Escaping Minnesota, entering South Dakota

As mentioned in our last post... there was a HECK of a lot of rain.

Not that we would have minded staying in Minneapolis for yet another night... but we must go on! (I forgot to mention for the baseball fans: the night we arrived there, the Twins clinched the AL Central pennant. Coincidence, or are we blessings in disguise? Time to move and spread the joy.)

So before my digression, allow me to repeat that there was a HECK of a lot of rain. After verifying that roads were somewhat open, we decided to make a break for it and continue our journey.

This is NOT a roadside lake!

They do NOT play water polo in this stadium!

We had great weather and great scenery, as expected. Open fields of corn, massive wind farms, and the much publicized via billboards Corn Palace:

The corn is replaced EVERY year. And admission is free, except when they're hosting concerts. Kenny Rogers is playing there soon, as are other greats like Bjorn Again, and some country artists I wouldn't know of. And on this day, there was an abnormally large number of buses of senior citizens from all over the country descending on this palace of corn. Sharon and I decided to get the heck out of there before things got dangerous.

So we went across the street to a "western-style" bar, who's name escapes me.

That's when I realized that smoking was still allowed indoors in this state. Sure, only one person was doing it, but it struck me as odd - every other state visited so far (and Ontario of course) does not allow this.

Now that I bring up differences in law, how does this strike you?

Sorry we couldn't get a closer shot. This is on a highway... both riders are wearing no helmet, no protective clothing of any kind... totally legal! Land of the free, baby! At least in this state anyway. (Actually, this was taken in Wisconsin, but we saw this in South Dakota too.)

There are other rules that must be made clear at times:

At the front door. Now we have to put it back in the car.

But I digress again! Back to the scenery of South Dakota. Our camera cannot do justice. I leave you with one of our last shots, before setting up camp at a KOA in the middle of nowhere:

And we did manage to get a tent up before it got too dark!

Nighty-night!

Minneapolis - an extended visit

The rain has seemed to stop. If you've been watching the weather - there has been significant rain in the Midwest with some serious flooding in some areas. We are here in Minneapolis - an extra day due to the significant amount of rain that has fallen since yesterday, the risk of flooding on our planned route, and a little persuasion from the hotel bar keep, Nic.

Not the most painful decision. The inn is lovely (we were moved to a larger room when extending our stay - for the same rate), and the city friendly and interesting.

So day 1, we spent some time wandering the city admiring the architecture, doing a bit of shopping (no tax on clothing, shoes or food!) and then wandered over to the sculpture garden just west of the downtown core. There were great sculptures, including the famous Spoon Bridge with Cherry complete with copious Canadian geese enjoying the fountain...
and Henry Moore's Standing Figure: Knife Edge.

On our wander back to the hotel - partly to escape the rain, partly because it was happy hour - we stopped in an old downtown establishment called Ike's. Happy hour in Milwaukee is probably Joe's favourite thing - well other than the no tax deal on food, clothing and shoes! But this place was old time class. Anyone would love it!

Today we got up and found our way to a local favourite, Al's Breakfast. It's apparently the narrowest restaurant in Minneapolis and has only 14 seats along the counter...that is it. The place is so narrow, you only have room to walk behind the people on the stools and so, often, you are asked to move down a stool or so to accommodate others coming in for a bite. Thankfully with the rain today we didn't have to wait outside in a line. The coffee is weak...but the food is good! It apparently won the James Beard award a few years ago for "American Classics Restaurant" a few years ago.

Later, after driving around the city for far too long (because we forgot our maps and the address at the hotel and would rather flounder in the streets in the rain, than go back and get it...and acknowledge defeat!) we stopped at Spyhouse Coffee for a decent cup o java (first one in Minneapolis) and found the address for the Minneapolis Art Institute. It only took us another 40 minutes or so to find it because half of the streets here are numbered - streets going one direction and Avenues going the other...AND there are North, South, East and West variations! But was it worth what we found in the end.

The Art Institute was vast, varied and beautiful. Joe's favourite exhibit seemed to be "Beware her wiles: Woman as temptress in the Renaissance Tradition" as it provided him with various ammunition to lob as we wandered...but thankfully the amazing exhibits soon silenced him. Here are a couple of favourites among many awesome pieces including, Picasso, Warhol, Modigliani and other incredible artists.









So we will evaluate our travel route again and hopefully if the flooding is not too bad, we will be on our way to South Dakota tomorrow! ...or at least soon. If we are still in Minneapolis, we'll try to find some more amazing art to share...there seems to be no shortage here!

Sunday, Monday ...Happy Days!

Okay so it is Monday and Tuesday...but remember that tune? Milwaukee, home of Wisconsin Cheese, frozen custard, Harley Davidson and of course the Fonz, Potsy, Ralph, and Richie! I am trying to recall - did Pinky Tuscadero ride a pink Harley?

