Pokémon
- Arrived at Crosby Lofts just before 9pm.
- Walked around Crosby and explored Lake and Company store that was open late.
- Jamie gets coffee at Mixed Company.
- Jamie working remote for the morning.
- Tammy goes on a run.
- Mazie goes on a run.
- Tammy and kids get donuts at Mac Daddy’s Donut Garage. Bring back for Jamie.
- Kids and Tammy go to beach at Serpent Lake to swim and read.
- Lunch at Drunken Noodle.
- Get rental bikes at Red Raven.
- Mountain bike the Gallooping Goose “easy” trail.
- Return bikes.
- Post-ride smoothies at Red Raven.
- Dinner at Hudson Smokehouse.
- Walked to High Wheel Confectionary and indulged in shopping and sugar.
- Walked around Crosby while Mazie was incapacitated due to sugar overload.
- Mazie and Tyler walk to playground to check it out.
- Tammy goes on a run.
- Jamie to Red Raven.
- Tammy joins at Red Raven.
- Mazie goes on a run.
- Tyler on raids for Pokémon GO Fest 2024 (Global).
- All meet at Crosby Farmers Market: scones, jams, maple syrup, cinnamon rolls, kombucha, homemade Nutella, chocolate dipped mangoes.
- Shopping in Crosby: Nord Hus, Smith + Trade, Crosby Pharmacy, Cuyuna Outfitters.
- Jamie and Tyler walk to lake while Mazie tries on lots of clothes at Cuyuna Outfitters.
- Lunch at Burritos California and beer at Cuyuna Brewing.
- Mazie and Tammy find treasures at Common Goods thrift store.
- Went to Pennington boat launch to go on water with kayaks from Cuyuna Outfitters. Mazie and Tammy on clear kayaks. Tyler on paddle board. Jamie on fishing kayak.
- Paddle from 3 to 7p, cover about 3 miles. Nice time. Lots of jumping in water.
- Dinner at Rafferty’s Pizza.
- Return trip to High Wheel Confectionary for ice cream!
- Tammy, Mazie, and Tyler walk back to Crosby Lofts.
- Mazie and Tyler hang at the playground
- Jamie drives the car back.
- Jame heads to Red Raven for morning blogging and coffee.
- Tammy and Mazie on a walk and meet Jamie at Red Raven.
- Brunch at Croft Pub & Grub.
- Head home.
- Pack up suitcases for journey home
- Breakfast at hotel
- Taxi to Florence Airport
- Tyler forgets Pokémon gifts in airport at another gate and runs back and is able to recover them right before we board. 😳
- KLM 1642 City Hopper flight to Amsterdam
- Flight delayed over 40 mins due to baggage loading issues. Anxious with an already short transfer to next flight.
- Another Amazing Race experience as we dashed from the Cityhopper late arrival to gate D47 with only 25 minutes to departure. Cleared passport control on super-fast-cut-in-front-of-everyone and were the last four welcomed onto the plane by the KLM gate agent waving us along! 🏃🏼♀️🏃🏼♂️🏃🏼♀️🏃🏼♂️
- Delta 165 to Minneapolis landed at 5p CT
- Lyft ride home
- Home Sweet Home!
Tyler and I got the Pokémon cards we sent to TAG Grading back today. My Galarian Perrserker V came back an 8.5. I dig the clear slabs that they use. The grading reports are insanely detailed and driven by algorithm and computer vision. It seems much more accurate than PSA, but also much harder.
At today’s Minnesota Card Show I built my Alakazam and Perrserker collections. Tyler loves collecting and it is a fun thing to do together.
When I played D&D I was always a Wizard hence the connection with Alakazam.
My lineage is very Nordic, hence Perrserker, a Viking Pokémon.
LEGO and Pokémon announced that they are launching a multi-year partnership in 2026. This is going to mint an incredible amount of revenue for both companies. 💰 Consider how many of these sets will be bought and never even opened for collectors. 😲
Tyler and I took another try at the Elite Pokémon Gacha Machine tonight. We took a first pull and got a 2022 #239 Japanese Cynthia’s Ambition PSA 10. We weren’t excited about that card and accepted the buyback making $3.55 USDC. Then we went again and got a 2006 #047 Deoxys Holo PSA 10! 🥳
Venusaur Holo
I had never heard of a Gacha before but I was intrigued when Collector Crypt sent an announcement about the Elite Pokémon Gacha Machine. I forwarded it to Tyler to investigate.
The gist is you pay a fixed amount and get a random card with a minimum value. Collector Crypt does this all on the Solana blockchain. We decided to give it a whirl and pulled a Venusaur Holo (1996) with a near-mint 8 PSA rating.
Tyler digs Collector Crypt because they have good Pokémon cards. I dig it for that and that it is a great use of NFT’s and smart contracts. The transaction for this Gacha machine is a complicated one with seventeen different steps.
We will likely “burn” the NFT and have Collector Crypt ship us the nearly 30 year old card.
Cuyuna Weekend 2024
We wrapped up a very fun weekend in Crosby exploring the Cuyuna area. Here is what the weekend covered.
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 17
Weather: Warm morning in Florence. Airports fine.
Jump to day 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 or Switzerland & Italy 2023 collection.
