Week's End: A busy weekend

By Steve Krehl
Friday, June 27, 2008 10:08 AM PDT

Today through Sunday is the High Desert Motorcycle Rally. This year it’ll be situated in front of the train station in downtown Ontario. It’s a benefit for the American Cancer Society and features a Relay for Life poker run, street dance, car show and more.

Starting at 4 p.m. Saturday is the Obon 2008 Festival. The celebration will be at the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple, 286 S.E. Fourth St., Ontario.

The 62nd Annual Obon Festival will feature tours of the temple at 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The Odori, Japanese folk dancing presentation will be at 7:30 p.m. There will also be cash prizes after the Obon Odori. The judo institute will give a demonstration at 7 p.m. I forgot to mention that a Japanese cuisine dinner will be served from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

St. Matthew’s charity golf tournament will be at Country View golf course this Saturday as well. The number for more information is (541) 889-6943.

Last week I took a business trip to Minneapolis. I had never been to the Twin Cities before, so it was all a new adventure for me. The area is called the “Twin Cities” because Minneapolis and St. Paul, the capital, also the state’s two largest cities, combine to form a big metropolitan area.

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I found Minneapolis to be a very clean city, and our hotel was situated in the heart of the downtown area. One evening we ate at an outside restaurant patio on the sidewalk. Almost every restaurant offered an outside option for eating and at 4:30 p.m. or so were filled with office workers unwinding, I suppose. They all looked like they were 30 years old to me. It did look like a good way to end a work day.

The two restaurants we were able to get into were worth the effort to get seating.

On the first night we ate at a place that specialized in fresh seafood. The claim is that it is flown in fresh every day, and after finishing our meal, they made believers of us all.

The next day a group of us went to one of the best steak restaurants in the area. Like all those places, they bring out samples of what is on the menu. They actually had a 48-ounce steak. It looked like a roast. In fact, all of their steaks were easily enough for two people. We all agreed it was a waste of excellent-tasting steak. If we lived there, we would have taken a doggie bag home and had a great meal the next day.

Not only would I go back to Minneapolis, but I’d go willingly. The staff at the hotel was one of the best when it came to service. I had to laugh when I saw my room. I told my wife it was bigger than our first apartment.

The flight over and back went very well. It had been awhile since my last trip, and I had to be helped with the new electronic boarding pass, but it wasn’t that hard. Still, the best part of the trip was landing at Boise and heading home.

Have a great weekend, and keep it in play.

Steve Krehl is the publisher of the Argus Observer. He can be reached at SteveK@argusobserver.com