Drive then rush, rush, rush
This got too long so I am breaking my weekend recap in to two posts!
FRIDAY!
Ugh, Friday was surprisingly hectic. My original plan was to teach and train (one on one), then swim, then run, then take a nap (because I get up at 3:50 on Fridays), then drive to Minneapolis, and go to packet pickup, then the hotel.
That plan got scratched. Apollo woke me up at 3:00, and I was worried if I took a nap I’d never recover, so I taught and trained, went home and packed quick, then hit the road. I figured I’d have loads of time in Minneapolis to do a shakeout run, chill, and even nap.
No.
The drive was mostly okay (although at one point the forecast showed snow and I felt worried because the last time I drove in it I crashed my car). Milwaukee is a COMPLETE clusterf*ck right now and I felt bad for the few times Steven’s had to drive through it the past two weeks. After I got through there, it was smooth sailing with miles and miles of gorgeous fall foliage.
Sample rest stop tree
I got really tired for the last two hours though. I stopped a few times, cranked the music, made it really cold, ate some snacks. Blah.
When I got to Minneapolis, I made an unplanned stop at The Herbivorous Butcher, per Steven’s suggestion. It’s an all vegan deli, with all sorts of vegan fake meats (that look like real deli meats), cheeses, and other things. I ordered the Italian Cold Cut (they only have five things on the menu – seems they really wanted it treated as a deli). It was delicious, BUT WAY TOO BIG WHAT WAS I THINKING, and I could totally taste it on my run later. Oops.
The I Like You store (crafts from local Minnesotan artists) was next door and I had to stop in. They had a huge card collection and I wanted to spend ALL the time reading ALL the cards (and buying a zillion of them) but I didn’t.
I went to packet pickup after. I had a dumb Google Maps snafu that added some extra time, then when I got there, they said I wasn’t registered for the half marathon but for the 5K, and they were all out of my size of socks. Oops! They fixed it and got me signed up for the half, and gave me the wrong size of socks, and the flannel race shirt, which I opted out of (hobby horse registrants paid a discounted fee, and got socks, not the race flannel, but could choose to pay extra for it). That was nice of them to give to me when they didn’t have to do anything extra.
And BONUS! That flannel is a soft fleece material and amazingly cozy, comfortable, and warm, so I will be wearing it every day until March.
I finally got to the hotel way later than I thought I would, and looked (on a map) for someplace to do a three mile shakeout run. After wasting time looking for a pretty route, I just ran from the hotel, which was quite pretty.
Then I hopped in my car to go on a special mission to pick up a Starbucks Minnesota “Been There” mug for Gina. She wanted to get one when she was in Minnesota in June, but I think they told her they didn’t have them yet? Anyway, success!
While I was out, my car buzzed that I was low on gas. Crap. I totally had forgotten to get some. And I only had my license and phone with me. I wondered if a gas station would take Apple Pay, but decided to go back to the hotel, get my purse, then go to the closest gas station… which did appear to take Apple Pay. Sigh.
Then I rushed to take a shower before my parents arrived, and changed hotel rooms (from a loud first floor room right next to the lobby/entrance to a room on the third floor). So much for R&R!!!
My parents arrived around 7:15 and we left right away to get food. I’d been dreaming about Pizza Luce since I booked this trip, but was too full from my sandwich to go there. Sad face. I was NOT too full to try some vegan donuts, so we picked a restaurant closer to Glam Doll Donuts, and ended up at Christos, a Greek restaurant (my falafel was good but the tabbouleh had too much mint for my taste).
I almost forgot to look for vegan donuts on this trip. I’m not very dedicated to my Vegan Donut Tour, am I? Luckily, I did remember on Thursday before I left and found Glam Doll Donuts. And I saw they were open until 1:00 am on Friday night/Saturday morning, and figured that meant I didn’t have to worry about them running out of vegan donuts – they probably keep making fresh donuts all day… right?!
So we got there and I was super excited to see one case (of three) with TEN different vegan donuts to try! TEN!
I commented on how they didn’t have the “Vegan Marvelous Maiden” available (a sweet potato filling one I’d seen on their Instagram) and they brought one out for me! So here is what I got to try, clockwise from top left:
Vegan Gidget (Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut), Vegan Night Moves (Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits), Vegan Chocolate Starlet (Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles), Vegan Femme Fatale (Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing), and Vegan Marvelous Maiden (Sweet Potato Filling).
I also asked for the Vegan Pin-Up Girl (Bourbon-Infused Apple Fritter), but my parents got a regular apple fritter, and I think there was a bit of confusion and I didn’t get one (not a big deal).
I was SO excited to try these because they were mostly yeast donuts and those are my favorite type. I was especially excited about the raspberry one.
