Our One Year Anniversary

We had decided to not get each other anything, but I couldn't help myself. Although Scott said he wanted to surprise me by making a cake. I had been wanting to get him a crepe pan and our Anniversary seemed like a good excuse.

The whole cake thing fell through when I had a wedding to shoot on Saturday.

So of course we had crepes for breakfast. 

Scott joked that I was was being anti-social during breakfast. I guess a year of marriage will do that to you.

It was a nice day out so we decided to take our new kayaks out for the first time. As you can see we still need to get a car rack for them.

With Minnehaha being dried up we decided to go to the chain of lakes, starting at Lake of the Isles. 

It was so peaceful between Cedar and Lake of the Isles. It was cool to be in a part of the city I had never seen before.

You never get to see this on a bike.

It was really neat to be on the lake instead of around it. It was almost like we weren't in the city anymore.

It was exciting to be kayaking in the city.

Unfortuneatly due to sewer construction the channel to Lake Calhoun was closed.

We had planned on kayaking until we were bored, but this cut our fun day down to size.

It seemed to get windier out and paddling was more difficult. It was "warm" out, but the splashing water was cold and the wind was pushing us backwards.

How many big cities can you take this picture in. The Great Lake cities are great in all, but the small lakes around Minneapolis are great to to explore.

After working really hard to get back to the channel between Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake we took a break.

Since all the lakes were windy we decided to call it a day. Even though we wanted to go longer.

Scott suggested we try Basset Creek so we went to find a spot to launch.

This is one of the many old grain mills in the city that are shuttered, but still standing. Thus the Mill City.

The water was a little rough.

We tried another spot that was too shallow.

Next spring I look forward to paddling down the Bassett, Shingle and Minnehaha Creeks.

Back at home we decided what to do next. Scott said I wasn't allowed to do any cleaning or chores, that I had to relax today. I feel like our anniversary felt like any other day. Having just gone on our honeymoon we decided to stay home instead of going on a trip. I wish we had gone somewhere anyway.

We were pretty much lazy until we were hungry for dinner.

We decided to have dinner at the Black Forest Inn.

We drank this delicious and appropriate Ayinger Celebrator. I love German beer.

We'd lived within walking distance from this place for two years. I recently stopped in for drinks with the old BBY crew and thought it would be the place for our anniversary dinner.

Brooke choose the paprkia schnitzel and I got the hausplatte, since it had all the sausage and kraut man could eat. We shared the big pretzel.

This place is really cool inside. I wish they'd keep all the guests on the bar side, so it felt more lively. Nothing worse than a half-empty dining room.

The night was still young so I suggested we go to Pat's Tap, which is nearby.

They had a rather intricate bar. I believe the diamonds signify that this was a Grain Belt bar. Back in the early 20th century bars served one brand and were often owned by the breweries.

Had we had any quarters I totally would have played. I said this game reminded me of Shakey's. Scott didn't get my reference.

What a northerner.

 I still felt like partying. Brooke was more in an iPad mood. 

I decided to watch Austin City Limits since Radiohead was on.

We ended the night by going back and reading about our wedding.

One down 74 more to go. And yes I hope we make it to our 75th.