Anniversary Trip

I previously wrote about our ten year anniversary and how we didn't do much for it because it was over the 4th of July long weekend.  Justin had been planning a late celebration all along.  Over the weekend we ventured into Minnesota kid free for a surprise trip.  Well, the surprise was for me.  He planned it.  I didn't know where we were going until right before we got there.  We went to Mille Lacs, MN, the location of the Grand Casino which anyone has seen advertised if they watch MN Twins baseball.  There, we saw Clint Black, the 90's country staple, in concert. 

To get there we ventured through Paul Bunyan country. Well, part of it.  Several areas in MN claim him.  I guess the whole state claims him.  We stopped at the entrance to this fun amusement park. 

Only Babe the Blue Ox was featured outside.  I'm sure the big Paul was inside for admission paying guests!  When we arrived at the casino we spent the afternoon playing the slots and black jack.  I haven't been to a casino outside of Las Vegas for a long time and I forget that there is absolutely nothing to do at regular casinos besides gamble.  They really don't want you doing anything else and there is not even a place to sit unless it is in front of a slot machine or table.  But it's OK every once and awhile. 

The big event of the night at this casino was the Friday seafood night at the buffet.  We waited almost an hour for our number to be called because it was completely packed.  But once we were inside...the crab legs were flying.  I've really never seen anything like it.  I'm not a person who chooses seafood (Justin is) but I enjoyed it still.  There was some good coconut shrimp. 

Finally it was time for Clint Black.  I didn't mention before but this is a dry casino on a dry reservation so there was no alcohol for anyone including the entertainers.  Combine that with the general age demographics of people who go to casinos and you can imagine it was a pretty low key concert.  This was OK with me.  Being pregnant, I really didn't feel like standing and cheering and dancing for two hours so it was nice.  Also...everyone was REALLY stuffed with crab legs.

If you have spent any time listening to country radio you know Clint Black songs.  Some popular ones include "Like the Rain", "When My Ship Comes In", "A Better Man" and "Something That We Do" which I have piano music for somewhere!

I tried but couldn't get a good picture of the intro screens. 

Typical concert photo...they never turn out very good. 

He's still a natural entertainer after all these years and he switched between guitar and banjo and played harmonica at the same time on several songs.  He never took a break from singing the whole time and when the rest of the band left the stage for about twenty minutes he stayed on sang.  He's also quite funny and he had clever things to talk about between every song.  The backup singer, bass player and drummer have been playing with him for thirty years. 

We headed back to get the kids at the lake on Saturday afternoon and we stopped in Detroit Lakes to eat at Zorbaz.  They were having a big beach festival and a farmers market and it was already a good lake day so it was packed.  The place was full of kids acting crazy and we got to sit back and not worry about any of them.  It was awesome.