Three weeks down, five to go. [How we’re just over a month away from returning to Louisville is beyond me.] We’ve been in Texas for just shy of a month now and we are thoroughly enjoying it. We’re staying in an apartment on Rainey Street right in the heart of downtown. While the apartment building is more “frat house” than we’re used, the location couldn’t be more ideal – we’ve got food trucks and restaurants galore within a block of our apartment, we’re right on Lady Bird Lake (aka the Colorado River), and are a quick 1-2 mile walk from East Austin and South Congress.
View from the apartmentSnickers and Matt on Lady Bird Lake
The weather has been nothing short of amazing. While the rest of the country has been getting their first snows of the year, we’ve been soaking up the sun and 80 degree days. Working from home certainly has its perks when you can take a meeting in a bathing suit at the rooftop pool! Matt was able to work remotely these last few weeks (sadly he’s back on the road now, in Chicago, no less), which has been great.
The city is so colorful due in no small part to all the street art adorning walls everywhere. Another thing we really love is the abundance of food trucks; Austin might even give Portland a run for its money with how many there are. It’s nice to have no shortage of food options around every turn. We’ve eaten our fair share of TexMex and barbecue washed down with margaritas and beer; there are plenty of breweries and we’re slowly making the rounds. We’ve done lots of “urban hiking” to explore the city, went trail running in Hill Country, and to visit some of Matt’s relatives near Dallas. There’s still so much more to do, see, and eat and we’re going to squeeze in as much as we can in our last month here!
After being months behind on our food and beer calendar, we finally caught up right before we left Minneapolis. October’s beer and food pairing was a bock and pretzel. We’ve enjoyed the more snack type pairings this year over last year’s heavier meals, and we can’t turn down a carb.
For the beer, we went with the tried and true Shiner Bock – hearkening to our impending move to the Lonestar State. The beer is lightly hopped and finishes smooth. A perfect complement to the salty pretzels. We simply chose a highly rated pretzel recipe from Allrecipes.com, and it’s listed below if you’d like to give it a try. The pretzels are best right out of the oven; they will keep for a while but definitely lose that “fresh baked” deliciousness after a day or two.
Cheers!
Pretzels
1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast [or 2 1/4 t of bulk yeast]
2 T brown sugar
1 1/8 t salt
1 1/2 C warm water
3 C all-purpose flour
1 C bread flour [can just sub all-purpose; in this recipe I used whole wheat because we ran out of all-purpose and it turned out just fine]
2 C warm water
2 T baking soda
2 T butter, melted
Coarse kosher salt
Dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in 1 1/2 C warm water and let stand until frothy (~10 min.). Add salt and flour and knead on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic (~8 min.). Place in a greased bowl, turn to coat, and let rise until doubled in size (~1 hour).
Combine 2C of warm water and baking soda in a dish. Once dough has risen, punch down and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3-ft rope, about pencil thin, and twist into a pretzel shape. Dip into the baking soda/water mixture and place on baking sheet. Allow to rise for 20-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with salt, and enjoy!
Minneapolis came and went, but before we drown ourselves in Tex Mex and finish out the year we want to give it an appropriate send off.
Minneapolis Report Card
Food
B+
Beer
B-
Walkability
A-
Cost
B+
Weather
B-
Parks
A
Activities
C
Overall
B
Minneapolis was completely unplanned, but turned out to be a really solid experience. We arrived at the end of August when it was still hot and humid and swarming with mosquitoes and left at the end of October when the leaves had mostly fallen from the trees and there was more than a slight chill in the air. Having an actual season change was very welcome and it was even nicer knowing we wouldn’t be sticking around when the temperatures dropped below zero.
We were pleasantly surprised with the food options; coming to the midwest we didn’t have high expectations but we were blown away with the abundance of different food options and happily ate our fair share of food. A favorite of ours was Lotus, which happened to be right across the street from our apartment, but we also enjoyed the Brewer’s Table at Surly and World Street Kitchen (get the Korean rice bowl and thank us later) to name a few. We didn’t partake in as many breweries as we would’ve liked, but Fulton, Dangerous Man, and Sisyphus all had excellent brews – though we’d advise skipping Lakes and Legends unless you’re really into Belgians, which we are not. And if you find yourself in Menomonie, WI Lucette Brewing is worth a stop for some pies and pints.
