Sunday

Our instructions were simple. Just don't go to work. Or school. No problem.

Our weekend's main goal was to do things we'd never done before. 3/4's of Team Fuck Yeah met up for brunch. Our criteria for breakfast was twofold: 1. Go somewhere we'd never eaten brunch before. 2. Eat somewhere with outdoor tables, so as to take advantage of a dwindling number of temperate days in our northern homeland. Brunch was had. Spacebug learned that New Place did not have any kind of Spacebug-acceptable breakfast (everything *has* to have eggs? Really?), but, that's a hazard in trying a new place. Nachos for breakfast? Sure, why not. R.C4ndy was less than thrilled with her eggs mexicali. Conversation topics included how Spacebug and R. C4ndy are indifferent about fruit, but are not indifferent at all about salsa, and how S4 happens to not be at all indifferent about fruit, but cannot really be bothered to care one way or the other about salsa. We are fantastic conversationalists. Spacebug found it curious that when she ordered "A Coke or Pepsi", that the server replied a somewhat terse "it's neither." "Uhm, okay, well, whatever it is, that's what I want!" We pondered the exciting possibility that this local brewpub had the only fountain Royal Crown available in some radius. That, too, turned out to be incorrect. It took a bit more prodding to find out that the mystery cola was a local brand called Shamrock.

Our plan post-breakfast was to go to the Mill City Museum, as none of us had been there before. First we dawdled around a shop next door to the New Place, where S4 bought a dashing moustache.


On to the Museum!
The Mill City Museum is very impressive. It is built into the ruins of the Washburn "A" mill, and was, in its heyday, the largest and most technologically advanced flour mill in the world. It, and nearby other mills, were powered by St. Anthony Falls. Participants in the MN Journey might remember this part of the city; the falls were very near our starting point and the mill very near one of the bonus checkpoints. It is also near where Burn Unit spends his working life (when he's not busy using his lunchbreaks for tasking, that is). The view from the 8th floor of the mill is impressive- the Mississippi lock and dam, the falls, all the power generation equipment, the rival Pillsbury mill across the river, the historic and Stone Arch Bridge. A short list of things we got to see in the museum:
-a miniature version of the flour dust explosion that blew up the mill in 1872
-huge cyclonic flour dust collectors (installed after its rebuild, the first of their kind)
-a timeline that boasted 40 women employees in 1920 (go girls go!)
-a huge steam engine (used to power the equipment that separated wheat)
-a photo essay from an artist who squatted in the burnt out mills when they were abandoned
-a 30 foot high box of Bisquick

When our parking meters were about to run out, we said farewell to R.C4ndy and went along with our day.

Spacebug went to roller derby practice, which is also neither exactly school nor work, though does, like a museum, sometimes share qualities of both. On this particular day, it included a very long and frustrating meeting, after which she decided she needed a beer.

It so happens that Spacebug and S4 have lived, for over 2 years, next door to a dive bar that they had never visited. In the spirit of doing things we haven't done, we decided this was the perfect night to do so. Like brunch, it was somewhere we'd never been, and it also has a patio. We were served by the owner, who took pains to remember both of us by first name once he found out we were neighbors. They have Fat Tire on tap and pints are cheap. Apparently the main clientele are Lowertown denizens and postal workers. We'll probably go back.