On Thursday morning Lauren and I arrived in Minneapolis for a 4-day weekend. I was in Minnesota to host the Walsh bachelor party, one of my best man duties. Using my $99 Delta companion pass, Lauren was along to surprise her family at a summer vacation. But we came into town a day early to relive some old Minneapolis memories.
Elizabeth Burke and daughter Leah picked us up at the airport, and from there I made a very brief visit to Microboards, my current place of contract employment. I learned of my old manager’s surprising exit after 14 years which has left many at the company in shock. Later, Liz, Lauren, and I joined Patrick for lunch at Pizza Luce in Uptown. From there Lauren and I toured our old neighborhood, even walking through our old apartment complex which featured a propped-open door for some reason. We stopped off at several old favorite spots including Green Mill, Bulldog, and CC Club while we waited for Walsh and Sarah to get off work.
Since it was such a pleasant day, we walked all the way back to the Walsh house, stopping off for food at Jakeeno’s. That evening Walsh, Sarah, Feeney, and Walsh’s older brother from San Diego, Jeremy, joined us for dinner at Town Hall Brewery. We had a great day on the town! What a whirlwind day it was.
Friday morning, Tim Rosok picked up Lauren to head to her family vacation not far from Brainerd. Only Tim was in on the surprise, and from what I heard the Poulters were stunned to see her.
I rode up north to a resort near Nisswa, also not far from Brainerd, with Nick Sandbulte and Walsh’s co-worker Tony T’Kach. When we stopped at the liquor store in Baxter it was actually cold, windy, and rainy. Like 55 degrees. I sure can pick good weekends for northern travel! Meeting us at the cabin were friends Luke Katuin and Casey Dahl, along with Walsh’s college friends Erik, Tim, and Travis, bringing the total attendee count to 11.
Friday night we hung at the cabin and drank beer and grilled. Saturday, some of the gang played a round of golf in the morning. In the afternoon we took a pontoon out on the lake in the frigid cold, where Walsh and Casey were pushed into the water by Tim. I just happened to be filming at that moment, believe it or not! After docking, a few of us played in the water park, going down slides and splashing in the hot tub. That night we hit up the local bar scene. And Sunday we departed.
If you’re wondering what good bachelor party stories I’m hiding from you, there really aren’t any great secrets… no strippers, no gambling over a dollar, no arrests, no injuries. Hopefully Walsh’s last hurrah was a success!
Lauren must return to Minnesota soon for Sarah’s bachelorette party and I considered tagging along using her $99 Delta companion fare, but once you start factoring in food and drink and dog sitting, it’s probably too much. I keep forgetting we don’t have any money to spend on things.
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