Rochester

Three weekends ago I headed to Rochester, Minnesota, to hang out with three of the four high school friends with whom I've actually stayed in touch. I was excited for a few reasons ... First because I hadn't seen them in awhile (over a year since I had last seen Jessie), second because I really like Rochester, and third because I was starting to go a little stir crazy in Wausau. (Winter does that. So does holding still too long.)

In any case, I headed straight out of town on Friday after work. Rochester is about three hours away and a fairly scenic drive. My particular route lead me straight through the Big Woods (that's a Laura Ingalls Wilder reference for those that are unfamiliar) -- which is a moderately formidable drive in the middle of winter.

Rochester is a rather pretty little city revolving mostly around the Mayo Clinic. It's moderately "well-off" as far as towns go, although not overly yuppie, thank goodness. Ashley and Jon moved there because she's going to school at the Clinic, and it happens to be a nice middle point for Jessie and I to meet up in (she's in Iowa right now, poor girl).

In any case, Friday was spent getting caught up and talking about old classmates. (The sheer number of people in the '02 and '03 classes that have been or are in jail was a little alarming.)

Saturday, we ventured to the Clinic for a tour. Ashley showed us around the areas she works and introduced us to the "subway," an underground walking tunnel system in downtown Rochester. (Turns out my fascination with public transportation includes those which don't require motorized vehicles. I was almost more amused by the subway than some parts of the Clinic.)

Just for the record, in addition to being such a well-known medical facility, the Clinic has some truly awesome architecture. There was at least one building (the name of which has completely escaped me) that I could explore for hours without ever getting bored.

After that, the rest of them agreed to humor me and we went to the Greatest Barnes & Noble Ever.

Okay, okay, that's not it's real name. It's the Chateau Theatre Barnes & Noble, right downtown. The store is in a restored theatre with the original walls, facades, and general decor intact. The inside looks like a brightly colored castle -- it's got the general atmosphere of a standard B&N without the pretension. And it is, by far and wide, my favorite of the B&Ns I've visited.

Jessie took off late that afternoon, and Ashley, Jon and I ended up at Olive Garden for dinner. We rounded out the night by going to the movie "Vantage Point."

If you're into action-adventure flicks, I recommend this one. I had more fun watching this than I've had since since I first saw the movie "Basic." Keeping in mind that I'm not overly critical of movies (just ask my sister), I won't recommend spending money on a movie ticket unless I really liked it. And this one is fun to see on a big screen.

Sunday morning I said my goodbyes and hit the road. My trip back took me through Pepin (the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder -- I was curious) and back through the Big Woods on a not-entirely-direct route to Menomonie.

Yeah. Next time I find my Wisconsin map before I decide to take a detour. I basically decided to just keep myself going north and east and eventually I would end up hitting a major highway. Just glad it actually worked. (And that the weather was good ... and that my sense of direction isn't completely screwy.)

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Now, on a completely different note, I find it fair to warn everybody that I'll be working on a new design for this blog. I apologize in advance if things get a bit hinky before I get everything up and going. I mean, this is me with a computer -- anything can happen.

Off I go. Have a great week, folks!