letter-to-mom

Berkclub in St Paul Minnesota

Squeezing in late-summer sailing and a quick trip to St. Paul—state fair food, ballgames, river walks, and catching up with old friends. A perfect mix of nostalgia and new memories.

Dan Weatbrook

— 6 min read
Share
Berkclub in St Paul Minnesota

Good Morning Mom!

I hope that things are treating you well, and that the heat is not to crazy over there. Things are good here.

Sailing on Wednesday night

The sailing season is starting to wind down - Tonight is the last Monday night race of the year, and we have three Wednesday night’s left. And we can really tell, as sunset is rushing up to meet us sooner and sooner every week. We are to the point that the sun is hitting the horizon at just after 8pm in the evening. It’s kind of a bitter sweet time of year, but it just means that snowboard season is around the corner ;)

Me, Tory and Kirk at Kings on Thursday night
Segale And Scott. It has been since before the Pandemic that we have had a chance to see Segale. She is thriving, and has found a line of work that she really enjoys as a trainer, focused on helping people to continue to live independently as they age. So lots of strength and mobility work with folks.
Recently we have been hitting a new little hole in the wall called Little Tin apothecary, it is a super intimate space, with some wonderful drinks.

Friday morning Catherine and I got up bright and early, so she could give me a ride to the airport for a quick trip to Minnesota so I could spend the weekend with my Bookclub buddies. Brandon, his wife Kendle, and their cute little girls Alana, and Penny moved back to St Paul where Brandon’s Family still lives. So Eric, his son Ira, Dave and I had the opportunity to fly out and spend the weekend.

The carnation valley was filled with fog as I flew over.
Irvin Park

I was the first of us to make it into town. The bus system was fantastic. I took the route 54 straight from the airport to just a block away from the AirBnB. Once I checked in, and grabbed a room, I went for a walk along the Mississippi River, and then through downtown St Paul, on my way over to Brandon’s house, while he finished up the workweek.

This is a very old railroad bridge over the Mississippi’s river, and it is looking a little worse for the age.
A close up of the base of one of the pillars holding up the bridge.

I made my way through downtown, and along Summit ave on my way to Brandon’s house. Summit avenue is where all of the mansions in st Paul are, and it was just stunning seeing all of those houses. At Brandon’s house we just chilled and caught up. I had a wonderful chat with Kendle, and then hung out with their 3 and a half and one and half year old daughters. Blowing bubbles, and throwing the ball for Junebug, the dog. Eventually Brandon and I headed out to Sweeny’s, the local watering hole, and continue our chat until it was time to go and pick Dave up from the airport.

After we picked up Dave, the three of us went and grabbed some pizza while we waited for Eric and Ira‘s flight. Alas, we lost track of time, and they landed, and made it to the AirBnB by themselves.

The Agenda for Saturday included going to the State fair, The Mall of America, and a baseball game.

At the Minnesota state fair
Crowds on one of the many many streets on the fairgrounds
The architecture of all of the buildings on the fair grounds is just stunning.
This is the horse barn. It was built ny the CCC during the depression
All of the barns were Massive! This is the cow barn

after we had taken a good full dose of state fair, and state fair food, we headed over to Mall of America. This is the largest Mall in America, and it’s real claim to fame is that it is four floors of stores surrounding a large courtyard that is contains a full on amusement park full of rides and midway games. It was something else.

Dave heading into the Mall of America
Eric
His son Ira - who is turning fourteen soon, and was an absolute joy to hang out with this weekend.

After the Mall, we headed back to the AirBnB and caught an hour of rest before heading out to dinner, and then catching the bus to the St Paul Saints AAA ball game.

Me, Brandon and Kendle on the bus too the ballgame
We had great seats behind the visiting team dugout, in a wonderful, intimate stadium,
Ira and Eric enjoying hte game
The Mascots signing autographs in front of us.
Eric putting on the Rally cap. The Saints made a valiant effort to come back from with some super exciting late innings, but they fell short 10-9

Sunday morning we made our way over to Brandon's brother Ryan’s house To go Sauna-ing. It was good to catch up with Ryan, and meet his wife Annie. I had Taken Ryan out sailing while he was out for Brandon and Kendle’s wedding. He runs the Transportation and waste water organizations for Minneapolis and St Paul

Me, Ira, Brandon, Ryan and Dave

After the Sauna, we went and grabbed some lunch, and then went on a river boat ride up the Mississippi river to the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers.

Getting ready to walk back to St Paul after the river boat cruise
The gang from across the bridge
Grabbing a beer and playing a game at the brewery around the corner from the AirBnB before I headed to the airport for the ride home.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. St Paul has a very chill vibe, with a lot of trees, the river, and not too many hills. I would definitely like to find myself back in the area in the future.

The flight home was uneventful. I landed aftee the last train of the day, so I was going to take an Uber, but as I was walking to the parking lot, I heard someone call ”Weaties!” And lo and behold it was my friend Dave Bakshani. We had a nice catchup, and he offered to give me a ride home.

This week is looking like it it going to be a good week ;)

Love ya all

Dan W

Read more