regis and teresa go to the big city

We bought tickets to see Lyle Lovett a few months ago and decided since the show was downtown Minneapolis, we would spend the night rather than try to find our small town way out of the big city in the dark of night. I made a reservation at what turned out to be very swanky Hotel Minneapolis. We're such rubes. Here is the evidence:

• We had to pay 27 dollars for valet parking. 27 dollars? Gulp.
• We went into the elevator and pushed the floor for our room. Nothing happened. We pushed it again. Nothing happened. Then Regis remembered something from a Stephen King novel he just read...that you have to put your key card into the slot to make the elevator go. Ah ha. Thank God we didn't go to the desk and tell them the elevator was broken.
• We unpacked and left right away to see the sights. We got as far as Kieran's Irish Pub across the street where we enjoyed the company of the bartender named Morgan. He and a couple other patrons gave us some advice about getting to the theater and such.
• We walked down the Nicollet Mall where there was a farmer's market happening. Something we know about! Vegetables!
• We were taken to a booth in the Rockbottom Brewery and there at the next table was Billy Steiner of City Mouse. We chatted with him for a minute and met his wife, Patty. Small world even in the big city.
• Tiffany and Eric met us for dinner so I got to hold Elliot who was a good boy during dinner. It was nice to see them.
  
• Regis and I sat on a bench along Hennepin Avenue after dinner and watched the goings on of which there were many but we went in to the State Theater promptly at 7:30 for the 8:00 show. Our promptness was not rewarded: Many people were seated after 8:00 and people continued to come and go during the first hour. Too many beers with dinner or is this just bad manners?
• We walked home down Hennepin Avenue. I was nervous but we made it safely back to Kieran's where the wait person recognized us!
  
• We slept on a ritzy and very comfortable bed with a cotton duvet instead of a polyester bed spread. Nice.
• You could have a square dance in the shower stall.
  
• We were too cheap to pay for breakfast in the swanky hotel so we stopped at what we thought was Mystic Lake but turned out to be a much smaller minor casino. That's like a small city up there! We had a nice breakfast and went in to play some slot machines. Very unlike me to want to do that. Regis played a poker machine and I sat down at a slot machine and promptly won 90 bucks. We decided to hold on to our winnings and get the hell out of there.
• We're home again and Kramer is happy. We've had a busy couple weeks with lots of travel.