scuba square lake crosby mines cuyuna portsmouth mine

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Weekend Update

This weekend Seth and I grabbed our SCUBA gear and headed out to explore some local dive spots.

The first location on Saturday was at Square Lake, just north of Stillwater, MN. The lake is mentioned quite a bit amongst the local dive community for it’s proximity to Minneapolis (40 minutes) and decent visibility. Unfortunately (and fortunately) we were there during an open water weekend. This was unfortunate because with so many new divers in the water, the water got mucked up immediately. We maybe had 5 to 8 feet of vis…but we did find a sunken boat! If you head into the water from the stair entrance near the dock on the right side of the lake and take a compass heading of about 315, you’ll find the boat in about 12 feet of water.

The good part about being there during an open water weekend was that there were a bunch of divers and dive instructors to talk to about local diving. Plus, we met a guy about our age who runs a dive club so hopefully we can join a few of those trips this summer.

  

After being disappointed with Square Lake we decided to do some research on other locations. We had heard about the Crosby Mines, which were flooded about 30 years ago and have since been converted to Cuyuna County State Rec Park. There is camping, mountain biking, diving, fishing, etc. It’s a really cool park and hopefully we’ll camp there this summer. Anyway, we decided to dive Portsmouth Mine which has a depth of 500-600 feet! We went to about 57 feet :) When we arrived there were no other divers and it was a little drizzly. We talked with a local man who was putting in his boat for some fishing and he told us he’s seen divers here before so that was reassuring.

Portsmouth Mine was great! The visibility was probably around 30’ and the terrain was much more interesting with old metal scrap, trees that were still standing up in the water, etc. A previous diver took their Flip Cam down to record a dive and it’s pretty much what we saw, so if you’re curious, check this out but turn off your volume (bad music): Portsmouth Dive

All in all we got four dives in so that was awesome. Now we’re all warmed up for the Apostle Islands boat trip June 1-3rd…

matt reed

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Matt’s here!!

garden

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Our garden is ready to grow!

Against the trellis will be beans, then heirloom tomatoes, followed by another variety of tomatoes and then lettuce.

Keep out rabbits!!

weather patio twins timberwolves dawn weeman matt reed paley

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Overdue Update…

Okay, so it’s been a while since either of us have paid attention to this blog. Time for an update!

First, the weather. It has been finicky and Kelsey is finally experiencing real storms. Recently, it’s been really warm and really humid. Those two things plus a few other elements have been causing some serious rain, thunder and lightening. It’s also allowed us to enjoy the outdoors with 70-80 degree weather. Take that, Oregon. We just decorated our patio:

 

We’re going to add a couple more chairs, outdoor pillows and maybe a giant mosquito net (Seth would never allow this, unfortunately) and will then have to throw a little party. Maybe when Matt gets here this weekend…

We just had our first non-family visitor. Dawn Weeman came out to visit last weekend. We stayed plenty busy - bike riding, touring the Guthrie Theater, dinner party at the Shoenke’s, visiting Anne Halvorson and her new baby Ella, getting manicures, as well as meeting Seth at Target for a 400 calorie lunch this past Monday.

We continue to try new restaurants (check out the map).

Kelsey is still unemployed (woohoo!) It will be four weeks this Friday. During her time off, she’s been meeting with a lot of great people at Target and ad agencies, trying to determine her next career move. She’s also been doing yoga two to three times a week at Core Power Highland Park, cooking fabulous dinners for Seth and doing the shopping, errands, cleaning, etc…that part is not as exciting. She does enjoy shopping during the day, when her husband isn’t leaning over to look at price tags…hello CB2, Jonathan Adler, Anthropologie, Macy’s shoe department and J. Crew.

Seth has been enjoying Target and just met up with their tennis team. They play on Saturday mornings. In addition to Saturdays, Seth has been scheduling some singles matches through that same group. He has also taken to more bike riding and running, both of which seem to be more enjoyable here (better weather and the ground is flat).

Last week we went to a Twins home game (We went for the Red Sox, let’s not kid ourselves) AND the last home game for the Timberwolves.

And Paley is doing just fine…

panchovilla eat st

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A couple nights ago we hopped on our bikes and grabbed the midtown greenway to nicollet st / “eat st.”

Seth got a reco to check out Pancho Villa (@panchovillaMLPS) for some tasty Mexican. It was awesome in a typical Mexican food way. Nothing crazy, just delicious! Plus they had a great margarita menu and we were able to sit outside to soak in some sun.

Stillwater SCUBA Square Lake

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Scuba Mission Successful.

After reading some local dive reviews, we decided to scope Square Lake, just north of Stillwater. In the summer the lake warms to 70 (surface) and it doesn’t get much deeper than 75 feet. Access is super easy. There are a couple of sunken boats and a wing from a plane to find. Aquatic life is nothing crazy but the water is clean and clear (up to 25’ vis).

This will be a good place to come in a month to refresh before the Apostle Islands trip in June.

masu NE minneapolis

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A couple weeks ago we ventured out for some ramen and ended up at Masu in NE Minneapolis. It had an awesome atmosphere (including anime movies, great music and some sort of Asian video game). While we didn’t try the sushi, we had an amazing seaweed salad, ramen, green tea ice cream all with beer and sake. Our bartender/server gave us some sparking sake with our ice cream. It was delicious!

DIY minneapolis garment rack

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We’ve been trying to figure out some ways to dress up our bedroom. It’s always been kind of blah except for some nice lamps, curtains and artwork. After viewing some different blogs today, I (Kelsey…obviously) decided to make an industrial garment rack - inspiration from A Beautiful Mess. I’ve always wanted to find a better way to inspire outfits and with Seth wearing suits everyday, it seemed like it could be a good addition to the bedroom.

