Archive for the ‘Geocaching’


Millie’s Deli: Chanhassen, MN

I spent Sunday morning roaming around Shakopee and Chanhassen chasing my 4500th geocache which included my 200th multi-stage cache. While we had over 20 geocaches on the list for the day we decided to cut it short after I made my milestones and before the reported bad weather was supposed to hit. With the skies graying and the chain restaurants closing in all around us we decided to stop in for breakfast at Millie’s Deli in Chanhassen.

Located in an outdated strip mall near the Chanhassen Dinner Theater one block removed from highway 5, Millie’s Deli is certainly nothing to look at from the outside but at a little less than half capacity at 9:30 AM on a Sunday I figured they had to be doing something right inside. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by one of the very friendly servers who seated us at a corner table next to the windows, the only table which had plastic lawn chairs instead of the old and tired wooden furniture located elsewhere throughout the rest of the restaurant.

The breakfast menu is quite simple and offers your typical eggs, omelets, pancakes, etc. The prices are fairly reasonable and range between $4 and $8.50. Their website said that they offer the best breakfast in Chanhassen and that people should try their Cajun Omelet if you’re looking for something a little different–so I did and I added an order of home fries. My buddy ordered a simple meal with eggs, home fries, and bacon. I ordered a decaf coffee and he ordered a chocolate milk. The milk and coffee came out and I’m fairly certain the coffee wasn’t decaf, it wasn’t filled even half full and the chocolate milk was slightly larger than a shot glass and was only 3/4 full.

While we waited for our food I got to take a good look around. The restaurant, even though it’s apparently been around since the 1980s, hasn’t come out of the 1970s. There are a lot of dark wood, whiteboards with simple items listed for menus, and campy decor. The proudest item of their collection is what appears to be a congratulations from the City of Chanhassen for being open. One of the business cards inside is at an angle and the writing is hard to read. The staff is quite friendly routinely yelling across the restaurant at customers who are either already seated or had just walked in the door. One apparent regular who was seated in a wheelchair and on oxygen was cared for in a very nice way as soon as he walked in the door. Nice touches.

While it would appear that this place should have gotten high marks from me being that it’s a long-standing treasure in the midst of chain restaurants and the staff is friendly, it missed the mark completely with the food: the omelet looked strange and I didn’t see any chunks of andouille. Instead what I got were too few eggs, not enough cheese and, believe it or not, too much Cajun spice. It came with a side of toasted sourdough which seemed quite stale and had been drizzled with butter in a telltale swirl instead of evenly spread across the toast. Because the bread was so dry I opted to douse it in Tabasco to eat it. The completely tasteless home fries were most likely dumped from a bag conveniently stored in the freezer. As many of you know if one thing really irks me about restaurants serving breakfast, it’s when they don’t make their own potatoes. Seriously get with the program–fast. If I had been eating at a school cafeteria I would have said my my meal tasted all right but being that I was charged over $11…well, you are free to fill in the profanity that normally would have spilled forth from my mouth.

My buddy’s scrambled eggs, hash browns, and bacon were basically awful. This is a military man who lives by the mantra that you eat when you can because you may not know when you will eat again. He also happily recounts the times he taught others how to kill and skin rabbits in the bush with two simple snaps of his wrist. Being that he left a good bit of the delivered food on his plate I am guessing it was worse than the rations he ate while serving in various horrendous parts of the world in extreme conditions. The home fries were the same as mine and his eggs were done as he requested but the bacon–ugh–the bacon was just awful. It was as if they microwaved it to cook it and then microwaved it again to serve it. The bacon was devoid of flavor and reminded me of Bacos–without the bacon flavor. I’m not even sure my dog would have eaten it and while he doesn’t eat his own crap like so many others, pretty much anything else will slide down his throat.

After tax and before tip our bill came to just over $22. As we were leaving I seriously wondered if I shouldn’t have paid less and ate better at the McDonald’s down the street and as you know that statement should tell you something.

Overall Millie’s Deli in Chanhassen sucked. Flat out sucked. If you’re in the area and looking for decent breakfast please, for the love of all that is holy, do not waste your time and money at Millie’s as you’re far better off at any of the chain restaurants around–possibly even McDonald’s and you know how much I am pained to say that.

Have you ever eaten at Millie’s Deli in Chanhassen? If so please let us know what you thought. Are there non-breakfast options better? Are there other options on their breakfast menu which may have been better suited to two people who would normally eat anything placed in front of them? Whatever you have to say about Millie’s Deli in Chanhassen go ahead and comment on!

Address:
Millie’s Deli
545 W 78th St
Chanhassen, MN 55317

Phone:
952-934-2301

Millie's Deli on Urbanspoon

See all the pictures from Millie’s Deli on Flickr here.

SAS Global Forum 2010: Seattle, WA

This week the site has been running basically on autopilot as I was away on business in Seattle Washington to present a paper and attend the SAS Global Forum 2010. Aside from a layover at the Seattle/Tacoma Airport I had never visited the Pacific Northwest before and I was looking forward to doing some outdoorsy stuff, eating some great seafood, and being a total nerd at a conference with 3000+ other nerds.

I arrived on Sunday and found the weather in Seattle be much better than the forecast claimed it would be. Sunny and mid to high 60s greeted me as I had lunch at Pike Place Chowder (I had the seared scallop chowder and it was awesome) and then proceeded to go geocaching around the area seeing some amazing sights and doing some great hiking. Dinner was Ethiopian at Pan Africa and was a ton of food for very little cost. Loved the food, the staff, and the entire restaurant. We came back later in the week to sit at the bar (the bartender used to be a SAS geek) and my coworker had one of his famous Bloody Mary’s which include a homemade berbere recipe (basically a spicy paste) which they offer up to you on their website. Sunday night I attended the SAS Seattle Tweetup at the Tap House which prides itself in having 160 beers on tap (the tweetup had two free beers on tap both were pretty decent).