Food and beer aside, Minneapolis had some top-notch parks which were incredibly accessible. We were able to walk all over the city to the Mississippi River and along the chain of lakes, and we were never further than 1/2 mile of a park. Being around so many natural lakes was so different than any other part of the country and, although she’s hardly a water dog, Snickers loved splashing along the banks and chasing all the migrating geese. We loved not having to drive much, especially coming from Denver where we were always in the car. The biggest drawback for us was having to adjust our expectations in regards to hiking. We sure did miss the mountains.
Would we go back? Probably not unless we were visiting friends/family – it’s just not a “vacation” city. Would we live there? Nope! While we thoroughly enjoyed our time there, we just wouldn’t be able to stomach the winters.
Stars in ThorpIce Age Trail
Mississippi River, MinneapolisMill District, Minneapolis
Coming from Oregon and Colorado we knew that we wouldn’t have access to the same level of hiking in Minnesota, but we did our best to find some places that satisfied our need to get outdoors. While we didn’t do nearly as many hikes the last few months, we were able to get our shoes muddy a handful of times.
Theodore Wirth Park
Theodore Wirth Park is located right in downtown Minneapolis. The park has an extensive mountain biking network that can also be utilized for hiking and trail running. During the week the bike traffic is lighter, which made it a great option for getting in some weekly trail runs. We typically ran the back loop, which is a great 5 mile option, but adding in loops from the front portion can easily get the mileage up in double digits.
6.2 mile (10 km) Theodore Wirth Park Trail Running loop Garmin tracks
T Wirth Park Run – I think I had big eyes filter on 🙂
St. Croix State Park
St. Croix State Park is located about 95 miles north of Minneapolis on the St. Croix River. The drive was much longer than we anticipated, but we enjoyed our day trip north. The park has miles of trails throughout for all fitness levels. We set out to hike the Two Rivers Trail, which goes along the St. Croix and Kettle Rivers. It was overcast and a little rainy that day, so the trail was all but deserted beyond the Kettle River Overlook. The trail was single track and mostly flat so we opted to run it instead. It ended up being an easy 8 miles and afforded great views along the river.
8 mile trail running loop in the St. Croix State Park Garmin Tracks
The Ice Age Trail is located entirely in Wisconsin and runs for more than 1,000 miles along the edge of Wisconsin’s last glacier. The trail runs through more than 30 counties and is primarily used for hiking and backpacking, though some sections are also open for snowmobiling, bicycling, and cross country skiing. The two times we visited Thorp, we took some time to hike a section of this trail. The first time we did a 3 mile out and back hike with Casey and the second time we ran the same 3 mile portion. The trail is heavily wooded and passes many lakes in the few miles we traversed.
3 mile trail running out and back on the Ice Age Trail near Perkinstown, WI
This totally fell off my radar, but on our last weekend in Colorado we got out and hiked South Boulder Peak. We initially set out to hike to Bear Peak, but when we reached the saddle some other hikers told us that South Boulder was less crowded so we changed course.
We started at the Mesa Trailhead just outside of Boulder. The trail winds its way through Shadow Canyon before climbing to the saddle where you can ascend to either Bear or South Boulder Peaks. The first part of the trail was very exposed; with no tree cover the Colorado sun can be relentless. Luckily the bulk of the hike was through a relatively forested area. The trail was quite steep and littered with boulders and pine trees as it wound it’s way up. We did lose the trail a couple of times, but enjoyed scrambling up the boulders and making our own way.
Devil’s thumb
Towards the top, before the saddle, there is a section of fire-scarred trail from a fire that broke out in 2012. That section was strangely eery after coming from the pine forest. The climb to the peak was relatively short – and strenuous – and the views from the top were magnificent.
Scarred section of trail
Once you summit, you are offered 360 degree views of the foothills and Eastern plains. We spent some time resting, taking photos, and trying to corral our mountain pup who loves bounding up rocks and going to edges and giving her humans a heart attack.
We made our way back down the mountain and treated ourselves to some beer and grub from Avery Brewing to celebrate another successful 6 mile hike and cheers to the end of our Colorado adventures (for now).
