My wife and I were down in Minneapolis the other weekend on a good ol' fashion "working holiday". That is, under the guise of a holiday, we spent a good portion of four days at IKEA and other stores purchasing furniture for our new office. It was less a holiday as it was an exercise in patience, what with the multiple trips to the checkout, driving through the city's first snow storm of the year and missing pretty much every exit on the freeway. All that, however, I can handle. What I can't handle is not being able to get a single good cup of coffee when you need it the most. Case in point: I like McDonald's coffee. And for those who are sitting there saying to themselves "McDonald's coffee sucks", check again mr(s) negative, it's actually pretty much on par with Tim Hortons. And for those who are saying to themselves "Well Tim Hortons sucks too", while I neither agree or disagree with you, billions of coffees sold per minute says you're wrong. Anyhoo, my point was, every time we stopped for coffee, we were punched in the face with a giant handful of disappointment. Whether it was McDonald's (undrinkable), our Hotel room (upsetting), our Hotel's restaurant (disturbingly unsettling), or IKEA (curiously flavourful, just not the flavour of coffee) we could not for the life of us find a good cup of coffee. And yes, we could have tracked down a Starbucks but surprisingly, there wasn't one near our hotel. So, on to the point of this post. On our last day, just before we were about to leave the city, we decided to stop off at this breakfast joint called the Bad Waitress. For me it was the culinary highlight of the trip. I was half expecting bad service given the name (and would willingly accept if they would just give me a good cup of coffee). To my delight, the service and the coffee were both excellent. Not as excellent, however, as the restaurant itself. Every table was "numbered" with superhero or monster cards, there were campy movie posters on the wall, and the theme was both simple and consistently presented throughout the restaurant, right through to the washrooms. Kudos to you, Bad Waitress. You saved my taste buds.

I apologize in advance for the lengthy post but I just got back from my friend's wedding in Maui and I have to say, it just might be heaven on earth. I have a few photos that I'll share and even though I'm quite happy with them, they don't even begin to do Hawaii justice. I spent the first week of my trip in Lahaina, Maui and ended off my trip with 4 days in Waikiki, Oahu. While Maui was more my style, (and pace for that matter) Waikiki was definitely an experience and I would encourage anyone heading to the Hawaiian Islands to check it out, even if only for a couple of days. I would compare it to Las Vegas, in a sense, where Kalakaua Avenue, which stretches the length of Waikiki along the beach, is comparable to the Strip. Just substitute surf boards for slot machines and, well you get the idea. Maui, on the other hand, is more quaint and is made up of little towns and villages that are scattered about the island. Lahaina is on the west side of the island, also known as the dry side of the island, which made for some super-sweet hot weather. Our condo was about a block away from Front Street which stretches the length of Lahaina and is lined with shops and restaurants that all overlook the ocean. The streets are incredibly narrow, and while much of the original architecture has been updated, this town definitely maintains the vintage charm of it's early origins. I haven't included any photos of the wedding, but if you're interested in checking them out you can head over to the Kamp Photography Blog. They've already posted some Hawaii photos and should be posting the wedding pics soon so keep checking back. Photos below (from top to bottom): A view of the summit of Haleakala from our helicopter tour :: Black Sand Beach at Waianapanapa State Park, Maui :: Cave that opens up into the ocean at the same park :: One of the many water falls along the Hana Hwy and a Rainbow Eucalyptus tree :: The next four images are from the Old Lahaina Luau :: Pipeline Beach, North Shore, Oahu :: Halona Beach Cove aka: Eternity Beach, Oahu :: And what would a trip to Hawaii be without a few pictures of Hibiscus flowers?