Two Times The Chaos!: Summer Kicks Off

Even though summer doesn't officially kick off until Thursday, June 21st, we kicked it off in our household a couple of weekends ago...with a big 40th Birthday Bash for my husband. Okay, okay, so the big bash isn't for a couple of weekends yet -- but we did kick things off with a dang good weekend celebration!

We started out taking a 1/2 day of vacation and then heading to Red Wing, MN, with our best friends for a night out at Treasure Island Resort & Casino. Things started out a bit of a disappointment when I found out in the morning that the dinner cruise that we had planned to take on the Mississippi River that evening had been cancelled due to the low number of reservations for that particular evening. I was totally bummed, as this was something we had never done before and I was planning on surprising my husband with a nice cruise down the river, along with a great dinner and some after-dinner drinks! After some discussion, it was decided that we would just head to the casino buffet and have dinner there.

On the way to dinner we noticed that the casino was promoting a new slot machine called "Grease," yes, based on the 1978 movie and its 1982 sequel. I always loved those movies so I told my husband we should check out the promotion after dinner. Well, I'm sure glad we did because between the two of us we won five spins on the new machines. My husband took his five spins and ended up $31.00 to the good...and got to walk away with his winnings. As I took my first spin, I hit a bonus round of some type in which I won additional spins. In the end, I ended up winning $126.00 -- between the two of us we walked away with a total of $157.00. Not bad for playing with someone elses money!! (And our winnings ended up covering the entire cost of our hotel room for the evening -- bonus!)

After our "Grease" adventure we headed to one of the bars at the casino where we stayed until the wee hours of the morning listening to the band and having a cocktail or two. The band was a cover band but played some really good songs. The drinks were excellent -- including the $60.00 worth of Jagerbombs that we downed...not bad for a group of old folks! :)

As we creeped further and further into the wee hours of the morning, we all decided it was time to hit the beds. We parted ways with our friends, only to meet up again later in the morning at a local Perkins for breakfast. After that we headed out on a little road trip to Chippewa Falls, WI -- home to the Jacob Leinenkugal Brewing Company. You see, my husband and I have never really had an appetite for beer...weird, I know. I still don't -- but about a year ago my husband start to "acquire" a taste for a few, select beers including several in the "Leines" line-up. Fast forward to today, and you'll find that he loves the stuff. So, what better way to celebrate a milestone birthday then by road-trippin' it to the Leines Brewery, right?

And so, road trip we did! The tour was fun and informative...and, hey, you got to sample free beer afterwards so how could you go wrong? I tried to join in the festivities by trying a "pink lemonade," which happens to be a mixture of two different beers in the Leines line-up -- Summer Shandy and Berry Weiss. Again, I'm not a beer drinker but I must admit it wasn't too bad! My husband on the other hand, he sampled some of his tried-and-true favorites (like Creamy Dark) as well as some of the newer beers, like the "Big Eddy Imperial IPA" -- of which, he was not a big fan.

At any rate, we ended the day with a tour of the facilities/grounds and then wrapped it up with supper at a "ma and pa" eatery in Eau Claire, WI, where we stayed for the night before heading back to the great state of Minnesota. All-in-all, a great weekend with great friends!

Here are some pictures from our tour of the brewery. Sorry, they are mostly of the grounds and the outside of the facilities -- no photos were allowed once we were inside: