We are meeting a friend of the wife's and her crew for a little pre-game festivities.

The Vikings have an arguably fair stadium on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. It's surrounded by office buildings, restaurants, and freeways. There used to be a parking lot nearby that allowed tailgating (which I think is loosely translated into open bottles of alcohol in public, fires, and generally horseplay), but they're building a parking ramp and other buildings on the three-block span it used to occupy.

The Vikings have kindly arranged a tailgating lot on the other end of the downtown area. It's a nicer looking lot with, well, pavement.

The wife's packed up a picnic for us and prepared some spiked cocoa. Yum.