Last weekend was a busy one, as expected with the Labor Day Holiday upon us and a short work week ahead.

Friday, Nancy and I attended our first Twins game of the year as the home team hosted the Toronto Blue Jays. Or, maybe it should have been the Blue Jays hosting the Twins because the stadium was probably 50/50 with Blue Jays versus Twins jerseys amongst the 24,623 attendees.

The game was rather slow as both teams struggled to get a hit until about the middle innings. We waited patiently for some action in our seats along the left field foul line, even anticipating a foul ball to come our way. One did, but it was too far behind us to make an attempt at nabbing it with my bare hand.

Thankfully we got the tickets for the game free of charge because everything else is through the roof. Parking about four blocks away rendered me $25 poorer and the food — well, I was astounded! We each had a bratwurst and a cup of beer and the total came to $50! What the...?

Also (keep in mind if you venture out there), leave your cash behind because everything you buy is with plastic. Ugh.

Though the game was a little bit of a snoozer, the Twins prevailed with a 2-0 score to maintain their position in the standings as they head into September for a playoff run.

On Saturday, Nancy and I were joined by my brother, Brian and his wife, Brenda for a day spent at the Renaissance Festival in Shakopee. Later, Brenda’s son and friend also joined us as we wandered the grounds on a beautiful summer day.

Again, the tickets to the event were comped and parking wasn’t terribly expensive while the food and drink prices were okay and didn’t bust the bank. The famous turkey leg was around $9, pizza was $8 and the mini donuts were $6 so the prices weren’t too hard to swallow (pun intended). At least it was cheaper than at the Twins game, but it’s hard to hand over wads of money for something we all remember paying just a few dollars for not too long ago.

Today (Saturday) is the Palmer Day Festival and I’m sure prices for some of the food items will get some curmudgeons to balk at the costs but I always feel better spending my hard-earned money at local festivals as opposed to events down in the cities. Yeah costs for just about everything has gone up but it doesn’t seem to hurt as much when it goes back to the local organizations, grocers, entrepreneurs and small towns.

Fifty bucks in Palmer will go a lot further than it does at Target Field, that’s for sure.