I Suppose There's A Reason the Place Is Mostly Populated By Scandinavians

Well, I gotta' say this about Minneapolis - it makes the 24 degree weather here feel downright balmy.

Overall, a very nice city. But cold. The downtown area felt like a mix of the turn-of-the-century (and I don't mean to the 2000's) architecture with some newer stuff mixed in. And there seemed to be sculptures everywhere! Every business, every sidewalk, every open space that still didn't have snow or ice in it seemed to have some sort of outdoor piece of art. Which doesn't make sense when you consider the place is cold 11 months out of the year.

Ate at a pretty good Italian resteraunt downtown named Zelos, which came very highly recommended by one of our clients. I had the risotto, and, to be honest, it wasn't the best I ever had. It was a little soupy and the garlic seemed to overpower the other flavors of the dish. Perhaps if I had ordered a Morettis to go with it instead of a Pepsi, the lunch would've been a little more, well, a little more. But the people watching was good and made me decide that the people of Minneapolis have to be some of the toughest sunsuvbitches out there. Some of these people were literally walking around in t-shirts. Granted, they may have been dashing from their little cubicle into a resteraunt or shop to grab a quick something to sustain them through the bitter cold afternoon, but still. The high was 17. And for some reason it felt colder than the 17 degree weather we've been having here. Let me reiterate: the place if fucking cold. To dont, or anyone with a map of North America, that's a pretty obvious statement. But I thought I had started to acclimate to the cold weather here in the homeland. But no. I'm a weather pussy.

The Mall of America was pretty fascinating, but not for the usual reasons to me. Yeah, a roller coaster and a ferris wheel and a log ride and an aquarium (apparently the largest underground aquarium in the world and it costs 16 fucking dollars to go through) are all pretty neat to see. But the place didn't feel like this obnoxiously large and overbearing mecca to consumerism. To the contrary. Each floor and shop felt intimate and there was a good mix of mom and pop shops with chain stores and big box outlets to make you feel like you were somewhere positive. We went there for dinner and ate at Ruby Tuesdays, a place with ads that usually make me feel like vomitting. But I'm happy to report that, for a chain resteraunt, it was pretty good. I had the Buffalo chicken burger with a monster Blue Moon and both were delicious. I'm glad to see Minnesota isn't afraid to serve up craft brews, unlike Illinois. Can't say one way or the other about Georgia. I'll have to investigate that further on my next trip to the ATL.

Overall, I really like Minneapolis. It felt like a nice place, though it was cold. C0lder than a well-diggers ass in January. The people seemed nice enough. Not friendly like Southerners are stereotyped as being, but warm enough to make you feel welcome if you actually had a chance to stop and talk to somebody.

And I can't believe I had to travel all the way to Minnesota to get my first glimpse of the Mississippi.