allergic to mace and didn't want to go through that again.