Weekend Recap February 20-22

Friday: 

M and I left our house shortly before 4 pm to journey 90 miles away to the German town of New Ulm for Bockfest.  It had just started snowing and the roads were getting worse.  We stopped in Shakopee to eat and we didn't get to New Ulm until almost 8 pm.  We saw a terrible accident on one of the country roads on our way down.  A car and semi hit head on and the car was down in a 20 foot ditch with the hood smashed like an accordion.  The semi on the other side of the road in that ditch and somehow managed not to roll over.  I wish I knew how badly hurt the people in the accident were or if they died.  

Once we checked into our hotel room, we went downtown to see what was going on.  We went to a bar called the Lamplighter.  M had a beer but I drank root beer.  They brew 1919 root beer at Schell Brewery in New Ulm.  It was so good!  We got back to the hotel and Chris and Tanya were almost there.  They were coming to meet us but couldn't leave the cities any earlier.  It took them just as long to get down there too with the roads and weather.

Downtown New Ulm  

The bar we went to

Saturday:

We woke up and we were on our way to the 22nd annual Bockfest.  Bockfest is a beer festival held on the grounds of Schell Brewery each year.  It's always held on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday.  Last year 6,000 people attended and this year was the same.  Since the party is outside, we bundled up as best we could to keep warm.  Good thing all that cold weather tailgating gave us some experience.  We were warned about how long the lines can be to get in.  We got in line around 10:35 am and gates opened at 11 am.  I am guessing on this number but I would say there were 2,000 people ahead of us in line.  I asked M what he thought and he says 3,000.  Either way, you get the idea.  After spending 40 minutes in line, we finally gained entry to the brewery.  M got to get in a little early (we were 10 minutes away from getting in) since there was an employee of Schell's who gave M a worker's pass to get in for free and to bypass the line.  We were now ready to start enjoying the beer.   Because of the long lines, they suggested that people get multiple beers instead of standing in line again.  M bought us all mini cooler type containers that we could drink from.  They worked great.  They each filled about 3 beers.  There were 2 beers to choose from...the light and bock.  The bock is the dark beer.  There is an area where they have a fire pit where there are multiple hot metal pokers that are heating in the fire.  Once ready, the employees will take the poker and put it in your bock beer for 10 seconds or so.  This caramelizes the beer and creates a nice sweet aftertaste.  Once of the best things to observe was the choice of containers that people brought to drink their beer in.  Many had huge plastic mug/container types but there were also coffee pots, tea kettles, 5 gallon water cooler bottles, watering cans, blenders and the best one was a gas can.  People also wear funny costumes or hats as part of the celebration of the day.  A band called The Bock Boys also played for most of the day.  There was also food in one of the buildings.  We ate pork and beef sausages (with sauerkraut if you wanted), popcorn and chicken dumpling soup.  They had a Bock treasure hunt on the grounds and if you found a "Bock", you would win a prize.  The festival closed at 4:30 pm but we left about 3 pm.  It was just getting too cold and once you got the chill, it was hard to get warm again.  We walked back to our hotel, which was about 3/4 of a mile and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  I wish I took more pictures but it was just too cold to keep getting the camera out.  Tanya took a lot more pictures than me but I don't have access to her pictures yet.  

Waiting in line

Our scenery while waiting in line

We're in!  Now the trek to the actual brewery

One of the buildings

Some blue hairs

Chris and I---I don't have any pictures of the whole group yet

Sunday: 

Got back from New Ulm and caught up on some laundry and plopped myself in front of the TV to watch the Oscars.  I actually watched the whole thing, which I don't know if I have done.  I just felt like I had so much vested interest in this year since I had seen many of the movies that were nominated.  As predicted and expected, Slumdog Millionaire won for Best Picture.  Kate Winslet, my choice, won Best Actress and Sean Penn won for Best Actor.  Hugh Jackman hosted the awards and I thought he did a really good job!