This past week I had to make a run to Minneapolis for meetings with a client, so Wendy and I decided to make it a date weekend to get away and have some time for just the two of us.

On Friday night we headed to the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre for a production of A Wrinkle in Time. The children’s book by Madeline L’Engle was (and still is) a favorite of Wendy’s. I was unfamiliar with the story, but later understood Wendy’s curiosity about how they would stage it. I found it to be a fascinating science fiction plot with a touching human message. I told Wendy afterwards that it reminded me of the original Star Trek: the cutting edge science of the day woven into an engaging story that explored social issues and, ultimately, human nature. As always, MCT did a masterful job and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Saturday morning took us on a jaunt through IKEA to purchase some replacement glassware. Of course, you can’t visit the store without wandering and dreaming for a while. We ended up in downtown for a matinee performance of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Guthrie Theatre [pictured]. Wendy and I were in Pella Shakespeare Company’s production of the show a few years ago, and it’s one of our favorites. It was fun to see it staged so differently, and so well.

I must admit that the weekend was nearly ruined – or at least severely damaged – when it was discovered that my on-line reservation for the hotel downtown was not completed. Wendy and I both remember me making the reservation, but I must not have completed it correctly and discovered that I never received a confirmation. So, let’s just say that there was no room at the inn we regularly stay at, love, and were expecting to enjoy [strike one]. In true male “fix-it” mode I quickly got on-line and made reservations at another hotel a mile away…without consulting Wendy [strike two]. After the show I immediately started driving us to our “new” hotel, once again,…without consulting Wendy [strike three – end of the inning].

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for me at that point. Yet, I’m happy to report that, in the end, the “new” hotel far exceeded our expectations [hit]. We found a wonderful little restaurant just a few blocks away and walked in the unseasonably warm evening weather to enjoy a romantic dinner [hit]. The following morning’s walk to the Metrodome for the Minnesota Vikings game was a lot longer than we anticipated (1.1 miles to be exact), but the warm weather was beautiful and the walk did us both good [walk]. We then had the pleasure of watching our beloved Vikings win their first game of the season from some excellent seats in the 9th row [GRAND SLAM!].

So, despite striking out in the late innings, I was overjoyed to have pulled out the victory with a walk-off (1.1 mile walk-off, mind you) homer in the bottom of the 9th. Which reminds me, in case you might not have picked up on it, Wendy and I also watched the baseball playoffs all weekend 😉