It was a dark and stormy night. Well, not stormy really. In fact it was quite pleasant. But it was too dark to get a good outside shot of F.R. Woody's so I will have to get one later and plug it in.
There is going to be a number of ladies from the local Red Hat Society joining the festivities at F.R. Woody's Pub so the Mysterious Chinese Lady and Donna, our hostess during our stay at Rainy Lake, had to get all gussied up for the affair.
The Mysterious Chinese Lady And Donna Rarin' To Go
When we got to F.R. Woody's Pub a bagpiper was waiting in ambush.
The Bagpiper About To Pounce
As I mentioned earlier, he then followed me into the bar and I felt like the guy in the ING commercial who has his own theme song. It was a bit embarassing, but in a good way, and I was greeted by Woody and ushered to my seat at the bar where Tonia was waiting to take my drink order.
Tonia, The Woman, And Bartender, Of The Night
To my surprise a leading local politician, the Mayor of International Falls, Shawn, was there too.
The Mayor And Bar Man Plotting Our Next Political Moves
We didn't have too much time together before Woody, himself an aspiring politician, watch out Oberstar, and the Mysterious Chinese Woman decided they wanted in on the action.
All The Players
I mentioned that the Red Hat Society ladies would be joining us so, of course, I had to pose for a picture with them and, of course, I had to wear a red hat so I could be a temporary honorary member.
Red Hat Society Ladies And Bar Man
I did manage to break away and have a few drinks with my host during my stay, Bruce, and the two friends (Moose though, and this is Elk country) who came up to join in the celebration.
Cubby, Bruce, Bar Man, and Jon (AKA Little Guy)
Another friend of mine, and Donna's cousin, Chris, drove up for the occasion as well. He was supposed to have gotten here yesterday but made the mistake of staying in Minneapolis o watch the Vikings fiasco and then said he had to have a few drinks afterwards to drown his sorrow. You can see from the expression on his face that he still hasn't fully recovered, either from the game or the drowning of his sorrows, I am not sure which.
Bar Man And Chris
Here is another picture of me and Jon, just because I wanted one of me wearing Donna's cool red sequined baseball cap.
Bar Man and Jon
As you can probably gather from some of the pictures, F.R. Woody's Pub is a bit of a treasure trove of, well, of stuff. A lot of the wallspace is pretty much covered with pictures of Woody's Fairly Reliable Guide Service customers displaying their catches or, at the very least, a smile. I did talk to three guys that went out with Woody today though and they actually came back early because they had gotten their limits and got tired of just throwing fish back. There have also been a number of articles written about Woody in various papers and magazines and these are prominently displayed as well. Nobody ever accused Woody of being bashful. He used to be a hockey player and to this day believes that he, and not Gretzky, is "The Greatest." At least this is what one of his "friends" told me.
A Small Sample Of The Photos And News Articles
And, of course what is a bar without a moose head with a cigarette dangling from its lips. The large fishing lure to his right was, I believe, made out of a bowling pin by my brother. I know a few that my brother made are hanging around the place.
The Smokin' Moose
Of course there is all kinds of memorabilia in this place and the longer you look the more you see. Woody runs a number of special events, all of them a touch absurd. He has some kind of boating event and the winner is presented with a toilet bowl full of champagne. The toilet bowl thus occupies a place of honor.
The Ceremonial Ceramic Toilet Bowl
The place was packed so I couldn't possibly post pictures of everyone who was there but here are a few more of the participants:
Sam, Chris, Cubby, Jon, and Charlie
It is Katie's (Katie is Charlie's wife) birthday tomorrow so Bruce and Donna are inviting them over tomorrow for a surprise birthday cake. Charlie is only person I know that shares my fascination with Zartochi, the blind samurai (the original ones made in Japan, not the recent horrible movie loosely based on the same character). If you aren't reading sub-titles, it isn't the real deal.
Charlie and Katie
And the band played on,or, at least, the bagpiper did.
Bruce Lidken, The Canadian Bagpiper Extrodinaire
Well, suffice it to say it seemed as though a great time was had by all so once again, Thanks Woody.
By the way, on your way out stop in the bathroom and spend an hour or two reading the old newspaper clippings that cover the walls. You will probably learn more about the old days in Ranier and the surrounding area than you will ever need to know. And don't worry, the fishing lures in the toilet seat are firmly embedded with no protruding hooks.
Woody also has a large deck out back right by the lake and next to his large dock where you can pull up in your boat and hop out for a cold one.
Well, that was my one bar for he day, and what a one it was. I was drinking mostly draft Pabsts. This makes 777 for the year and leaves me with but 223 to go.
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