Feather Bowling at Pryes Brewing

 Minneapolis, MN

Pryes Brewing

Today, after the newspaper printing tour (read about that here), we walked over to Pyres Brewing for a beer and some lunch, and also, to our surprise, Feather Bowling!  We were there at opening on a Friday so no one was bowling yet so we stepped up.  It's a really fun thing to do while drinking beer.  The object is to bowl a cheese wheel shaped wooden ball across the playfield and have it end up as close to the feather at the other end as possible.  Scoring is the same as curling, the player closest to the feather gets a point for each ball they have inside the closest ball of of the opponent.  So if you have 2 balls next to the feather and then your opponents ball is the next closest, you get 2 points.

The brewery has a massive amount of seating indoors and out.

They also have a great selection of styles of beers to choose from as well as a kitchen.

They Feather Bowling Alley is shaped like a half pipe to make it easier.

I got to drink a 13% Barrel Aged Stout as I bowled.

I also sampled the same beer but different vintage.  They were both very good.

Donna sends it!

We look like we know what we are doing!

The balls tend to hit each other and group up together.

I believe in this round dark brown scored 2.  It was pretty close.

After bowling we each got another beer and ordered some food.  The wings and pizza were great.

I also bought a vintage bottle of Barleywine for another day.

That's it for this post.  Check back soon for the 3rd installment from our day of fun on September 20th, Donna's birthday.  If you missed the first post, The Minnesota Star Tribune Print Facility Tour, check it out. 

The Minnesota Star Tribune Print Facility Tour

 Minneapolis, MN

Extra Extra!  Read All About Me!

The Minnesota Star Tribune

Today Donna and I went on a tour of the printing faculty of the Minnesota Star Tribune and other newspapers.  The tour is given twice a month and it is FREE!  

We arrived a bit early so we decided to talk a walk along the greenway that is next to The Mississippi River.

This is not The Mississippi River

We arrived 5 minutes before the tour started and checked in.  I saw this chair that I liked and it was in front of a very vintage print type setting machine.

These are "robots".  They carry the heavy rolls of paper to keep things running.  When a roll gets low they are automatically deployed.

Donna poses in front of a stack of newspaper print rolls.

During the summer they keep about a week's worth of paper in the warehouse but they ramp up for winter to a month's worth.  This is because the rolls sit in a cargo train car outside and they take about a week to thaw out in the winter.

One of the really interesting things I learned on the tour today is that the rolls of paper are made in Thunder Bay Ontario and shipped by train down to Minneapolis.  The rolls sit in the train cars until the paper is ordered.  When the the printer needs more paper they put in an order and the rolls are delivered the rest of the way to the printer.  They are paid for as soon as they cross into the warehouse.  They trip to keep just enough inventory on hand as they need.  The rolls are about $700 each.

This Scissor Lyft has been sitting broken in the "Do Not Use" state since 2023.

These are the partial rolls that are left when a roll gets replaced.  They splice the rolls here to make complete rolls when they have enough.

This is the darkroom where the printing plates are made.

The page is printed on a sheet of aluminum.  The ink sticks to the blue and doesn't stick to the raw aluminum.  The ink is then transferred from the plate to a rubber roller and then to the newsprint.  

This is an old plate made of lead.  This plate used direct printing.  The ink was applied to this plate and then the plate transferred the ink directly to the newsprint.

This is the printing schedule.  Images are sent from different newspapers like The New York Times, USA Today, and The Pioneer Press to this room where the plates are made and then loaded into the presses when it is time to print that paper.

This is the room where the actual presses are.

This is us looking im"pressed" with the press.

They wouldn't let me push buttons.

This is our tour guide at the end of the tour.  He worked here for 40 some odd years.  He is describing using the type machine.  It uses molten lead to make letters and words.  Sometimes that molten lead would splash on your leg or arm.  He talked about it like it was just a part of the job.

That's it for today's post but we had a busy day so there are 2 more posts coming for just this day.  Check back soon.  If you missed, Spam Spam Spamity Spam! Museum, check it out.  We went to The Spam Museum in Austin, MN.

Spam Spam Spamity Spam! Museum

 Austin, MN

Spam Museum

Today we went to The Spam Museum in Austin, MN.  Donna checked out the website and it said traveling dogs are allowed in the museum as long as they are carried or in a carrier.  This is what ALL roadside attractions should do.  Most of the people visiting The Spam Museum are on a road trip and many of those people have dogs.  It's a smart move and I applaud it.  With that knowledge, we brought Francis and he had a great time, we think.  The Spam Museum is free and you get free Spamples (Spam Samples) while you walk around.  You can also buy Spam that is only sold in this store and it other countries.  

There was a Spam food truck in the parking lot but we already had lunch plans.

They had displays of cans of Spam from around the world.

They celebrated Spamalot 

They also had The Monte Python Spam skit running on loop.

I got to meet Sir Can-A-Lot

Francis is about 5 Spam Cans tall.

No snouts and hoofs

We got to sample Tocino flavored Spam from The Philippines 

I love me some Hormel Chili

I think I remember this advert.  

And they had a gift shop so we bought some stuff since admission was free.

We also got to sample Korean BBQ flavor.

I bought a shirt and 3 flavors of Spam.  The cans are meant for a family of five.  We will have to eat these over time.

We went to Tendermaid Hamburgers for lunch, a local hamburger stand.

Francis waited patiently for a taste of burger.

I got the chili cheese onion burger.  I had to eat it with a fork.

We also picked up Dodge County on this trip.  We are chipping away at the southeast corner.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Wisconsin Pizza Farm, check it out.  We went to a Pizza Farm with Francis.