Thursday, July 17, 2003

Robbie Says So...

Yes, while in Grand Forks last weekend I did touch 'em all. One man's holy trinity plus one:

- Engelstad Arena: Classsssy. Omigod this place is gorgeous. I could have spent an afternoon wondering the hallways, as this place doubles as a Sioux hockey museum with mucho photos on the walls complete with portraits and bios of all the Sioux All-Americans. The rink looks much cozier than on TV, plus it has leather seats with cupholders. In typical North Dakota fashion, the doors were wide open and I had my run of the place (plus there was summer hockey camp going on.) I was only there 30 minutes or so as I had to skedaddle to a high school reunion picnic. That night, I talked to classmates Paul and Bob, who had walked into the arena in the afternoon. Did you talk to the cop? They asked. No, I said, I ducked him. Yeah, we thought he was going to kick us out when he asked us what we were doing there; but he ended up giving us a tour of the lockerroom, weight room, Engelstad's box, etc.

- Space Cruise: Okay, a space cruise (as I learned from the Grafton Boys) is driving around in the country whilst drinking beer. Simple and silly yes, but relaxing as hell. Saturday afternoon I drove west and south of Grand Forks with Schlitz and my favorite Creedence record. Mock the flat farmland of North Dakota all you want, but nothing bothers you when you're under that big sky and can see over to the next county. Sigh.

- Whitey's: Not the same bar as the old days (the Flood of '97 took care of that), but pints of Premos were only $1.85 and the service was as always top-notch. I would have bought a teeshirt but the one I got at the El Roco hit the spot!

- The Red Pepper: I hate myself. I walked into this place after a couple of beers at Whitey's knowing I should order a ham grinder with taco meat, just like my college days (except it would have been after about five or six Schmidt/City bottles at Whitey's.) But my 37-year old self stepped in and ordered a half grinder. Half what? It was tasty as hell but went by way too fast. Never ever order a half grinder again, EVER. Who knows when you'll be back in the Forks again? As classmate Jens said about the Pepper: "Three stops there in twenty-four hours."