Minnesota

After an exhausting first year of medical school, this may well be my last summer of earned freedom. After this year, it seems I will be relegated to the real life (or is that no life?). So, in an effort to live while I can, I've decided to make it a summer full of travels, minus the Europe thing. My first stop this summer was Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota to visit my long time friend Gabe. It turned into a sort of golf vacation (we played 6 rounds in as many days), but I also got a chance to see my share of the Twin Cities. The area is beautiful, filled with great views of the skylines, the Mississippi River, St. Paul's Cathedral, among other things. Minneapolis, in particular, is one of the cleanest cities I've been to, and has a very modern feel. After one of our rounds early in the week, Gabe took me to a fantastic hole-in-the-wall burger joint in South Minneapolis called Matt's, which has been featured on the Discovery channel for having the best burgers in the state. The one to get is called the Jucy Lucy - two patties squeezed together along the outside, with the cheese melted in between the two as the burgers cook. Topped off with just pickles, it actually was one of the best burgers I have ever had, and definitely the most unique. I had to get a t-shirt. We went to a Twins game on Thursday at Target Field in the new stadium, which is a great ballpark. Unfortunately the Twins lost by one (9-8), but not before rallying over the last few innings to make it an exciting game, and also not before I could finish my share of brews and ballgame food. Drinking a cold local Summer Shandy beer and eating a brat in our right field seats, I felt like summer had finally arrived, and the American pride was in full swing. On Saturday, we also drove through St. Paul for a while, during which we went inside St. Paul's Cathedral. Its size rivals some of those I saw in Europe last summer, and is similarly decorated with some gaudy, albeit beautiful architecture. We spent the last day playing one more round of golf at Gabe's home course, Mississippi Dunes, and finished with a tasty bbq fajita dinner at Popitos, their favorite local Mexican fix. The week ends when I fly back tomorrow morning, after which I will have a few days to spend at home before shipping up to Boston with some friends to have a good time. Follow my picasa link to see the photos, or just check out the slideshow.