Four of Us

I had a fantastic time with my Minnesota friends, and then I needed a couple days to recover! Starting on Saturday, Bob and John arrived, and we met downtown after they checked into their hotel. We went to a pretty fun sports bar to watch the Cubs-Angels game, which was an embarrassment since the Cubs lost 12-0. I did not have high hopes for the Sunday game we were attending, but the three of us had a great day. We bar-hopped a bit before heading out to a streetfest called A Taste of Randolph, which features a lot of great food tents, beer tents, and music. We saw an amazingly strange and awesome band called Mucca Pazza, which is about 20 hipsters and hippies in marching band uniforms, playing awesome marching band party

music. They refer to themselves as "astounding circus-punk marching band," and that about covers it. Check them out.

The British band One Eskimo came to the stage, and they have a song I love called "Kandi," which I posted about a while ago. They put on a good show, and I liked several of their songs, but the crowd especially loved it when "Kandi" came on.

Day Two, Sunday -- I woke up early to go get David from the airport. I dropped him off at the hotel, and then Bob, John, and David met me at the Cubby Bear, a bar across from Wrigley Field. We went to a couple of other bars as well, and then headed to Wrigley. Bob and David, both avid Angels fans, had never been to Wrigley before, and they loved the intimate nature of the ballpark. We got our seats in the left field bleachers, and enjoyed the time before the game. Bob and David were worried about being heckled for wearing Angels shirts, but the Cubs fans were very nice, and we chatted a lot with the fans around us.

The weather, which all forecasts predicted would involve rain and thunderstorms, was hot and mostly sunny. It never rained, and in fact we welcomed the clouds to give us respite from the hot sun. But the beer was cold!

And the Cubs won 12-1! David and Bob were not happy about that, but they still enjoyed their Wrigley experience.

After the game we basically had a great night out on the town, whooping it up and catching up. We all retired to the hotel and slept well.

Day Three, Monday -- On Monday morning we headed out to watch the Spain-Honduras World Cup game, and had a great day bouncing around. John had to leave Monday afternoon, and after he left, the three of us went to dinner and just hung out Monday night. Then Bob and David left on Tuesday, and I slept.

What a great long weekend this was. These friends are for life, and they are the reason I will always go back to visit Minnesota.