Cold Spring, MN

Yesterday was a truly marvelous day reminiscent of my younger, crazier, carefree days. I met with two friends, Debbie #1 and Debby #1. None of us had any committments so we hung out all day and did whatever we felt like doing. We met in Cold Spring. We started out at the famous Cold Spring bakery to buy some sweets. We went to Grumpy's Bar. Ok, I haven't been in a bar in a very long time and I wasn't so thrilled about going in but I had a wonderful time. BARS AREN'T SMOKY ANYMORE! Of course, three women walking into a small town bar is going to turn heads and we did. But what a lovely group of people we met. One man was displaying, one by one, his collection of musical, animated, Christmas stuff. He had a singing tree, a singing reindeer, a singing Mrs. Claus, several singing Santas, and one grumpy Santa ("I'll give you some Christmas Cheer - B U U U R R R P"). We were getting up to leave and he wanted us to see his animated deer. This bar had wild animal heads hanging on all 4 walls but the deer above the bar didn't look real. He made the deer sing a few songs like "On The Road Again," and "Low Rider." His eyes opened and closed, his mouth opened and closed and his head turned side to side and up and down. As we were putting our coats on I thought I heard the deer talk. So I said, "Is that deer talking?" My friends were gabbing and didn't hear. The deer says, "I'm not talking, are you talking?" I said, "That deer is talking!" The deer says, "Do you hear any deer talking?" I said, "You guys, that deer is talking to us." The deer says, "These girls are talking to me." I look around. There are 8 people in the bar and they are all smiling at me. I don't see anyone talking. I look at one blond guy and ask, "Are you making the deer talk?" He blushes red and said, "I am not making the deer talk, I have nothing to do with this." The deer says, "I'm not making the deer talk, who is making the deer talk?" By now my friends have caught on to the fact that the deer is talking to us. We converse with the deer head over the bar for a few more minutes. I cannot see who is making the deer talk. It's freaky. Like Paul Bunyan in Brainerd - the big statue who greeted my children by name and said, "Welcome ___ and ___ from Coon Rapids, Minnesota." I saw some kids cry when big Paul Bunyan said their name. After a few minutes of deer head talk, we left and said, "Happy Holidays - you are such a dear." I had a great day with my friends. We're all older. We don't drink as much. We bought grown up things at the stores like furnace filters, gifts for our children and pitted dates instead of diet soda and munchies like we did when we were young. But we clicked as friends as if 25 years has not gone by. We never stopped talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company.