As I have written in other media, Minneapolis is not a small town. It's big and happening.
The town does bear marks of the recession. The downtown is quite gorgeous, but there are many unemployed people and many shuttered businesses. Things have been better, but they could also be a lot worse.
Taking a camera with me to lunch and dinner gave me an opportunity to study the city between meetings. While I think I missed having the time to really, deeply, explore that I normally get wandering around for hours without a schedule, things panned out, and I have some neat images to remember the trip.
One thing that really struck me is how many underground and overground walkways there are. You know winter is tough when people think it's worthwhile to heat and enclose paths between buildings. I am pretty sure it's entirely possible to walk from the Minneapolis convention center to the Hiawatha light rail station without being able to see sky when looking up. That's more than a mile of uninterrupted passage.
Winter hasn't struck yet. If anything, it was warmer there than DC is right now. The trees are all turning, and the taxi drivers all swear it will snow next week, though I am suspicious about their timing. What comes out of the sky still feels like autumn.
I stepped off a bus a half mile from the hotel, just in time for the clouds to unzip and unleash a torrent that soaked me before I could get my nylon shelled fleece on, then soaked through that just to remind me what real rain gear is. The skywalks were not an easy distance away, so I had to dodge between awnings to get back to my hotel. I nearly asked the doorman for a towel.
If you are a fan of Genuine motorscooters and motorcycles, Minneapolis is hive of activity. Lots of 50 cc bikes and a few 125 and 150s. I even found a Stella hanging out by the theater.
Awesome.
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