Stillwater and the Grain Belt Sign

Grain Belt Beer
Originally uploaded by philcozz.

So B and went to Stillwater this weekend, a little town on the St. Croix River, which forms the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. It's got some interesting history, you can take boat tours on the river, and it's got a very quaint main street, so it's quite a little tourist haven. (For the PS folks, it reminded us of New Hope, New Jersey.)

Unfortunately, a thunderstorm was brewing while we there, and the humidity was insane. We're talking pea soup thickness, and I had just about the worst allergy attack I've ever had -- sneezing uncontrollably, eyes so watery I might as well have been crying, sinus headach. Ugh. So we didn't stay too long in Stillwater, but maybe we'll go back sometime.

Along the main street, before I fell apart, we did see a couple neat things. The first was a wine-tasting place, where B picked up a bottle of wine made from a grape varietal called Edelweiss, which we'd never heard of but which is kinda like Riesling, which we really like. We also picked up a brochure on Minnesota wineries, and we might have to spend a Saturday checking them out.

The second thing was a little art gallery that had a very neat painting of the Grain Belt sign, which is a fairly prominent part of the Minneapolis skyline. I was all stylized and cool-looking. Unfortunately it was $950. And I thought to myself, I be I can find some pretty cool photos of that sign on Flickr. So I did.