Mike and I had a few days between his medical appointments so we decided to head up to St Paul to visit Steve.
He lives in downtown St. Paul so we decided to stay close by and booked a room at the Hilton just 3 blocks away. DIRTY blocks. It was really disgusting. Thank god we had Steve to drive us around. They were replacing old pipes and so many streets were closed.
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| Blocks and blocks of no streets |
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| Right in front of Steve’s building |
But oh what a beautiful building. It was one of the first buildings in the city built in 1889. It was the home of the first newspaper. The Pioneer Press.
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| Mike in the lobby. Steve had to come down and get us, because the elevator works only with a key |
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| Elevator from behind, all open |
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| It was built with an atrium that had a glass floor so the press had light in the basement |
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| Stairwells were circular to each floor |
We parked the car in the underground garage and Steve drove us around. Me waiting for “Uber Steve”
I read some of the reviews online and this place was either 1 or 5 stars. Everyone said to stay away from the buffet breakfast. We checked it out, just to make sure. We left laughing. Mike has to be very careful with gluten - we even have separate toasters at home. Nothing gluten free there, no breakfast sausage and the eggs were hard boiled. They were peeled though. The lady at the front desk, whose sister lives in Elgin sent us to a diner right around the corner. So good….
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| Took us awhile to get there walking |
We took a drive out to “The Mall” - that’s all you gotta say “The Mall” - everyone knows what you mean.
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| Mike and Steve watching the rides |
I noticed after I took this picture that one of Steve’s calves was bigger than the other. He said it’s been bothering him. He was walking slow too. I told him to get to his doctor.
Didn’t stop him from taking us out to Stillwater the next day, where he used to live (think Galena) to walk around in and out of the antique shops. I love this bridge.
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| Goes up and down like an elevator |
We met a couple of his friends that he stayed in touch with from when he used to live up there in the 80’s for dinner. She’s a reader and we shared different authors we liked.
It was a nice getaway. Steve ended up in the hospital the day we left. He had blood clots in his legs.
