Monday, May 27: Last full day of con activities. A couple of my friends and I went to dinner at a conveyor belt sushi place that had opened since last year’s con, then we walked over to an H Mart that was also new. I almost bought this footwear spray just because of the cute boot shaped bottle it came in.

 
Tuesday, May 28: Checked out of the con hotel, had a last breakfast with a friend, then drove through rain showers to the Milwaukee metro area, with a stop at the Mars Cheese Castle on the way because of course I’m going to stop if they’re open. I checked into another hotel, unloaded my luggage and dragged it up to the third floor because the elevators were out of order, defrosted the freezer compartment in the mini-fridge, then ventured out to pick up Mr. K at the airport so we could begin the couples portion of this trip.

 
Wednesday, May 29: Mr. K and I took a drive out into the Wisconsin countryside to have lunch a lakeside eatery, then stopped at a market to purchase what is according to one source the best pie in the state before getting what was possibly the state’s slowest quick oil change. Then it was on to American Family Field for our first visit there to see the Cubs take on the Brewers. It didn’t go well for our side, but there were racing sausages to see and Dippin’ Dots to eat so that was something. We stayed long enough after the game to see the roof open and the sprinklers come on to get the field watered.

 
Thursday, May 30: Conveniently there was a day game between the Cubs and the Brewers, so we went to that and got to see the field with the roof open and from a different vantage point. Game outcome was unfortunately similarly disappointing for us as the day before. But since I’d sprung for the fancy seats (there was a senior discount special on them for this particular game), we were able to get cheese curds delivered to our seats so that was some consolation. After the game, we decided to skip the “senior stroll” around the warning track in favor of getting out earlier for our drive to Minneapolis for the next stage of our adventure.

 
Friday, May 31: Bit of a soggy day, but we put on our raincoats and walked across the street from our hotel to spend some time at the Mall of America while waiting for it to be time to proceed to the event that dictated this stop. Was pleasantly surprised to find CO2 levels were moderate indoors there; less than half of what we had in our hotel room and in the greeen=good range on my monitor. We only bought consumables: lunch, snacks, treats from the M&Ms store (it was two stories!) to enjoy later. It was fun to wander and see the things they have that most malls don’t: amusement park rides, storefronts for things like a hall of mirrors attraction, etc. Went back to the hotel to change, then got dinner and went to the main event: Cirque du Soleil Bazzar show under the big top. It didn’t feel as big as other Cirque tent shows we’ve seen, either in number of seats or number of performers. It was good, though too clown-heavy for me, just not quite the spectacle I was expecting based on past experience.

 
Saturday, June 1: Time to hit the road and make serious progress towards home, where things like doctor and dentist appointments await. We made it from Minneapolis to Bismarck, North Dakota. Along the way, we stopped in Fargo to see if the pie place we tried last time we were there would have any pie this time (they did not, so we made do with one fruit tart and one lemon tart). We also stopped at rest area I don’t think we’ve ever rested at before, which had a trail down to a lake, so that was a nice diversion. Unlike in our last hotel, the window opened in this one, so we were able to get the CO2 level down to something I felt very comfortable with.

 
Sunday, June 2: Another day of driving. Stopped again at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Saw a bison this time. It was way far way so I don’t have any decent photos of that. Instead, enjoy another bit of rest stop scenery, this time a rattlesnake warning in Montana. Of course we didn’t make it out of that very wide state in one day; we stopped for the night in Butte.

 

*****
On this date in 2023: A Week in Photos: 2023, Part 21
2010 to 2022: No journal entries
2009: Stuff In, Stuff Out
2007 & 2008: No entries
2006: Garden, Empire, and Constitution States
2002 to 2005: No entries
2002: Repetitive Motion Injury