I Can Do Spontaneity

Today (Friday) was the last day of my vacation without having to work....anywhere.  So yesterday I decided to take advantage of it and pack it full of activites.

 My sister and I in the fern garden

The plan was to get up early and my sister and I would pick up the BFF and head to the Minneapolis Farmers Market.  None of us had ever been.  I had many people telling me different ways to go and decided that I was going to wing it from memory.  I knew that it was by the Basilica but didn't know exactly were.  Long story short....the Basilica Block Party was getting ready for this weekend so all the streets that I wanted to take were closed.  This nice security guard let me turn around in his parking lot and gave me directions on how to get around to an available parking lot.  But we couldn't find it.  We spend probably 45 minutes driving around looking for EAST Lyndale Ave. NORTH!  What kind of street name is that.  One that you can't find. (Once we got home, I re-Googled it.  We were 100 yards away.  So close.)

 The Sunken Garden--Gorgeous!

We decided to split our losses and head over to Como Zoo & Conservatory in St. Paul.  Somehow just by pure luck we ended up in Downtown Mpls and I knew how to go OUT!

We spend the next 4 hours looking at all the gardens and animals.  A zoo is a zoo is a zoo.  But the gardens (and butterflies) were amazing.  The last time I was here was when I was in kindergarten.  It was just like I remembered it.

I'm going to have to keep this place in mind for a later event that hopefully will come sometime in the future...ie. wedding.  It was a beautiful day with the sun shining with a light breeze.  I'm going to do the part of being a non-mom and complain about the pre-adolescent girls.  They were as snooty and pushy as they come.  Was I ever like that??

Coy fish in The Sunken Garden pond

 I love the texture of the leaves.  It reminds me of wallpaper.

Then it was time for lunch.  One of the things I want to accomplish this summer is to do the Juicy Lucy challenge.  So we headed back to Minneapolis to the 5-8 Club.  MmmmmMmmmmmMmmmm!  It was delicious.  It was a pleasant little hole in the wall and now that I know that you pass it going to the Mall of America is going to be a dangerous thing.

Next time, we'll do Matt's Bar and the Grand Ole Creamery.  Lake Nokomis is a gorgeous area.  If I were young again, I'd forget about buying a house and I'd rent a place in the heart of Minneapolis's wonderful parks and lakes.

The pictures below are from the Butterfly Enclosure.  These are just a few of the butterflies that stayed still enough for a photo opportunity.  Everyone else stayed flying about.