An Excursion Aboard the Abandoned Hayride

 

An Excursion Aboard an Abandoned Hayride

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for October 16, 2022

Sly like a fox, autumn has crept back into our lives and summer seems to be officially over.  

The colors of the leaves changing are beautiful even if it is a sign for us that Winter is Coming.  I'm not a big fan of winter anymore.

I suddenly had an urge to visit Mystic Lake Casino, but I don't know why.

Last weekend we went down to Elko, Minnesota to meet our friends, the Walters Family, for some dinner and a night of debauchery.  We make real good debauchery together.

On Friday night, the boys and I went to Chaska, Minnesota to take a tour aboard an attraction called the Abandoned Hayride.  Miss Sheri isn't a big fan of haunted houses or things like that so she chose not to go with us.  We joined about 30 other strangers and squeezed into a wagon being pulled by a tractor.  It just seemed like the thing to do.

I found it to be a pretty unique experience.  The wagon is pulled down a trail in the middle of a cornfield and eventually we came across different sets.  Each scenario depicts some kind of psychopaths doing naughty things and trying to scare us in a variety of ways.  I did pretty good until one of the actors snuck in a door behind me with a chainsaw and gave me quite the shock.

Some scenes were scarier than others.  This witch doctor was conjuring up some sort of spell and several of the characters seemed to have problems playing well with others.  They all had their own individual charms though which made each stop entertaining.  

The scene with the lady giving birth to an evil creature was pretty creative.  Actually, I found the entire experience to be rather unique and unlike other haunted houses I've visited.  It was a fun way to spend an hour or so with my sons.

On Saturday, we drove down to Waverly, Iowa to visit my old buddy, Ron "Sugarman" Myers and his lovely wife, Kristie.  We hadn't seen them in awhile so we thought it was a good time to take a road trip and pay them a visit.

Miss Sheri's college alma mater, Wartburg College, is also in Waverly and it just happened to be Homecoming weekend.  So we stopped by campus to visit her old stomping grounds.  She regaled us with stories of all the shenanigans she used to get into before we met one another.

We visited various buildings and classrooms and explored places that we probably weren't supposed to enter.  Just another fun way to spend a Saturday.

Ron is a formerly certified firearms safety instructor so we took advantage of the opportunity to visit the gun range and get some new lessons.  I enjoy shooting but prefer to do it in the attendance of someone who really knows what they're doing so I don't end up hurting myself in the process.

For the rest of the evening we hung out with the Myers family, played games, had some laughs, and even had a campfire.  It was a pleasant way to spend the weekend!

How About Them Minnesota Vikings?

 

How About Them Minnesota Vikings?

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for October 9, 2022

Ever since we came back from our Alaska Trip, I've been way behind on creating blog posts.  We've had a busy Fall and many good times with good friends.  I'm going to attempt to get a bit current by combining a bunch of photos into one post.

We always enjoy cruising the St. Croix River with our good friends, Karl & Tina Zitzewitz.  So we were really looking forward to a date night boat ride with these fun couples.

We went from Afton, Minnesota to Hudson, Wisconsin and back.  We had a great dinner, good drinks, and many, many laughs.  Those are my favorite.

I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Clear Lake, Iowa attending Jason Alexander's Cabin Classic Golf Tournament & Poker Contest.  I always have fun with my buddies from high school.

The Cabin Classic is mainly about the golf tournament, but quite honestly my golf game hasn't really improved in the 20 years or so since we started having this weekend event.  I'm lobbying to get the Poker Contest part added to the title of the weekend.  At least I have a shot at winning in cards.

Our good friends, Tom & Kellie Wolf's son was married and we had a great time at the wedding helping them celebrate.  Congratulations, Thomas & Stephanie!!

I've also spent every other Sunday or so in downtown Minneapolis at US Bank Stadium cheering on the NFC North leading Minnesota Vikings.

This is our second year having Vikings season tickets and it's been a blast.  I bought the tickets so I get to attend each game, while Miss Sheri and the boys alternate joining me for each contest.  Sheri was with me today at the Bears game.

Avery had first pick this year and joined me at the home opener against the team we all love to hate, the Green Bay Packers.

Luke helped me round out the NFC North visiting teams by joining me for the Detroit Lions game.

Our seats are directly behind the smoke breathing dragons near where the players run out on the field at the beginning of each game.  It's a fun view of the field.

We've had a lot of frustrating years being Minnesota Vikings fans, but were anxious for the beginning of the season to see how things would change with first year head coach, Kevin O'Connell.  So far, we've liked what we've been seeing.

Our home opener against the Packers was probably the most satisfying so far.  They've had our number for so many years, it was an awesome feeling to start the season getting a win against them.  

Our quarterback, Kirk Cousins, seems to carry a lot of controversy.  Half of our fans seem to love him and the other half hate him.  I like what he's done for us over the years and glad we have him.  We've certainly had worse quarterback situations in the 30+ years since I've been a fan.  He does seem to struggle with the national spotlight games, but maybe he'll get that figured out this year just in time for a deep playoff run.  I'm hopeful for that anyways.

We also have one of the greatest running backs in the game with Dalvin Cook.  Just look at that hole in front of him!

Justin Jefferson is one of the most dynamic wide receivers in the game and has had a couple awesome home games and one not so awesome.  It's a bunch of fun to watch him griddy around the field when he gets a touchdown or encouraging his teammates after they get one.

