The rest of the riverboat story

Okay, I am finally ready to continue the story I started Thursday night before I got sleepy!

Earlier this summer, my sister surprised Josh and me with two tickets for a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi Queen Paddleboat! I was so excited, for many reasons:

1. After asking about our schedules, she chose tickets for a specific date (Thursday night), so it was "we've got this on the calendar!" not "we'll do this fun activity someday in the future."
2. I love a midweek date - and a unique activity to boot!
3. I've been on a couple of riverboat cruises before, but they've always left from near downtown St. Paul, so I was excited to be part of a Minneapolis excursion.
4. I love being out on the water in the summertime.
5. The Thursday night cruise includes a pizza buffet, and as many of you know, I love myself some pizza.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I was looking forward to this boat ride all week, so one of our takeaways is that we want to book more Thursday night outings early in the week to properly anticipate the night out (and reduce the chance of bailing in favor of our comfortable routine!).

Josh and I met at Bohemian Flats, near the University of Minnesota campus, and boarded the boat just before 6 p.m. for a two-hour cruise up and down the river.

Here we are - after the boat ride, but it's the only picture that shows the boat!

Right away, we approached downtown Minneapolis:

And then we turned back and went almost as far as the Lake Street bridge! I loved being on a section of the river that I run along often and seeing it from a different perspective. Also, the captain was talking about some of the history of the river and bridges (fascinating to me!), but we could only hear that narrative on the second level, outside, after we enjoyed our pizza at one of the tables inside. It was a warm night, but there was a breeze on the water that was great. There seemed to be a fair number of tourists on the boat, as well as a large group of locals celebrating a birthday, and I think this activity would be super wherever you call home. You guys know I love tourism at home.

The clouds were extraordinary:

This company runs cruises through late October, and I would love to book another trip for late September when the fall colors are peaking. Wouldn't that be gorgeous!? Big thanks to my sister - it was such a treat!