A Quick Jaunt to Bloomington

Since the hubby had a meeting in St. Paul, we decided to make it a mini winter getaway. Because of his schedule it was a really mini getaway... there and back in 31 hours. Even though he wasn't feeling well, we managed to do want we needed to and had time to relax.

I went shopping while he went to his meeting. After his meeting, I picked up Starbucks on my way to the car and we headed to IKEA. We were looking for a new bedspread to replace the one we got last year. The directions say DO NOT TUMBLE DRY. Um..hello.. we live in Wisconsin... in an apartment. We really don't have any other choice...so it shrunk. We also found a new grill pan. I love going to IKEA. There's always something we end up buying we didn't expect to but NEEDED... aka the grill pan.

Then we checked into our hotel. We really wanted to stay at Country Inn and Suites again but they refused to price match to other area hotels. So we got a better deal at Radisson. In hindsight, we're glad that Country Inn and Suites were being jerks. The Radisson was amazing. We had this huge room with 2 queen beds plus a couch. The best part was the double sinks...one in the bathroom and one outside the bathroom. It makes getting ready a lot easier. The hubby even discovered a safe not that we needed that for 1 night. As long as we can get a good deal on the room again, we found our new favorite hotel. And the best part we can still earn our Carlson Rewards.

Once we figured out where we were staying, we had to decide where we wanted to eat. The one requirement was it had to be some place we couldn't get at home. The hubby wanted pizza. However, we couldn't find a pizza place that tripped our trigger. He told me to search for Italian restaurants instead. That's when we found Ciao Bella. The menu looked good and reasonably priced. It wasn't too far from the hotel. I made our reservation using Open Table. Only then did we discover that we needed to wear business casual. Okay.. we can dress up for one night.

Again, we hit a home run. Ciao Bella was amazing. The hubby says he is going to be hard pressed to convince him to go anywhere else. I had the spaghetti and meatballs. He had lasagna as usual. The small spaghetti and meatballs was the perfect size for me. I cleaned my plate which meant we could have dessert. The hubby had this to die for chocolate cake. I had gelatto. I should have got the tiramsu...next year.

Amazing food, quick service, and hot fresh bread. I had to smile when the assistant waiter/bus boy cleared our plates and then brushed the crumbs off the table. I was used to that from the cruise but it was way out of the hubby's league.

Because the hotel didn't have breakfast, we headed in St. Paul to Mickey's Dining Car. Despite being downtown St. Paul and having to navigate an accident scene getting off the freeway, the hubby agreed we could come back. Plus it was kind of on the way home.