Jared Goff and the Vikings came to town and kept us on the edge of our seats.  They opened up the game with a 14-0 lead.  

The Vikings came back and tied it up by halftime.  The Lions responded after the half with 10 more unanswered points and then the Vikings had an exciting comeback and scored two touchdowns in the 4th quarter to win the game.  

We thought things would be different during today's game vs the Chicago Bears.  The Vikings dominated the first half and ran up the score to 21-3 and we thought it was going to be wrapped up early.

Justin Fields proved to be pretty elusive, however, and brought his team back into the game.  They actually took back the lead in the fourth quarter and we were all pretty nervous when the score became 22-21.

Kirk pulled through again though and eventually ran in a 1 yard touchdown to win the game 29-22.  It was a nail biter and thrill ride all in one.

We've had a lot to celebrate so far this year.  Other than a stinker on Monday Night Football against the Eagles, the Vikings are 4-1 and sitting on top of the NFC North.  There's a lot of season left to go, but it's nice for them to get the start they have so far this year and we look forward to watching them the rest of the season and seeing where they can go.

A Weekend Adventure to Chicago

A Weekend Adventure to Chicago

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for October 2, 2022

A couple of weeks ago, we joined our good friends Sue & Ron Korkowski on a weekend adventure to Chicago.  Their son, Mason, moved there recently and lives in a really cool place downtown.  We went with them to explore the neighborhood.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency on the Chicago River which put us right in the heart of the city.  I've been to Chicago many times in my life, but this was seeing it from a perspective I hadn't experienced previously.  I gained a whole new appreciation of the incredible architecture and history of the windy city.

On our first day, we visited the John Hancock Building and 360 Chicago.  It's basically just the observation deck on the 94th floor, but they put the fancy name on it so they can charge more for tickets.  I'm learning a thing or two about a thing or two.

The views were pretty cool.  We were greeted by a squadron of clouds being penetrated & broken up by the sun's morning rays and lighting up the Navy Pier on Lake Michigan.

I'm sure the beaches were much more full than this a couple months earlier.  It was already pretty chilly in Chicago so people weren't crazy enough to be down there swimming.  At least not yet anyways.

Before we left, we felt obligated to give the John Hancock people more money and decided to do the Tilt.  It's a platform built on the edge of the building that leans forward a little bit and makes you feel like you're hovering 1,000 feet above the Magnificent Mile.  I'm not sure if it was worth the extra $8 we paid for the 5 minute ride, but I'm still glad we did it.

The rest of the day we wandered around Chicago.  I hadn't ever really walked on the Navy Pier before which was an interesting experience.  It also reminded me about why they call Chicago the Windy City.  I saw several hats go a flying at the end of that thing.

I spotted this old lighthouse from the end of the pier and let my imagination run wild on it's stories.  I can imagine a couple of good horror movies that could take place in a building like that.

We went to Millenium Park so we could observe the Bean.  Technically it's called Cloud Gate, but residents have been calling this public work of art "the Bean" since it was unveiled in 2004.  It's a really unique thing to see.  The artist created it using computer technology and fitted 168 stainless steel plates and welded them together so they wouldn't have any seams.  I can see why they consider it to be a magical fruit.

I've had a lot of people tell me there's a bunch of weirdos walking around the streets of Chicago, but we didn't really see any of that.  Everyone we encountered seemed pretty normal.

Luke & Avery chose not to join us for this trip so it was nice for Miss Sheri and I to enjoy a few different date nights.  I kind of like hanging out with this lovely lady.

We discovered a bunch of fun restaurants by just wandering around the streets.  We weren't sure if this place had once been a church with the stained glass windows or not, but the cinnamon roll pancakes they served me did make me feel like I was in Heaven!

We took an architecture tour via riverboat that promised to show us some of the best architectural sights that can be seen in the city of Chicago.  I'd always wanted to do this tour, so was excited to see what was in store for us.

It was actually a really cool experience.  According to the company's website, the tour goes down the main branch of the Chicago River, up the north branch to the East Bank Club, and then south past the Willis (Sears) Tower to the old Post Office Building. Each cruise is led by a professional and entertaining guide who provides detailed descriptions of more than 40 landmark buildings.  I found everything to be true, except the guide wasn't really all that entertaining.

We went right past the Merchant Mart.   When it was opened in 1930, it was the largest building in the world.  The Mart is 4.2 million gross square feet, spanning two city blocks and rising 25 stories. It’s currently home to hundreds of tenants, including manufacturers’ showrooms and corporate offices, as well as restaurants and other services.  At least that's what their website said.  I suppose they could be lying.

Marina City is another unique set of buildings where the cars are parked right up to the edges.  It seems a bit dangerous to me, but hey you gotta park where you gotta park.

On Sunday, we went to Shedd Aquarium to check in on the sea life.  We were excited to attend the dolphin show, but it ended in like 10 minutes after they brought out a seal to say Hi.  Honestly, we found it kind of bizarre.

The show's host didn't even acknowledge the large tank of dolphins swimming around right behind him.  I guess he just thought we'd be interested in that seal.  I wanted to see more dolphin tricks!

At least the aquarium had a whole bunch of tanks full of interesting critters like this happy guy.  He made me smile.

On Monday night, we flew home.  We had an awesome time hanging out with the Korkowski family in this incredible city and look forward to our next adventure with them.