I decided the thing to do was order Panera “rapid pickup” from the one nearest the hotel, so we could get right out of Minny this morning. The nearest one was at the Mall of America. Err…”in” the Mall of America. After Google maps left me with “you have arrived at your destination” in the middle of a road outside the mall, no Panera in sight, I figured out it was probably IN the mall.
ICYMI the Mall of America is not small. Like quadrillion million square feet.
The good news is I came in the door just below it — in the food court on the third level (you don’t get a quadrillion million square feet by staying on one level).
I found it. As I was making the three mile trip, I texted K to find the nearest Starbucks.
I bet you can see her reply coming.
“3rd level of the Mall of America.”
So was laughing like it was the fuckin funniest thing she’d ever said.
It also turned out to be be true. ):
If that wasn’t funny, we stop at the nearest real Starbucks (if you know what I mean) and what’s across the parking lot, within sight? No, I wont tell you. No, it couldn’t be a Panera.
When we planned this journey, we knew we had travel days. K looked at “things to do” between Milwaukee and Minny & Minny & KC. That’s why we ended up in Chippewa Falls. If that doesn’t tell you how much excitement there is between the cities.
Today was the 6 hours from Minny to KC. There is little between them. Des Moines. The Bridges of Madison County (puke barf).
But we passed through “Silo and Smokestack National Historic Area” to which K said “but why?” She was not impressed.
You now have a good impression of the trip.
John & Labia errr Lanissa arrived shortly after we did at the hotel. (Hotel reviews tomorrow…)
Maybe ‘pregaming’ suggests more drinking than was done before dinner, but there WAS drinking. Leinenkugel’s.
Dinner was at Q93, which, according to the internet (which we know is problematic),is one of the best barbecue places in KC.
The highlight, despite the food, was our wait person, Steven. When asked what was good on the menu, Steven said that their were ribbons next to various items & you might start with those if you didn’t know what to do. So we started with the wings, which the description said were the best on the planet.
I have no picture. We were skeptical, then we ate them. They are probably the best wings I’ve ever eaten, and I order wings a lot. They were meaty, the meat came right off the bone, & the sauce was a wonderful combination of tangy, then sweet, with a slight biting finish.
I ordered the other ribbon on the menu, the beef rib. I didn’t come to a city famous for its cows to eat pig. Here’s the pic, which is as impressive as the food.
John & K ordered the pick 2 platter, getting brisket, pulled pork and spare ribs (I wont mention that John didn’t know there was a difference between ribs ). But here’s the line of the night: for his sides, John said to Steven he wanted the white bean casselet and Cole slaw. But he said he kind of wanted the baked beans, too. Steven said “if you want to double bean it, well, it’s more on her (nodding to Lanissa) about your Dutch oven.” OMG.
You can see the huge bone on my plate (you can see where this is going): John asked if Steven could pack it to take away. I think the response was “I’m good with bone.” Then he came back and John asked how the bone wrapping went and Steven said “I’m good with wrapping big hard things.” Lanissa told him she wanted to take him home and he said it could be worked out. LOL.
I convinced them we should have the award-winning cheesecake. Pictured. It was good.
We finished dinner & K found a stain of bbq on her front, one of those things when you eat it. I said I thought I had come out clean, but it didn’t matter because I had worn my “barbecue colored shirt.” (My new U Minnesota polo in their distinctive maroon). My best line of the night...:)
And then we went to the car. John asked what we are doing now and I suggested we hear some live music. In a few turns we were in a different neighborhood — the highlight was a small black woman on a Harley in leathers playing music loudly — Dorothy wasn’t in Kansas anymore (as a side note, we are not ever going to Kansas. Most of the what we think of as Kansas City, including the hotel, airport, restaurant and ballpark, are on the Missouri side. According to Wikipedia, cough cough, the city in Kansas was founded 20 years later and they decided to name their city the same as the one across the river. WTF?!)
We had a drink and listened to a full set of jazz at a club downtown. We discussed on the ride back to the hotel the cliched nature of the place: the guy outside who greeted and seated us with the white hat, the two button blazer, white pants, the woman behind the counter taking our money, and the jazz combo with the cool looking bass player (he even had sunglasses on), the piano player who reminded us all of Schroeder from Peanuts, the two sax players who stood on the side when they weren’t playing, eyes closed, moving to the music…they were good. It was Matt Otto; I have one of his CDs. Now.:)
And that, good reader, is day 4 of our adventure…tomorrow is a podcast taping (I don’t know if I can keep John from talking too much live), then the Royals game. It’s supposed to be “only 92” and our seats are in the sun. John said he might need a sweater (Ft Worth has been hot). Till then…
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