a chilly saturday...

greetings...we are back from our stay
at the airport hilton in bloomington
(just minutes on a free shuttle to the
mall of america!).

wow! again...gary and i got the royal
treatment and were looked after like
celebrities. my man shawn anderson made
certain that we were transferred to a
penthouse room on the 12th floor where
there is a comped bar, complete with
champagne, a a breakfast filled with
everything you can imagine..so much for
those 6 pounds i just lost! :(

once we checked in we returned to the
lobby and awaited our minnesota miracle
family that was due in at 5. they didn't
get there until 5:30 so eric baker
took the family on the kitchen tour right
away so they could finish that up before
their dinner rush. i decided to go along.



below...becky chepokas, mitch's mom far left.









here's eric explaining the process of collecting
minnesota's famous wild rice...he just went up
north recently on a wild rice excursion...pretty
cool, really.





here's a fun factoid!
below, in eric's left hand is wild rice you
would typically find at a super market and
in his right is some authentic, minnesota
wild rice that he actually harvested.
they ride in canoes and pass through the
rice reeds and knock it into the canoe with
those sticks he's holding...neat huh?



eric ended his magnificent tour by
giving the family one of his wildlife
photos...signed of course. and we let him
get to work.

we parted ways with the family and cranked
up the fun level by heading straight up to
the executive lounge on our floor for some
cocktails and hourdouvers.
here's shawn, me, gary & becky...




the beautiful minneapolis skyline.
my dad is buried in the fort snelling
cemetery pictured here with all the
white markers.




here's gary...sick of my camera...again!


this young man...is a california transplant
wishing to break into the acting biz. hmmm,
perhaps he is hoping to hook up with the
cohen brothers or something???
he already models and he was fabulous at
waiting on us..thanks so much gabriel


quite needless to say, i mean i could go
on and on about this hotel and it's
fabulous staff, we had the greatest time
and we plan to make it back there often.
it's fun to just go stay at a hotel!
the yummy sheets and over the top comfortable
bed~the blue water grill! oh my God i forgot
to mention my most favorite meal in my
lifetime...a farm raised, off the coast of
hawaii, kona fish...here it is...
this was aMAZing fish!!!
eric? kudos my man! thank you so much!



this is gary's walleye with what else???
minnesota wild rice.




thank you again, shawn. you went way out
for us and i sincerely appreciate your
generousity and friendship. i'll see you soon