Eau Claire's mysterious lady

Last night, my coworker and I drove all over Eau Claire, WI, trying to find a particular restaurant. Neither of us could remember the name or location or what type of food they had, but we thought we might recognize it if we saw it. We drove all over town, the good parts and bad parts, looking at all of the houses and buildings, reading off the names of the restaurants and bars we passed. In the older part of Eau Claire, we kept seeing the Mona Lisa on the buildings. It seemed to be a wordless ad for something, but we weren't sure what. No words, just a big blow-up of the painting. I think we saw around a dozen. We drove down Water Street near the UW-EC, and decided to pull over and walk down the street, which was filled with restaurants. As we parallel parked, we saw it - Mona Lisa's, right across the street from us. That was the restaurant we were looking for! We went in and sat down. The decor is great. It reminded me of Monica's apartment on Friends. I fell in love with the red velvet couches. I had a beef rigatoni with a glass of chianti. It was great, and very filling.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel in Lake Hallie, which was right next to a bar/restaurant/hotel called Avalon or Bridgeport. It was kareoke night. We had sundaes made with Olson's ice cream, which has been made in Chippewa Falls since 1944. It is very good, rich, thick ice cream. I had a bloody mary after that, and it was easily the best one I've ever had. Then I had a 20 ounce glass of Sunset Wheat beer from the brewery that we toured earlier in the day. Mmmm.... beer. Then, back to the hotel, packing, and then to bed.

Right now, I'm in our Mendota Heights office. It is very different from our Chippewa Falls office. Bigger, more urban, more professional looking. There's a rivalry of sorts between the offices that I find a little strange, but I suppose that "us versus them" attitude is pretty normal. They both have issues with Seattle, since that is the corporate headquarters. We will leave here shortly to go shopping at the Mall of America, then we're catching our flight back to Seattle at 2:30. My visits to Minnesota and Wisconsin have been short but sweet. I may have gained several pounds.

I found traffic amusing. We entered St. Paul during rush hour. There was less traffic on the freeway that I see in Maple Valley at 6:00 a.m. However, I did not find it amusing at all that the shoulders of the highway are covered with dismembered deer and skunks. Eesh.

The cat i s gonna be so pissed at me when I get home...