My Three... er, Four Day Roadtrip to the Twin Cities

Last Wednesday morning ( June 10th ), I began what started out to be a three day roadtrip to Minneapolis-St. Paul, but, as I re-discovered for about the 100th time, plans do tend to get altered enroute. I got on the road at about 7:00AM CT, and, thanks to bad weather and even worse traffic, it took almost ninety minutes to get to Ann Sather's Restaurant on Chicago's north side.  

Your placemat is also your menu...

I've heard for years about Ann Sather's Swedish pancakes, and since I hadn't ordered pancakes in a restaurant in a very long time, I decided to go with those, along with sides of bacon and sliced strawberries. The pancakes were a bit sweeter than Mom's that I grew up with, but they were very good, and the bacon was better than the store-bought stuff that I'm used to. Those are lingonberries on the pancakes. 

After breakfast, I headed northwest out of Chicago on US 12 towards Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital. I arrived there a little after noontime, with lunch on my mind.

 Bacon!? but they have swedish sausage on the menu! 

Dawn, I've read about the ingredients in Swedish sausage, and it doesn't sound appealing to me. Besides, I love bacon!

Thanks to Google, I learned about Smoky Jon's #1 BBQ on Madison's northeast side. Wisconsin is not a state that immediately comes to mind when you think about really good barbeque, but Smoky Jon's could possibly change that.

Since I was a very long distance from America's "barbeque belt", I frankly didn't have high expectations for my meal at Smoky Jon's, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I ordered a half-slab of ribs, with potato salad and barbequed beans as my sides. The ribs were very good; meaty, tender and flavorful, with a spicy sauce. The sides were tasty too. Smoky Jon's is on Packers Ave., and is, IMO, worthy of roadfooders' attention.

I probably should mention that there's room for improvement at Smoky Jon's. The dinner rolls are served cold, and they only have unsweetened iced tea, plus there's no lemon available for the tea. These are minor quibbles, though.

 Packers Ave...that cracks me up!

Bob, can you tell if the smoker's on site, or is there no shed-type doohickey out back?

Nancy, I didn't see the back of the place, but I looked at Smoky Jon's website this morning, and I'm guessing that they smoke their meat on the premises. 

Nancy-probably no smoker on site.Wisconsin has never been known for its BBQ.But we like to sauce up our ribs with good sauce.The method here is usually boiled, baked, then finished off on a grill. Bob-you didnt expect sweet tea here in Wisconsin...not us notherners!!By the way-beautiful pic of the state capital.

Ann, I just took another look at SJ's website, and while it does not specifically say that the smoker is adjacent to the restaurant, it does mention that they do use a smoker and it also names the pitmaster, Joel Latham ( Jon Olson is the founder/owner. ) And you're right about the sweet tea... guess I forgot for a moment what part of the country I was talking about!

jeepguy


 Packers Ave...that cracks me up!

Not named specifically for the Green Bay Packers but named for the same reason: an association with the meat-packing industry.  Oscar Mayer is headquartered in Madison, right off of...Packers Avenue.
 
Brad

Bob,, good to hear.And Brad is correct-meat packers are revered in our state.

As much as I dislike interstate highways, there was someplace that I needed to be by late afternoon, so, leaving Madison, I jumped on I-94 and headed northwest to the town of Clear Lake, WI, home of the Taylor Home Inn. This is a bed & breakfast of recent vintage that was built to look, both inside and out, exactly like Andy Taylor's home on The Andy Griffith Show.  

Brad_Olson

jeepguy


 Packers Ave...that cracks me up!

Not named specifically for the Green Bay Packers but named for the same reason: an association with the meat-packing industry.  Oscar Mayer is headquartered in Madison, right off of...Packers Avenue.
 
Brad

 Sorry, i though it was for the beloved team! Thanks for the info!

The Inn is owned by Dave and Marsha, a very nice couple who, as you might guess, are big fans of TAGS. Back in January, I made a reservation to spend that night in "Opie's bedroom"; I could have had Andy's or Aunt Bee's bedroom if I had so chosen. For a lifelong Mayberry fan like myself, walking into the Inn's living room for the first time was a rather bizarre experience. I felt like I had passed right through the TV screen into a parallel universe. 

Bob -

What I need to know is if you hit on Aunt Bea.

Cool place, I've never heard of it.

Jim

Sorry, Jim. What happens in Clear Lake, stays in Clear Lake.

Good answer.  You are truly a gentleman.

If you're a fan of The Andy Griffith Show ( and who isn't? ), the above photos should look very familiar to you. Dave and Marsha have done an amazing job of recreating the Taylors' home. Here's Aunt Bee's kitchen...

OMG, that is truly freaky.  And awesome.

