still in decorah

I took a break from writing to meet with an old college friend in town. We hit all the hot spots from years past.

T-Bock's has the best burgers in town. Try the Ermaburger if you're feeling brave or you like a fried egg with your fried beef. I'm not made of such stuff so I wimped out with a cheeseburger.

Afterwards, we shot some pool at the local watering hole.

Mabe's Pizza for lunch the next day. This particular pizzeria is as much a part of the Luther experience as any class you take (they actually truck the stuff up to the Twin Cities for Luther alumni events). It's made from that really fresh, soft dough combined with homemade-with-love sauce that gives hole-in-the-wall pizza places their character and makes Pizza Hut quake in their boots.

Dr. Griesheimer was nice enough to take me out to a show at the Commonweal Theatre in Lanseboro. It's a small tourist town in southern Minnesota that supports a fully professional theater troupe of amazing actors. They actually opened up a new $3.5 million space this season which was really, really nice. The play we saw was Harvey (you might be familiar with the film adaptation that stars Jimmy Stewart). It's about a man who sees an imaginary 6-foot tall rabbit and how his family and friends react to him. I thought it was going to be a drama about the inner reaches of the human psyche. It turned out to be a slapstick comedy...which was really funny.

We ate at a local restaurant on the Root River.

If there were such a thing as Little Norway, Decorah would be it. That particular European heritage runs pretty strong in these parts anyway, but Decorah is essentially the center of that universe. The Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum is the oldest and most comprehensive museum in the nation which is devoted to a single ethnic group and every summer the town pulls out all the stops and throws Nordic Fest. That being said, it's no surprise that they serve some great Norwegian food in town. The Dayton House Cafe is my favorite.

Varme Polser is Norwegian sausage wrapped in lefse bread. Sort of like a Scandinavian hot dog but way better tasting.

And rømmegrøt for dessert. It's cream pudding topped with butter and sugar and it essentially tastes like cinnamon and sugar toast. I made the mistake of eating this stuff in 95-degree heat one time a couple of years ago and somehow lived to tell the tale and do battle with it again. It's that good.

And some random pictures I've taken over the last few days to fill up space.