Sioux Falls Getaway

There is a bar downtown Sioux Falls that I really like to visit - Monks Ale House. They have 50 different craft beers on tap. They also had excellent food although they now only have pizza, although it is pretty good pizza. Anyways, we stop in every once in a while as they have interesting different beers to sample. I have told Kurt that sometime I wanted to stay in Sioux Falls so I can just sit at Monks all night and sample different beers without having to drive. So, this weekend we did just that. We stayed Thursday and Friday night downtown at the Country Inn. This was supposed to be a relaxing weekend of just wandering around downtown. Didn't quite end up that way but oh well, maybe next time.

I worked until noon on Thursday, had to stop at Mary's for some things she needed from her condo, dropped the dog off at the kennel and headed south. Ate some lunch at Arby's, dropped off a bunch of crap at Goodwill, drove through Frankman to look at trucks, stopped at Obscure Brewing but we had the time wrong and they didn't open for another hour so just headed downtown. 

Checked in to our hotel, nice room with a good view of the river.

Got settled at the hotel and headed out. First stop was WoodGrain Brewing. We had been here before and were not impressed but Kurt wanted to give them another try. Actually had a couple pretty good beers here, and a 1919 as I need to pace myself! My plan was to take a picture of each place we stopped it but this was the only one I remember to take...

They had games and a basket of books you could use and according to the sign take if you wanted. We were at a brewery in Shakopee once and they had a game 'Would You Rather' that Kurt and I played. Well, we didn't really play, we just read the questions and answered them. There are some quite bizarre questions and often Kurt will just roll his eyes at me and not answer. Anyways, they had a book there that was just 'Would You Rather' questions. So of course I had to take it! I will have to bring them a book to replace it sometime. A fund book that can lead to some interesting conversations.

Like I said - some questions are just wrong... These are the eye roll questions.

From Woodgrain we walked up to the Blarney Stone and had one drink then on to MacKenzie River to meet Glen and Sue for dinner. I had the chicken chili and some of Kurt's BBQ Chicken pizza. The chili was excellent - they pizza was okay.

After dinner we walked down to Stogeez Cigar Lounge and met Glen and Sue again for a drink and cigar. Well, the guys had a cigar and Sue and I dealt with the smoke... They had a beer here from Remedy made just for them - it was quite good! Walked back to the hotel after cigars and called it a night.

Slept in a bit this morning and headed to Josiah's for breakfast. I had The Cure. It was a croissant bun with ham, sausage, bacon, egg, hashbrowns, cheese, and a maple butter. It was VERY good! Kurt had the biscuits and gravy and wasn't quite so impressed...

After breakfast we headed out to look at some trucks. Kurt's truck has been having some issues so thought it was time we started looking for a replacement. Drove through some lots but just looked. Ended up at T&L Auto and finally got him to test drive one. We were going to go to lunch to think about it but after talking numbers I could tell he wanted it and was never going to pull the trigger so I said just get it. It didn't take much convincing. So ended up coming home with this beauty.

So the rest of the afternoon was spent dealing with the financing,took some things to Mary and went to lunch at Jimmy John's, Last Stop, and then back downtown. 

By the time we got back to the hotel it was after 4:00. I was ready for a drink so we finally made our way to Monks. Had just one (Toppling Goliath Peacharine Dry Hop Pseudo Sue) and thought we should probably get something to eat before we had too many samples. Walked to JL Burgers - love their burgers and chips! Enjoyed our burgers and a stop at Pave before making our way back to Monks. I had an Infusions Orange Creamsicle Vanilla Bean Blonde here before which I really liked and this time they had a S'Mores Vanilla Bean Blonde by Infusion so thought I would give it a try. I just got a little 5 oz and it was great, but 5 oz was just enough. Also tried a White Rascal which I had seen when we were there before which was okay. They had live music and she was very good so fun time. Walked across the way to Remedy Brewing for a Kolsch (okay) and Hefe-Metal (I really like) and some Would You Rather. Decided maybe needed a little something to soak up some alcohol so we shared some pretzel bite with queso dip which was quite yummy.

Headed back to the hotel and hotel bar for one last beverage. I had one last infusion, the Vanilla Bean Blonde. I do like these beers although one is good, can't imagine sitting and drinking all night.

Slept in a bit again this morning and just went down to free hotel breakfast. It was actually pretty good, just made an english muffin with egg and sausage. From the hotel we had to go pick up Kurt's truck. He had left it at the dealership for the night as we couldn't park at the hotel (very limited parking due to downtown location). Got there and Kurt jumped in and it was dead. They bought up a jump pack and were quite embarrassed. We are pretty sure a light was left one - at least we are hoping! Stopped at mom and dad's to drop off some stuff and dad wanted to see Kurt's truck. Quick stop at Kwik Star for some waters, Papa Murphy's, and back home.

Wasn't quite the weekend I had planned but still a good one.

Until next time - back to the grind...