MS150

Thursday, June 10:

M and I got off work a little early, packed, strapped his bike to the car and made the 2 hour drive up to Duluth. The weather wasn't very nice; cloudy with a few patches of rain here and there all the way until we hit our destination. We checked into our Canal Park hotel and went right back out again to eat at Hell Burgers. Hell Burgers replaced Hell's Kitchen. The burgers were pretty good and the atmosphere was colorful.

After Hell Burgers, we met up with my cousin Mike and his fiance Tonia, who live in Duluth. We met at the Brewhouse, a bar in the Fitgers building. It's a busy, little bar so we sat up in the loft area while we chatted, drank some beer and listened to live music from below for about three hours. It was a lot of fun hanging with both Mike and Tonia. I don't get to see them very often.

After M and I said our goodbyes to M & T, we went across the hall to a club called Red Star. There weren't that many people in there so it was fun to just sprawl in the dark on the big, plush couches and relax with a mixed drink. Both M and I had fantastic drinks served in martini glasses. I copied down the ingredients for each drink because we plan on drinking them again. I case you're interested, here they are:

M's drink: Ginger Skyy's

• Skyy Ginger Vodka
• Canton Ginger Liqueur
• Soda
• Sour

My drink: Superior Dip

• Rain Cucumber Lime Vodka
• Fresh, muddled lime and cucumber

It was really dark so some of the pictures look grainy

Our yummy drinks

Taking pictures from below looking up into a light that changed colors

M climbed up the ladder to the DJ Booth where his alter ego, DJ Cycle Mac took over

Friday, June 11th:

We woke up to rain and VERY windy conditions in Duluth on Friday morning, which pretty much cancelled all plans for us to be outside and explore the North Shore of Lake Superior. If it was going to rain, we just hoped that it would rain all day and be done before Saturday morning arrived and M's bike journey. We went to the mall first since yours truly forgot to pack something...underwear. Luckily, I had coupons in my purse for two free pairs of Victoria's Secret undies which happened to be the last day to use the coupon. We spent some time window shopping and then finished at Barnes and Noble looking at books before I realized I was starving. We went back to across the street from our hotel to a Tex-Mex restaurant called Little Angie's. For as many times as I've been to Duluth, I've never actually eaten there until that day. I had fajitas and there were just ok. I probably wouldn't eat there again. We drove a block or to the Aerial Bridge which was up as there was a ship getting ready to come in. Despite the rain and nasty wind and cold, we braved the elements for about five minutes to watch the ship come into the harbor.

We went back to the hotel and laid around for a couple of hours until about 5 pm when the rain started to dissipate a little. We decided to drive up to Gooseberry Falls, one of our original destinations for earlier in the day had it been nicer weather. It takes about 45 minutes to get there from Duluth and once there, there weren't many people there due to the weather. It wasn't raining, but misting. Right as we started to walk down the path to head towards the Visitor's Center, I saw what I thought was a dog in the grass and stopped M to have him look. We discovered it was a fox who was trotting along with a feast in his mouth but stopped and dropped his food once he saw us. While he is sitting there, I am trying to be quiet and get my camera out to take a picture of him. He picked up his food, a squirrel I think, and pounced across the path in front of us. He looked mangy as he was shedding his winter coat.

We continued down the path to the both the upper and lower falls. We've been here many times before and I've posted many pictures of Gooseberry before but they never get old.

Do you see Michael next to the falls below? Yes, his shirt is off. I don't know why either.

2 guys below crossing the falls on a log

After Gooseberry, we headed back to Duluth in search of a rain poncho for M for his bike ride on Saturday. We went to a few places and finally found one at the second Walgreen's we visited. He had a rain jacket but wanted something lighter just in case. He never ended up wearing it.

To cap off our day, we went to Timber Lodge Steakhouse for dinner. There's two things I always do on this annual trip...pay for Thursday night's hotel and take M out to dinner on Friday night for whatever he wants. With limited options for steak, Timber Lodge is as good at it gets. Mike and Tonia did tell us that Nokomis further up the north shore in Duluth has a great filet mignon, however after looking at the menu, I knew it was a little too fancy for M's palate. He likes things plain and simple. M loved his dinner and we went back to unwind before heading to bed for M's big day.

Saturday, June 12:

M got up before me to enjoy breakfast downstairs at the hotel before waking me up to go to drop him off at the starting line, which is about 15 minutes away. The weather was a little chilly and VERY foggy with a little bit of rain. Visibility was extremely poor and we couldn't see very far ahead while driving in the car. I said goodbye to M at about 8 am and he rode off into rain as cute as can be for the next 75 miles.

I love my honey!

The fog

After dropping M off, I went back to the hotel to eat, watch TV and shower before heading down to meet M. I did take a walk around Canal Park to take one last peek of Lake Superior and take a few pictures.

While M was buring calories, I was purchasing and consuming calories at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Even though there are multiple locations by where I live, I never go there...only when in Duluth. My purchases: caramels for M and chocolate covered potato chips and a double caramel apple for me.

I left Duluth at 12:20 pm and arrived in Hinckley just before 1:30 pm where I sat in the car in the hotel parking lot awaiting either M to show up on his bike or 3 pm to check into the hotel, whichever came first. On the way down from Duluth, there was no rain so I hoped that M didn't have to ride in the rain for too long. While waiting in the car, I did some work from my job that I brought up with me. I didn't spend too much time on it before M showed up with a smile on his face at 2:15 pm. The rain had just started to fall again. He rode for about the first 30 miles in the rain and then encountered it again only in Hinckley. M was in very good spirits and happy, which of course made me happy. When he is done riding for the day, I accommodate him every minute of the evening making the rest of his day as effortless as possible. That's the least I can do considering what he just did. I unpacked the car as we were able to check in early and M took a shower and laid down while I did some more work. I then joined him for a nap also. After all, I've been eating chocolate covered chips all day which is exhausting. We woke up and went to M's parents house. They just moved to Hinckley the week before. M's mom wasn't there so we spent about 45 minutes hanging out with his dad before going to a pizza place in "downtown" Hinckley. The pizza was good but we'll never go back. We ate there last year after the bike ride but after seeing the people that work there that are obviously meth-heads, we don't want to return. We finished the night walking to Dairy Queen for a treat and watched a rerun of Saturday Night Live before giving M's achy muscles a nice massage and going to bed.

Sunday, June 13th:

I drove M to the starting line around 8 am and he rode off for the next 75 miles. It wasn't sunny but it wasn't raining either. The day would be dry for M all the way home.




I drove home which took an hour and started cleaning. I then met my sister to go shopping and came home to wait for M. The finish line this year was in White Bear Lake, about 5 miles from our house, however M wanted to ride home right to his own front door. At about 2:15 pm, I was changing the laundry over to the dryer so I decided to look out the back door. It just so happens M was right there and just hopping off his bike to come in the door. Again, he had a smile on his face. M completed his 9th ride!

M did not make his goal of raising $1,360, however he did make $1,000 before setting out on his bike on Saturday morning, which earned him that special treatment during his bike ride. Donations still came in starting right after he left on his bike up until today. M's has now raised $1,150.

Thank you everyone for the donations. Here's a special thanks to all those people on "my side" that know Michael through me or know me and haven't even met Michael. I appreciate you guys!

In no particular order, just alphabetical.

Adam
Brenna

Chris and Tanya (I'm counting you guys as on my side :))

Dennis and Pat

Jenni

Jill

Jim and Kris

John and Jen

Julie M

Julie S

Keith and Sheila
Lillian

Tom and Jamie

Thank you for making this year's MS150 bike ride a success and a big thank you to Michael for doing what you do! I love you!