Our two months in Minneapolis came and went in the blink of an eye and now we’re en route to Austin to round out the year. We loved getting to see the leaves change and spend some time with family, but I can’t say we’re sad to leave the ever-dropping temperatures. Now, onto the land of chili, barbecue, and lax gun laws!
Most of you (does anyone still read these?) probably thought we only blogged about beer and hiking, but Minnesota has had us changing our tune. Instead of blogging about those two things we’ve blogged about…nothing. We’ve seriously neglected this poor blog and it’s become our own red headed stepchild.
Nevertheless, we’re here to tell you a little about Minnehaha Falls. A couple of weeks ago we decided to get out of our pj’s before noon and walk around Minnehaha Falls to Lake Hiawatha. It was a sunny, crisp fall day – perfect to be out exploring. We got to the falls along with apparently everyone else in Minneapolis. Having seen our fair share of waterfalls this year in Hawai’i and Oregon we weren’t overly impressed, so we spent most of our time walking the Grand Rounds. The leaves were changing and we just enjoyed our time leisurely walking along Minnehaha Creek and letting Snickers play in the water.
Minnehaha Falls
One really cool thing about Minneapolis is that 95% of residences are within a 10 minute walk or 1/2 mile of a park, so pretty much everywhere you turn there’s another park. And the best part is it’s not just a playground on some grass, it’s actual lakes and wooded areas. The Grand Rounds is a 50 mile parkway system around the city of Minneapolis that encompasses natural features of the area: creeks, lakes, woodlands, wetlands, etc. And it has quickly become one of our favorite features of the city.
Snickers at Lake Hiawatha
It was a great way to spend a (cold) fall afternoon!
So…we kind of phoned it in for August, which is a shame because it was such an easy pairing.
August’s pairing was watermelon and wheat beer. Totally easy, right?! We got really busy in August with the honeymoon and moving that we just found ourselves out of time, and by the time we finally got around to it watermelon was already out of season.
For this we ended up doing a beer and beer pairing, which ended up not being all that bad. We had some leftover beers from our wedding that ended perfectly fitting the bill. Our “watermelon” was New Belgium’s Heavy Melon – a watermelon lime ale that was crisp and refreshing. We followed this up with New Belgium’s Mothership Wit, which was spicy and crisp.
Well, we’re over halfway finished with our time in Minneapolis. It’s felt extremely busy and has flown by. Minneapolis was a spur of the moment decision during one too many drinks on our honeymoon, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much we’re enjoying it here.
The weather started out warm and humid, but it quickly cooled off and we’ve been enjoying an extended fall – something you don’t really get in Kentucky. And, since we’re relatively close to Matt’s side of the family, we’ve been able to spend a couple of weekends with them. We haven’t gotten to many breweries or out on as many hikes as we did in Denver and Portland, which is likely do to just being busy and getting tired. In the 5 weeks we’ve been here, we spend 2 weekends in Thorp and 1 in Louisville so we really haven’t had as much time in the city as you’d think.
Aerial view of the courtyard from our apartmentMatt and Snickers play in the Mississippi River
We really like the amount of parks and lakes in the city – in fact, they designed Minneapolis so that practically no house is more than 5 blocks from a park. Pretty cool! The food scene has also blown us away. We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many really good restaurants there are around us….and how the ethnic food is actually spiced well. We had a difficult time finding good food in Denver so we’re definitely indulging.
Loring Park fountain at night
We were able to make it to the Minnesota State Fair our first week here, which was a lot of fun and really different than the Kentucky State Fair. It’s the second largest attended fair in the country, behind Texas which runs for twice as long. We ate our weight in cheese and dairy and drank more than our fair share of beers. They had some great local brews from places like Surly and Fulton. Beth’s favorite part was the Princess Kay of the Milky Way butter sculptures and Matt’s was the All You Can Drink Milk booth. Unfortunately we didn’t get to partake in the milk since it was last call by the time we found it (yes, they had a “last call” on milk).
Minnesota State Fair
Butter sculpturesCheese haul from La Granders
Some things we’re liking:
Loring Park – just a block from our apartment and really nice to walk around during the day
Overall, we’re really liking our time up North. We’ve only got three weeks until we head down South for the winter, so we’ve got to squeeze in a lot more activities and beer.
This is long overdue, but it’s time to examine the beers that we imbibed in Denver! We were pretty busy with wedding activities, so you’ll have to forgive us for not having the same, comprehensive list that we created in Beer in Portland.
