Weekend Beer Run...

..in St. Paul.

There are many ways a young Twin City-ian chooses to spend a weekend night, somehow I managed to glimpse into most of it. I was supposed to meet up with an old college-high friend who moved into the deep south, I stopped out near the Fairgrounds to get rid of some trash and came across a bustling strip mall comics store called Source. Having never been into anything close save Hub Hobby or the Library, I gave it a taste...

There were more D & D dice than literature. There seemed to be many different factions, the card players were the younger, teen- types; huddled over the magic cards yelling incoherently to each other. The college types were in comics section, split between the anime and graphic novels. The old folks were in the games. War games, sci fi games, medieval games; suddenly I realized that nerds were really closet militarists. A chill went up my spine. One of these geeks could be the next Hitler.

I bolted, grabbed the friend and made out to Cathedral Hill. My experience in St. Paul's drinking scene has been limited, so we cruised into the Happy Gnome and filled up on Sierra Nevada Ale and Murphy's Irish Stout in prissy glasses. Across the bar I started up a conversation with a wanna-be drifter. We talked hitchhiking and backcountry living, so I invited him to get a table. The firehouse was cozy, surrounded by 40 somethings on date night. Not our favorite atmosphere. In a bit of irony we dashed out again before we got too tipsy and made our way to the world famous Mickey's. Never did a bowl of chili, grilled cheese and bacon sandwich, and a banana chocolate milkshake taste so good.

The rest of night was a blur. Our companion, Wade, invited us to his Franklin bordello and we kicked a few PBRs, chatted advanced computer systems and property rights, and called it a night. I woke up late Sunday, watched the Cowboys got trampled, texted my friend home to the bayou.

What a weekend...

-JKG