We got back to the hotel and I took a small bite of the sweet potato one and liked it. Then every other one tasted stale and blah to me. What a disappointment! I wrongly assumed they’d be fresher since they were open late. They were not. Maybe the sweet potato one was the freshest? The flavor of the raspberry and Hennesy ones were decent, but I really didn’t like the cake donut or the buttercream long john. Oh well! Fun to try!
| State | Date | Name | Flavor(s) | Rating (0-4) | Photo |
| Kansas | 1/15/18 | Mud Pie | Cake Chocolate Frosted |  |
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| Illinois | 2/7/18 | Do-Rite | Chai Maple |  |
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| Illinois | 2/17/18 | Holcomb Hollow | Lemon Vanilla |  |
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| Ohio | 3/23/18 | Holey Toledough | Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll |  |
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| Wisconsin | 4/1/18 | Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts | Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter |  |
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| Ohio | 5/12/18 | Brewnuts | Lemon Ginger and Oreo P’Nut Butter | |
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| Minnesota | 10/13/18 | Glam Doll Donuts | Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut, Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits, Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles, Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing, Sweet Potato Filling. |  |
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At that point it was 10:00 pm. And my mom was beginning to work on my hobby horse for the race (she signed me up as a birthday present, and offered to make my horse). She had the outline done, but still had to finish drawing it, color it in, and attached it to the dowel. It was kind of a long night! And we still had to finish attaching it in the morning! But it turned out fantastic and I can’t wait to show you… tomorrow!
Themocracy
Another state down on the donut challenge. Looks like Ohio is winning…theirs do look the most appetizing.
THat is such a nice present from your mom 🙂
Ohio is totally winning! I do love our “local” place in Milwaukee as well, but Ohio’s have been the best!
It was! 🙂 She totally did it so that she knew I would go to the nearby family wedding, but it’s all good!
I’ve never been more proud to be an Ohioan 🙂
Stale donuts??? Oh, how disappointing!
It was! I guess any donut shop has stale donuts at the end of the day, I had just told myself a story in my head that they wouldn’t!
The race shirt and socks are awesome! That’s cool that you got a shirt after all 🙂
Yeah! I lucked out!
I’m so glad you posted this when you did, so it didn’t show up my Bloglovin’ feed during my normal blog reading time yesterday (meaning I didn’t see it until today) and don’t have to wait to read your race recap! I’m SO interested in how it went!
The sample rest stop tree is so pretty! I bet the colors up north were really stunning. I can’t wait for them to get here (more than they have, that is).
That was really nice of the race to give you the flannel, especially since it looks so cozy and warm. Perfect for this weather! And all the weather we have coming for the next several months, haha. I think things like that are the signs of good race management. They went above and beyond to make sure you were happy, because that seems like their priority (as opposed to some events where the only priority seems to be squeezing as much money as possible out of you).
WHAT a bummer about the donuts! Ugh, I would be so disappointed 🙁 If only they knew about the vegan donut tour – perhaps they would’ve made some fresh ones just for your ratings 😛
I am glad you didn’t have to wait either! And glad my blog still goes through to Bloglovin’ – I forgot about that site!
Oh my gosh, I wish you could have seen the trees. The route up there was hilly and seeing them stacked and in all different shades against the dreary sky was so stunning. I loved it. I am excited to see it here too!
It’s so prefect for this weather, and I had NO flannel (um, the race shirt I wore is Steven’s…). And they had great customer service! And really wanted to encourage people to do the hobby horse half, by making it half price! Knowing that, I still can’t believe there were only four of us. Ha.
Ha, right? LET’S SEE WHAT THIS POOR REVIEW DOES TO THEIR SALES. (nothing. absolutely nothing!)
Oh my goodness, I am tired reading this recap since you were up at 3am with one of the kitties! (Please tell me this is not a normal occurrence. And if it is, please lie to me.)
What a disappointed about the donut, but I love the fun names they have for them! This makes me want to go get some mini donuts this weekend because it’s been too long since I’ve gotten them. Mmm!
I think kittens and cats are pretty confused if you wake up at different times each day, because they are schedule oriented. I wake up a few times each night to pee, and I have different wake up times each day (sigh) so sometimes when I get up, they start to play, which is what happened that day. I bet if you have a more normal schedule, and if you make an effort to play with them more at night (I need to get back to this) it won’t be AS bad 😉 Do you wake up about the same time each day? My wake-up times range from 3:50, to 5:00, to 6:20.
I liked the fun names too! And that they had so many options. GET SOME!!!!!!!!!!! YUMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
I think I asked before in another blog post comment, but did you ever get a Starbucks mug from SLC when you were here?
I didn’t! I wasn’t collecting them yet!