On Sunday, we walked to Hell's Kitchen for breakfast. That's a standard Minneapolis treat for Walker and me. I am crazy over their lemon ricotta hot cakes. They moved to a new, huge space, added a bar, and started serving dinner and late night snacks. Their space is beautiful and their food is great. It's a bit of a splurge, though, so one stop per trip is our limit.
After breakfast we ducked into Macy's. They have a tradition at the holidays, a beautiful walk-through display with a holiday theme. This year, again, the theme was "A Day in the Life of an Elf". It's a cute display but one we have seen twice before. They used to switch it up every year. My family hadn't seen it yet, so off we went.
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| Time to start the day! |
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| Building snowmen |
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| Making breakfast before a busy day ~ |
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| Elf school! |
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| Leading the Christmas Tree Chior |
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| Incoming letters for Santa |
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| I love the expression on this mailman's face ~ |
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| Holiday treat factory - YUM! |
The Santa Land area is rather dimly lit. The camera I was using is one I've had for about a year, but I rarely use it. My little Minolta pocket camera that took great photos died right before this trip, and the big SLR camera I favor was too big to comfortably carry around with me. So I did the best I could with the "middle" camera, but the photos aren't great. I know the camera is capable of taking great shots in low light, but I have to learn how to set it properly. Here's one of all the rude people who stood in front of us at the parade. It's about the best shot I got after dark on Saturday, and it isn't very good:
So anyway: we needed to be out of the hotel by noon. It was after 11 when we left Macy's, so we had to hustle. My mom and Diva rode home with Walker and me. Originally I had planned to stop at Trader Joe's in Rochester, just to check them out, but my house sitter was not comfortable wrestling with Ernie to giver her all her meds ,so I thought we'd better just get home. The weather looked to be coming in, too. My mom wanted to stop, though. She needed to stretch her legs. So we stopped, calling it a restroom break. This Trader Joe's has a game for the kids: find the "goose on the loose" somewhere in the store, tell the cashier where he was, and earn a "reward". Diva took the challenge and found that plush goose hanging out in the Christmas display above the deli area. She chose a lollypop for her reward. I bought myself a treat - Cocoa Almond Butter - and we were back on the road.
The rain started shortly after everyone got home. The good news is, the drop in temps that was predicted didn't happen, so it isn't freezing. The bad news is, it's supposed to hang around for a couple days. Hopefully those temps will stay up.
I would call this year's Holidazzle a success, despite the rudeness of our fellow parade goers on Saturday. I was hoping it would go better, because I doubt my mom will want to go back again. It's just getting harder for her to travel. I'm not sure what I would have done differently, except maybe to choose a different corner to watch the parade. The important thing is, we all enjoyed the experience together.
Looks like a really fun time. When I lived in Minnesota, I was a kid and rarely ever went downtown. I remember one summer day when my sister and I and two buddies from church went down on the bus and bought matching dresses and scarves because we sang together in church on occasion. What a fun adventure. I don't think I'd let my kids do that alone these days!
ReplyDeleteOh and what kind of name is Hell's Kitchen for a restaurant?? Interesting!
I loved your description of your first trip there when you were young - reminds me of my favorite show ever, Mary Tyler Moore - I loved her, her apartment, her job, her clothes, her hair - I wanted to be her. I was in my first job out of college and my life wasn't quite as what I wanted it to be as hers was!
It sounds like a fun filled and very long day! I have trouble with low light and cameras too.
ReplyDeleteHell's Kitchen and a lemon ricotta hot cake sounds like a YUMMY way to spend a morning. The Macy's Christmas Display was old fashioned and sweet. LOVED it. Should post picture of people blocking the parade on Facebook with caption, RUDE PEOPLE. Trader Joes is my favorite place to grocery shop. Got to travel about 90 miles to get to one here. Glad Diva found the GOOSE. Good thing you lucked out, no FREEZING rain. Sounds like a GOOD time was had by all. That's what make the holidays special. Live in the moment. Take care.
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