September 20, 2008

For Rick's birthday, Kathleen and I got him tickets to see the Minnesota Vikings play at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Although both Rick and I grew up in Michigan, Rick for some reason has always been a Vikings fan, where I, like most people in Michigan, am a Detroit Lions fan.

The temperature today was 72 degrees and the wind was out of the NW at 5-12 mph, with partly sunny skies.

Kathleen, Rick and I left the house today around 2:00 p.m. The plan was that we would drop off Kathleen at her Mom's house in St. Cloud, then Rick and I would continue on to Minneapolis where we would stay the night in a hotel, see the game on Sunday, then drive back to St. Cloud after the game to pick up Kathleen, and then it would be on to Leech Lake.

On the way to St. Cloud we had to pass through Brainerd on Hwy. 371. In Brainerd, there are several stop lights along the highway which unfortunately slows traffic. At one of these stop lights I caught a glimpse of something moving along the windshield wipers, and when I looked carefully I saw it was a mouse! The little rodent must have climbed up on the engine at the lake, and now had unwittingly hitched a ride with us. Kathleen was not happy to see our little furry friend, to say the least. Somewhere along the way from Brainerd to St. Cloud the mouse must have fallen off, because by the time we arrived at Kathleen's Mom's house, neither Rick nor I could find it.

The entire group of Coyle siblings had gathered at Kathleen's Mom's house for a surprise dinner with their mother. After a brief visit with Kathleen's brothers and sisters, Rick and I were on our way to Minneapolis.

We had a nice dinner, watched some college football on the big screen TV in the room, then went to bed early. We planned to get up early on Sunday morning so we could attend a tailgate party a few blocks from the stadium.

No fishing today.


Me and Rick with the Vikings cheerleaders during the tailgate party.