Many Smiles in the Minne-Apple

You win some. You lose some. But sometimes you have a weekend where everybody wins – eventually.

We arrived in Twins Territory and our hotel in midafternoon Saturday. I was excited we could see Target Field from our hotel room – as advertised!

Cool to be right in the heart of the atmosphere.

After we got settled, we headed to a nearby pub to meet up with Casey and Emily for some pre-game apps. A very short walk from there to the field.

So we had time for Robyn-forced photos!

There were even a few new props that got me excited!

Saturday was Military Appreciation Night at the field.

This included a unique flyover with military helicopters. Very cool.

Our seats were in the front row of a second-level section on the third-base line. Close to Jim's Cincinnati Reds' dugout. At least he had something to smile about. A pitching change for the Twins was a common occurrence Saturday night!

Still amazing to be there, win or lose.

And boy did we ever lose! But great to catch up with the kids for a few hours. And Jim had plenty to smile about with his victory!

Sunday morning was the breakfast of champions at the hotel. Pretty fancy for a continental breakfast, eh?

The stadium was just a mile's walk away so we headed over there so we'd have time to soak in the sights. Including the Bob Dylan mural. Holy amazing!

There's a big fun and games area for all ages on the north side of the stadium. This must be extreme bags because they're throwing coach pillow-sized bags!

Lots of music was rocking the pre-game area – including some beats from our Skol Line!

I can't describe U.S. Bank Stadium in simple teams. It's just such a unique architectural park. Just awesome.

 

Getting our game day faces on!

All the cool glass features had me drooling. I could spend hours taking pictures of this place.

And the Minne-Apple downtown skyline is reflected in the windows, too.

Inside the stadium, we got to walk around a bit and see the highlights – including the local FOX guys doing their pre-game broadcast.

Found our seats! See where the lady wearing the #43 jersey is standing above Bud Grant's name? Our seats were front row to the right of his name.

Nothing between us and our Vikings but a piece of glass. Yup, those pesky railing obstruct the view sometimes. So let's have a scared-of-heights Robyn plop down on the "safe" side of the glass non-railing.

Thank goodness we got there early enough for me to have plenty of time to get used to it. Thankfully!

Also, we got our shirts several years after, I'm sure, another quest for a Superbowl trophy fell short. Or went wide right. They pleadingly say: "Just one before I die." We are hopeless optimists.

Since this was the season home-opener, they did a lot stuff before the first kickoff. Including... wait for it...

Snow inside the stadium!! What?

Yup, they were representing Norse blood with that. It was time bits of foamy-type flakes that disappeared after impact. What a crazy cool thing to do now that we're back indoors!

I began to love my unobstructed view. 

Specially loved that we scored first (despite way too many red uniforms in the stands).

Totally reminded me of the Dome days and how loud we'd get it!!

And I was thrilled to finally get to participate in person with the Viking fan's SKOL clap. So cool!!

And we had plenty to SKOL about – including a Justin Jefferson 98-yard touchdown. I'll never top as one of the greatest plays we've witnessed in person! 

It was exciting to upset the 49ers with a nice win – and fun to have my Twins finally winning at the same time.

I guess everybody does win! Thanks, MN!