The hardest part was getting myself to the hardware store. The Ace in Uptown was perfect - they had everything I needed (although I did have to mix and match some different metals). Plus, the guys were super helpful - sorting through everything I needed and cutting and threading the steal piping to the appropriate lengths. Once I got home and started building, it maybe took 20 minutes.

minneapolis DIY

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Pieces to Kelsey’s next DIY project…

PS - The guys at the Ace in Uptown rock! They not only cut and thread all the steel for me but helped me find all those random pieces. Apparently they love projects like this!

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Thanks to our dear new friends Amy & John, we didn’t have to spend Easter by ourselves because they invited us over to their home in South Minneapolis.

The day was awesome. It started with introducing all the dogs - Paley, Vinny and Riley. Vinny is Amy and John’s beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback, Riley is Josh’s Siberian Husky and Paley is our Siberian Husky. There was a bit of a rough introduction, but things settled a bit throughout the day. This could have possibly been due to two males both pining over our dear Paley :)

Then the eight of us had an amazing brunch, of which we contributed deviled eggs (should have made more with bacon). Alissa made an amazing soft eggs + lobster bruschetta, Amy & John made bacon wrapped pork, bacon, asparagus and cheese torte, and kale with goodness like onions and garlic. Mimosas and Bloody’s flowed throughout the day.

Following brunch we found the Easter Bunny’s hidden eggs, dyed eggs and played a version of cornhole. Portland friends - you would get a kick out of this new version. Essentially all the same rules, but if you don’t hit a score of 21 exactly, you get knocked back down to 13. This happened in one game about 3 or 4 times to Seth’s team. Bummer!!

Seth had a pretty funny moment - trying to be the Dog Whisperer, he told the dogs to “Stay” as he walked backwards…eventually walked backwards into the outdoor fireplace and stumbled and flipped backwards over the whole thing.

minneapolis Lake of the Isles sunday

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We had a great weekend in Minneapolis and the weather sure helped! The weather continues to be freaky warm.

Friday night we had our GrubwithUs dinner, which should get its own post, but in summary it was awesome! The location was so-so (actually, we will probably never be back). We dined at the Atlas Grill in downtown which primarily serves those looking for a nice lunch or happy hour connected to the skyway. Our dinner started at 7:00 and a little after 8:00 our server told us they were closing, which was a huge bummer because our group of strangers was having fun together. We bonded over HBO shows, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and the love of food. We were all about the same age - four professionals and one law school student who was looking for some non-law school friends. I don’t blame him.

We got an early start on Saturday, hitting up the 8:00 Intro to Power Yoga class at CorePower in Highland Park (St. Paul). I am doing a free week trial and Seth wanted to join so we made it happen, even though it was a little early. After yoga we walked to get some breakfast at Panera and then took Paley to the Minneahaha off-leash recreation area for the first time.

Holy crap - this dog rec area was amazing! It is about 7.5 acres of wooded area leading down to the Mississippi River where dogs can hit up the beach for a swim. We started running Paley through the trail system and when she would go the wrong way, we’d tell her “this way!” and she’d come running back and lead us down another trail. Then we ran down to the water where Paley would wade until it hit her belly, watching the retrievers swim after balls. This park is great, but it is not really fenced in all the way. We won’t go there all the time, because Paley does love to run away until we can’t see her, but when we have good treats and Paley needs a lot of exercise, it is a good option. It was pretty much dog heaven.

Then Saturday night we went to Bev’s Wine Bar for our new friend John’s surprise 30th birthday party. We had a blast and met a ton of really great people. We ended up staying out until midnight, grabbing a late dinner at Bar La Grassa with a few of them.

Sunday we were in much need of some relaxation and since the weather was beautiful, we headed to Lake of the Isles for a little R&R. Hence, the photos.

Edina cupcakes sweet retreat food network cupcake wars

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Sweet Retreat - A Cupcake Boutique

I never thought I’d find a better cupcake shop than St. Cupcake in Portland. Oh was I ever wrong! Yesterday I wandered around Edina - a cute suburb right outside of Minneapolis - and found Sweet Retreat, a cupcake shop of wonders. The shop was actually a finalist on the Food Networks “Cupcake Wars.” You can read about that here. I can taste the reason why! I ordered the Peanut Butter Cup and the Cookies-N-Cream. Don’t they make your mouth drool just looking at them?! Best cupcakes EVER. Seth agrees.

grubwithus dinner minneapolis atlas bar and grill

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Grubwithus Update

Good news! Not only is the dinner on but we have a restaurant. 

There are four people joining us for dinner this Friday at Atlas Bar and Grill in downtown Minneapolis. One of the four is Seth’s co-worker and the other three are complete strangers. I’m so excited to see how this pans out!

Check out our meal here

st paul moscow on the hill vodka

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A drink in St. Paul at Moscow on the Hill. The boys drinking horseradish martinis and the ladies with sweeter concoctions.

Minneapolis bicycling lake calhoun lake of the isles lake harriet lake nokomis broders freewheel bike shop

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Biking the City

We did an amazing bike ride today with the Coffrin parents. It was about 20 miles long but we took a couple stops along the way, including Broder’s for lunch. The entire ride took about 3.5 hours so it was a great way to spend the late morning/early afternoon. Seth’s parents rented bikes from Freewheel, which is noted on the map below. Freewheel is right on the greenway so very convenient for picking up and dropping off. The whole ride was along water - first we started along the Mississippi River then we rode along Lake Nokomas, Minnehaha Creek and then Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles.

See our route here:

 
View Bike Route with Coffrin parents in a larger map

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