Monday I presented my paper and then attended a bunch of the other presentations scattered throughout the day. My coworker and I had a pretty below average Thai lunch at Mae Phim on Pike which can be summed up quickly in this one sentence from my review on Urbanspoon: “The only good things to say are the beer was almost cold and the food, as awful as it was, came out quickly.” We had dinner at Umi Sake House which consisted of rolls and sashimi. I wasn’t a huge fan of either but they some parts were decent. After that we headed back to the conference to tour the Demo Area and drink free local Pike Pale Ale (which I had tons of during my visit).

Tuesday found more presentations, including one by Stephen Few, and lunch at the completely boring and basically awful Blue Water Taco Grill. I nabbed a messy and unofficial torta and my coworker got a shrimp and a steak taco that were runny and gross. Boo. Dinner was at Long Provincial Vietnamese Restaurant which was quite good. Large portions, appropriately priced, with some absolutely incredible spring rolls and unbelievable prawn satay. Afterward we headed back to Pan Africa for drinks (as mentioned above) and then on to the SAS party at the Washington State Convention Center. More Pike Pale Ale and a live 80s cover band played until 1:30 AM before we headed back to the hotel for a night cap.

Wednesday was my travel day back home. I got to ride Seattle mass transit (light rail) which runs underground downtown, through many tunnels, and on a lot of elevated track into ostentatious stations to the airport. I believe the total cost was about $2.9 billion and it showed. Overall I had a blast at SAS Global Forum 2010 and I’m already scrambling around to find something worthwhile to present at next year’s event in Las Vegas.

Have you ever been to Seattle? If so where did you eat, what did you drink and what did you do? Aside from my raving recommendations that you try both Long Provincial and Pan Africa, what places do you recommend for others who may plan on traveling there in the future? Whatever you have to say about my completely nerdy trip to a SAS conference in Seattle go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say!

County Sheriff’s Newsletter: Obstructed Front Row

A cute little fluff piece appeared in the Star Tribune recently about the newsletter the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office produces and publishes weekly (you can see them here). An interesting glimpse into the sometimes macabre world of law enforcement but one that I think skims a little too much and offers the public a warped view of the county’s crime problem.

From the article:

Sheriff Don Gudmundson has long liked to say, “Law enforcement is a front-row seat to the greatest show on Earth” and so he dubbed the newsletter “The Front Row.” The 2005 inaugural edition explains why:

“Working in law enforcement and corrections puts all of us in the front-row seat of life. Many times, it is the tragic events that we witness in our jobs and having to deal with the aftermath for families and loved ones, but we are also fortunate to see firsthand some of the funniest and most unbelievable things in people.”

Hey, I’m all for people reading about crime but I really think that it would be much better for the county to provide something a little more up-to-date and without the editorial commentary and ridiculousness. You know, like a near live feed of the dangerous inmates who are gracing the jail which we, the taxpayers, fund. I believe that would be a whole lot more beneficial and act as a bigger deterrent than showing the lack of knowledge the county has about an activity which attracts nearly 4 million people worldwide.

Now, the Dakota County Sheriff’s office admits that they take the work they do on this newsletter very lightly and they try to keep it fun without being mean-spirited. Honestly, while that’s great and all, they’re still talking about felons, inmates, and criminals. Do we really need to be nice to the people who rob our homes, kill our friends and family, or persuade our children to do drugs?

Overall, I’m glad that the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office has the time and energy to spend on a newsletter like this. It’s always a wonderful thing to see my hard earned tax dollars going to such side projects while I watch the data pulled from their facility reflect the seriousness of the crimes they deal with daily. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside…

How about you? What do you think of The Front Row? Do you think that the Star Tribune should have wasted their time writing an article about this publication or do you think that they should have continued to concentrate on the harsh realities of crime in Dakota County? Whatever you think about The Front Row go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say!

Open Thread for May 1st, 2009

Here’s another open thread for your Friday afternoon.

I’m off to Nashwauk tonight to cache with Chuck and Craig in Grand Rapids tomorrow on our yearly caching trip “Up North” and I’m looking forward to sunny 55 degree weather and lots and lots of ticks. Mmm, blood suckers. For Sunday I picked up a museum pass at the library to check out the Twin City Model Railroad Museum in St. Paul. I’m a geek, I know, but I’m really pumped about that one.

One of the readers submitted the following suggestion and I thought it would be a great open thread question which could be a lot of fun (especially with MSPD hanging around), so here it is:

What are your top three slogans for the juggernaut that is Lazy Lightning?

So go ahead and comment on, maybe we’ll make a t-shirt or bumper sticker out of your slogan ;)

Boston Trip

For the last few days I was in Boston for work for SAS training. Due to many flight delays because of American Airlines sucking and weather, I didn’t get to spend much time doing anything fun. I did wake up Monday and Tuesday early to wander around via mass transit to take some photos and look for geocaches (I only ended up finding one).

The Boston Sheraton hotel I stayed at was fantastic and I enjoyed excellent views from my comfy room. I went out to dinner at Sel De La Terre which I will write up later, I saw Ben Franklin’s tomb as well as where Paul Revere is buried. I wandered on the Harvard campus, explored the Christian Science Plaza (it was across from my hotel, see above) and also ate at Chili Duck for some Thai lunch.

Overall, a shitty trip with some bright points. Anyone else do any traveling (for business or pleasure lately)? Have any good stories to tell?

Make sure you check out (currently unedited) photos on Flickr here.