By the way, the jar of pickles on the table is from a batch of Aunt Bee's infamous kerosene pickles ( episode #43, "The Pickle Story". )

On the left side of the piano, you can see a bottle of Colonel Harvey's Indian Elixir ( episode #87 ), which turned out to be 85% alcohol.

Here's Sheriff Taylor, sitting down to one of Aunt Bee's delicious meals.... oops, that's just me!

Looks more like Otis, but the contents of those 2 glasses would be foreign to him!

I wonder if anyone in Milwaukee has recreated the Cunninghams' living room.

Brad

Breakfast is included in the price of an overnight stay at the Inn, and Marsha is truly a wonderful cook. Here you see her country sausage and scrambled eggs combo, with hash browns. The sausage is one of the best I've ever tasted, and is made by a local business. Marsha made the great banana-nut bread, called "Barney You're a Nut-bread", from a recipe in Aunt Bee's Cookbook.

Here's Opie's bedroom. I probably should have taken this picture before I went to bed.

Oh you're funny, Brad.   Ha ha ha...

Behind the house, Dave and Marsha have built an incredible recreation of Wally's Filling Station ( sorry, no Gomer or Goober that day; they both had "deputy duties" to tend to. ) 

Talk about attention to detail! They even had custom decals printed of the fictional "Acme" logo.

Before we leave Mayberry, we have to visit with Ellie Walker, Dave and Marsha's adorable little dog. She's named after Elinor Donahue's character from the first season of TAGS. 

What a neat place to stay!  Your report is terrific.

As much as I hate to leave, it's time to hit the road, so it's "so long" to Mayberry, North Carolina....

I forgot to mention that my dinner the previous evening was a pretty good burger and fries at The Cabin, a bar & grill in downtown Clear Lake.

I own a bunch of land a couple miles from Clear Lake...maybe my new calling is to build a replica of downtown Mayberry!

I am really enjoying this report,Bob!!I laughed out loud when I saw the pickles on the kitchen table-I had just seen that episode...

By 11 AM, I was westbound on US 12, heading towards the Twin Cities.  

Arriving in St. Paul MN, I followed I-494 down to Bloomington, the site of the famous Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in the US.

While there is something in the Mall that I very much wanted to see, my first priority was a round trip on Minneapolis' Hiawatha light rail line, which was the main reason for this roadtrip. Those of you who "rode" the Charlotte light rail line with me vicariously on my North Carolina trip report know of my lifelong passion for electric railways.

The light rail's southern terminal is on the ground floor level of the Mall's multi-level parking garage. The line is about twelve miles long and runs at surface level, except for one subway station ( underneath the main terminal of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport ) and one elevated station. Here's my train about to depart for downtown Minneapolis.

NC-
I know you have been wanting to visit the Andy Griffith B & B for some time.  Did it live up to your expectations?

My boss is in complete awe of you(and so am I), she wants to know if you could stay at "The Beavers" house sometime.  TAGS anf LITB are her two favorite shows.  I have to tell you with her permission....she's a black lady.  I hope that doesn't put me under fire, but it cracks us up here and her family thinks somethings wrong with her:) because she has been known to schedule her days around these shows and has been known to watch episodes here at work on her computer.  She's addicted.

buffetbuster - Boy, did it ever meet my expectations! I had a great ( and rather surreal ) time there. Dave and Marsha Scheuermann are wonderful hosts, and I recommend an overnight visit to "Andy's house" to everyone.   www.taylorhomeinn.com       Rusty246 - Believe me, if I could find Mayfield on a road map, I'd be packing my suitcase right this moment! Leave It To Beaver is another one of my all-time favorite shows. I'm glad that you and your boss are enjoying this trip report so much. 

Leave it to Beaver?  The Andy Griffith Show??  Come on.  If I want to sleep in some iconic sitcom domiciles, I want to have some fun in the process.  In no particular order, I would love to spend the night at....

Major Margaret Houlihan's tent

Ginger and Mary Ann's hut

That funky couch inside Jeannie's bottle

TTM,

Have a little patience now. Nocarolina is just about to go downtown. Maybe he will take you to Mary Tyler Moore's apartment. It is just southwest of downtown in the Kenwood neighborhood.

The Travelin Man


Leave it to Beaver?  The Andy Griffith Show??  Come on.  If I want to sleep in some iconic sitcom domiciles, I want to have some fun in the process.  In no particular order, I would love to spend the night at....

Major Margaret Houlihan's tent

Ginger and Mary Ann's hut

That funky couch inside Jeannie's bottle

TTM - Don't forget Edith Bunker's bedroom ( when Archie's out of town, of course! ) 

::shudders::

I think I'd rather head down the block to visit Weezie Jefferson - before they a-moved on up.