Today I woke up at my friend Dina's apartment in Saint Paul. It was no surprise, but that is not where I normally wake up. I had spent the night after having an interesting evening visiting and catching up after me being abroad and her on vacation. We spent the majority of the night, into the very early hours of the morning, discussing with her acquaintance, Garrett, such topics as politics, religion, and conspiracy theories. The three of us were up until after 5:00 am barely stopping to take a breath in our discussion. It was pretty intense and a rather odd experience, but interesting, to say the least.
Needless to say, the next morning we slept in, and thankfully got about seven hours of sleep. After hanging out with Dina for a short while, I went to meet Kate at her apartment in NE Minneapolis. We went to Panera Bread for lunch, which was pretty good for a chain restaurant. Afterwards, we walked around for a leisurely five hours by the Mississippi River.
On our walk, we stopped at the Guthrie to check out the view from their "endless bridge," from which we could see the site of the Interstate 35W collapse and where new bridge construction is slowly progressing. We wandered across the Stone Arch Bridge, stopping a few times to peer down at the swirling brown water and thin white foam below us and to contemplate the mix of nature inter dispersed amongst historic and modern structures surrounding us.
Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis
Swirling waters of the Mighty Mississippi
Reconstruction of the Interstate 35W Bridge from the Stone Arch Bridge
Stone Arch Bridge from the Guthrie Theater
We saw the Mill City Museum where, as we peeked through the entrance gates in passing, there was a wedding party and the bride and groom having their photographs taken. We also passed by the old Pillsbury Mill before exploring a bit closer to the River and then ending up at Saint Anthony Main.
Old Pillsbury Mill
As we reached the Main, there was a thick black wall of clouds from the West rolling in towards the city and towards us. We headed for shelter and a drink at a nearby pub and waited out the storm.
A storm rolling in on Downtown Minneapolis
Wall cloud from St. Anthony Main
Apparently, the weather was pretty bad in some other areas of the Twin Cities and tornadoes actually touched down in Coon Rapids and in Hugo. Sadly, I later learned that there were several people injured and some killed by the tornado in Hugo. My aunt lives in that area, but I haven't heard anything from family, so I am assuming she is okay. I will have to email her tomorrow and check.
The storm blew out, just as fast as it had blown in and soon Kate and I were back out and about. We strolled along Saint Anthony Main, observing another wedding party as we went, coming across a beautiful Catholic Church, and then were shortly back at Kate's apartment. The entire endeavor took approximately five hours and was lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
To end the evening, Kate and I went to have dinner at Chili's in Roseville. We had a very enjoyable time discussing how hard it is to be back in the United States and readjusting, as well as family, friends, and work. The food was pretty decent. I had a steak fajita pita and she had chicken and bacon fajitas. There were also two for one drinks, so we each had a Sam Adams. Not bad. Not bad, at all.
After dinner, I said farewell to Kate and jumped in my car and started off on my hour drive home. As I passed Minneapolis on my left, the sunset was reflecting off of the skyscrapers. I wanted to take a photograph, but didn't have my camera readily available for a quick shot. I may have to return to that area to see if I can capture the beauty of the sunset on modern architecture, though, of course, not from the freeway.
Cities 97 was playing Freedom Rock on the drive home and then on another station during a commercial break, I found some recordings of political speeches given by Senator Kennedy who was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. A few things he discussed in these speeches were his loss of the presidential Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter in 1980, increasing the minimum wage, and then making comparisons between quotes from speeches given by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s regarding his decisions on sending more troops to the war in Vietnam and the manner in which the current war in Iraq is being managed. Maybe something to look into more closely.
In reflecting on the knowledge I am continuing to gain and gather, I am starting to ask myself more frequently why it is important to know such political, historical, and economical information and what use it is for me to hold it. I will continue to explore this. At this time, I think it is important to be an informed citizen of the world. Plus, it's fun to learn and to discuss with other people who care about it, as well.
After finally arriving home, I brought my purse and overnight bag into the house, said hello to our family's black labs Lily and Sophie, and headed out to the backyard where I found Mom and Steve having a bonfire under the dark blue starry sky. I said good night to them and returned to the house, got ready for bed, and now here I am. It has been a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, thus far. It is now time for bed.
Cheerio.
The storm blew out, just as fast as it had blown in and soon Kate and I were back out and about. We strolled along Saint Anthony Main, observing another wedding party as we went, coming across a beautiful Catholic Church, and then were shortly back at Kate's apartment. The entire endeavor took approximately five hours and was lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
To end the evening, Kate and I went to have dinner at Chili's in Roseville. We had a very enjoyable time discussing how hard it is to be back in the United States and readjusting, as well as family, friends, and work. The food was pretty decent. I had a steak fajita pita and she had chicken and bacon fajitas. There were also two for one drinks, so we each had a Sam Adams. Not bad. Not bad, at all.
After dinner, I said farewell to Kate and jumped in my car and started off on my hour drive home. As I passed Minneapolis on my left, the sunset was reflecting off of the skyscrapers. I wanted to take a photograph, but didn't have my camera readily available for a quick shot. I may have to return to that area to see if I can capture the beauty of the sunset on modern architecture, though, of course, not from the freeway.
Cities 97 was playing Freedom Rock on the drive home and then on another station during a commercial break, I found some recordings of political speeches given by Senator Kennedy who was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. A few things he discussed in these speeches were his loss of the presidential Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter in 1980, increasing the minimum wage, and then making comparisons between quotes from speeches given by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s regarding his decisions on sending more troops to the war in Vietnam and the manner in which the current war in Iraq is being managed. Maybe something to look into more closely.
In reflecting on the knowledge I am continuing to gain and gather, I am starting to ask myself more frequently why it is important to know such political, historical, and economical information and what use it is for me to hold it. I will continue to explore this. At this time, I think it is important to be an informed citizen of the world. Plus, it's fun to learn and to discuss with other people who care about it, as well.
After finally arriving home, I brought my purse and overnight bag into the house, said hello to our family's black labs Lily and Sophie, and headed out to the backyard where I found Mom and Steve having a bonfire under the dark blue starry sky. I said good night to them and returned to the house, got ready for bed, and now here I am. It has been a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, thus far. It is now time for bed.
Cheerio.
