April 6, 2022

We woke up in Cedar Rapids to wet, heavy snow. Fortunately, we were driving away from the storm. Our first stop was Foremost Brewing Cooperative in Owatonna, MN. As we were enjoying lunch and a beer, our friends messaged us and said they were at the CC Club. An hour later, we met them there. Just a quick Premium, but it was good to see Anne, Daryl, Donny, Joe, Jim and Bill. We headed downtown and checked into Element. Nice place and not as busy as I thought it would be. Fulton was across the street so we stopped in for a beer. Fulton was busy but they had a new hazy IPA that is tasty. I noticed a new place, StormKing, that said they brew their own beer. It was close to Fulton so we stopped in. StormKing was also busy and they only had two of their own beers. We tried them and I would like to go back when they have more. And to try their BBQ. I wanted to get some tables, so we headed to O’Donovan’s. We were just about there and we saw Mic & Lisa walking in. We got a couple tables in the back and had a couple beers. We hung out for a while and had some more beer and food. Some of the group from the CC Club showed up and Mike, Debbie, Scott, Donelle, Randy, Jennifer, Al, Megan, Scott, Charles, John and others. Everyone headed to First Avenue. Karla & I went to the Depot first and talked with Donna for a bit. No problems getting into First Avenue with our vax cards and tickets from two years ago. We saw more friends inside. Heather, Carol, Taco, Scott, Laura and more. First was Kiss the Tiger. What I saw I liked, but missed some of it when a friend had a dizzy spell. We went back and stayed with him for a while. There were lots of people with him and there wasn’t anything we could do so we went back on the floor. Next was Tina and the B Sides. The were loud and a lot of fun. Then was Golden Smog. Kraig, Danny, Gary, Mark, Jeff, Jody and Jesse. Great show and a lot of fun. It went by fast and was over too soon. After the show we were quickly ushered out of First Avenue. We went back to O’D’s and had one more. We also saw Alex for the first time. It was a long day so we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.
Day two started with sleeping in. We were up in time for a little hotel breakfast. After we got ready for the day, our first stop was Utepils Brewing. We hung out with Rachel for a while and had a beer. From there we went to Matt’s Bar for Jucy Lucys. A lot of the out-of-town gang was there and we saw Lauren for the first time in a while. After Matt’s, everyone went to Palmers. A few more friends and Tony showed up. We introduced Tony to everyone and he took a few of us on a tour of the basement. It was time to get going so we headed downtown. I dropped Karla off at O’D’s and parked the truck. Walking over to O’D’s I got stuck in the crowd going to the NCAA Women’s basketball championship. Not as big of a group as the night before but we got some tables and had some food and beer at O’D’s. Over to First Avenue. The only opener was Miloe. They were young and energetic and fun. We were close to the stage and saw more friends we had not seen the night before. Jenny, Pam, Steph and Maria. Another great show by Golden Smog. A lot of the same songs, but enough to keep it fun and interesting. They also came back for a second encore and finished with Neil Young’s Revolution Blues. After the show we made sure to say hi to Andrew and Heidi. We did not stick around for long. It wasn’t as late as the night before, but I was tired. We had to walk though wet, heavy snow to get back to the hotel.
We came back early to see Golden Smog and our friends. We had a great time and it was fantastic to see everyone. We could have done without the snow. We are at my mom’s place in St. Cloud and hope to get back to our home soon.