Obligatory(??) Coors at a Red Rocks concert- Tap the Rockies 🙂
We lived in the Capitol Hill/Five Points area, and we prefer to explore breweries within walking distance (for obvious reasons). We also like dog friendly breweries so the pup can join us for a brew after a hike! However, we found that the week we moved to Denver, the health department said Dogs were no longer allowed in breweries [or patios]! Boo, Denver. This was enforced even on patio areas, where the dog needed to be outside the gates. Don’t get me wrong- I don’t need the dog around all time, I prefer her like while we’re eating, but when we want to grab a beer after a hike (when we have her along), it would be nice to sit on the patio because she can’t stay in the car on those sunny, hot Colorado afternoons.
Denver does have a healthy brewing scene. The difference here is that you will not always find them filled with bearded beer connoisseurs that spend a good portion of their income on beer; on the contrary, Denver breweries are full of beautiful, young, polo-wearing yuppies! And if I were a brewery/taproom business owner, this would not be a bad thing. I’m just saying, it’s not our scene.
Grandma’s House is an eclectic stop on Broadway, South of downtown Denver. The whole area is very hip and up-and-coming. This place features doilies on the tables, rocking chairs, and a Super Nintendo on an old tube TV. The beers are solid, though the smaller production can make it tough to try everything they produce. Order some take-out from some of the restaurants in the area; we ordered from Maria’s Empanadas, which was a great combo with the beer.
Crocheted taps at Grandma’s House
Ratio was a good example- a Saturday afternoon will have you in the middle of a Match.com meetup, dodging happy peddlers, and looking for a table so you can sip the delicious suds without having a bro talk about how crazy last night was and how great tonight will be (see the background of the photo). Ratio has solid offerings, and there are many breweries in crawling distance in this RiNo area, so check it out. We had wings from a food truck posted out front, settled me down a bit about the other patrons. There is one plus- we ended up talking to a professional “grower” for 20 minutes or so- God bless Colorado’s lax weed laws.
Epic Brewing hit a good note for me. It’s also in the RiNo area and features a large brewery and tap room. They have a big fireplace which would surely be wonderful to huddle around in the cold Colorado winters.
Lost Highway brewery is on the Colfax, “the longest, wickedest road”, just East of downtown. We enjoyed this hole-in-the-wall feeling, chill brewery. It has a small-er facility and brew with some interesting ingredients- They do an almond porter where they actually start with almonds and not just extracts, pretty cool. It was a great spot to run for some weeknight brews. They also will can 32 oz “crowlers” right in front of you–this is a tall-boy that would be easy to take on a weekend camping trip.
Twisted Pine in Boulder is a nice stop after tackling some foothills mountains in the area. It is just East of the downtown area and offers a good selection of food with decent beers. We did this with Beth’s parents one lazy Saturday afternoon.
Great Divide has been brewing in downtown Denver for quite some time, and puts out solid beers. It’s a busy place, but you should be able to find a spot as long as a giant bike group hasn’t just walked in to celebrate a good ride.
Barrels and Bottles Brewery is another Golden brewery that served decent beers, but the more interesting feature is the wine dispensing system they use–very high tech!
Mountain Toad in Golden offered some good beers and a solid selection of rotating food trucks! This is actually the place we went to get the pizza food truck, Basic Kneads to cater our wedding- delicious! Dogs are everywhere here, since it is not in Denver and does not need to adhere to the Denver No-Dog policy.
Avery has quickly become one of my favorite breweries, period. They just do really good beer, all round. We took down quite a few of them on this list; including my favorite here, the 17% Imperial Stout with Espresso- Tweak! The brewery was packed with people, but the servers are really good at finding you when you arrive, so it was a pleasant experience despite having to eat while sitting on a bench; which reminds me- great, upscale food!
Declaration has a beautiful patio area and nice indoor spot about 4 miles South of Denver. Solid beer, and great place to hang out on a sunny weekend day (dogs are NOT allowed, unfortunately, since it’s still in the Denver metro area).
During our wedding we did some 5.5 gal pony kegs of Upsloap Pale Ale and Great Divide Titan IPA. Sorry no pics, not even the keg stands… 😀
mattandbethtravels 