Unfortunately, Joe's efforts to find the bronze statue of the Fonz were fruitless, however - we did find frozen custard (twice), the Harley Davidson Museum and some other cool stuff.Our hotel was a motorcycle friendly (they got free parking - we had to pay $25 to have a valet park our car 20 feet on front of the hotel! yep - robbed!) and was very hip and cool in design. Our swank room overlooked the HD museum and we were in walking distance from the old Third Ward.
We didn't have much time here - but we got in some exploring, some local beer tasting at the Milwaukee Ale house ...and then the next morning, some much needed strong coffee from the local favourite, Alterra, before hitting the road again! This place has some good java - and breakfast burritos!After a bit more wandering to see the sights of Milwaukee like their Art Museum and architecture,

















...it was a quick drive to Madison, Wisconsin where we had a nice (but too short) visit with Uncle Cornelius and Aunt Ruth. They cooked us up some fine West Indian fare that sustained us until late in the evening, when while driving in the dark through the hills of Wisconsin into Minnesota we noshed on the Chicago popcorn Lauren (what a host!!) sent us off with - caramel and cheese - yes, both! Those Chicagoans - their dogs, their pizza and their popcorn - over the top!

...and unfortunately all over our car...

Late in the evening, we drove into the twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota and onto Nicollet Island in the middle of the Mississippi River and up to the historic Nicollet Island Inn where we will stay the next 2 nights.

More on Milwaukee - accents

So to add to Sharon's fine post on Milwaukee, we did have an interesting conversation while at the brewery...

...which tends to happen when THIS happens.

The topic of accents came up. We are all aware that there are a multitude of beautiful linguistic differences across our nation and of the USA, but I found that in Wisconsin, we pretty well sounded the same.

Actually, I think we speak with a pretty generic accent (generic, as measured by your standard American TV/movie accent).

Sharon begged to differ, so I asked the waitress where she thought we were from, based on how we talked.

Apparently I sounded local, while Sharon did not. (Sharon later tried to explain this as me apparently "aping" the slang of the people I'm with... but that later changed to "Joe is an ape".)

The waitress said she'd never guess we were from Canada. But she thought our enthusiasm for happy hour was a little over-the-top. Wouldn't you be a little excited for $2 pints for fresh local beer?

Chicago - Day 3

With the young couple off to work early in the morning and trusting us to their apartment alone, we woke up later, with stomachs recovering from the night before - and minds intent on seeing more of Chicago's sites:

The Rookery

(I dunno...)

Board of Trade (of corn?)

We have many more pictures of many more stupendous works of architecture, superior to what I've posted above. However, back to a question raised earlier - how does Toronto compare?

My quick answer - Toronto isn't there yet. True, it's got some cool stuff, but the vastness isn't there. And thanks to this mayoral race both Sharon and I are going to miss during our trip, it doesn't appear like our future mayor will be doing much either, whether they want to or not. 

Another note, which I cannot show in pictures: the friendliness factor. And there's the darker homeless factor that cannot be overlooked. While we basically saw the "pretty" part of Chicago only,  perhaps we'll delve a little deeper next visit, whenever that is.

Chicago - Day 2

Sunday is a day we plan to see a lot of genuine sight-seeing. But first, we will eat in style.

Sharon and Lauren

I failed to mention who Clay and Lauren are. Lauren is Sharon's niece. (Which, unfortunately for Lauren, makes her MY niece too.) Clay is Lauren's dude.

So to the "eating in style" part: Lauren has selected North Pond, an excellent suggestion. Fine taste in food runs in the family, I suppose.

(...and in fine dudes too.)

Needless to say, the food there is excellent, in a serene setting on "the North Pond", with white ducks, turtles, geriatric fishermen practicing their fishing skills, and other exotic wildlife.

Perhaps on next season's menu.

Afterwords, with full stomachs, we strolled to the lakefront. The clear sky showed how immense this lake truly is, as we could see Michigan and Wisconsin with the naked eye. From there we parted ways, with the young people ensuring that us elder folks got on the transit system safely. Good thing too - because we kinda are elderly.

Somehow we ended up where we intended... the John Hancock tower. Saw some great views from the 94th floor (or something like that), after being taken up there by the fastest elevator in North America (or something like that) at 20mph. The hi-tech touch pads offered interesting audio narrations by David Schwimmer, official non-Oprah Chicago spokesperson.

(The CN Tower still rules!)

Afterwards, we cruised the Magnificent Mile, stopping by Neiman Marcus' and Sak's multi-thousand dollar shoes, and on to more stimulating sites - like Millennium Park...

the Bean

... where we happened upon one of the free concerts put on by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in the park. Imagine thousands of civilized people sitting/standing in close quarters, listening to LIVE classical music respectfully.

This was especially shocking to us, as we had not realized what we were (literally) walking into. It was truly a beautiful experience. Picnic baskets were out, wine was flowing, garbage was not... wonderful!

However, as all good things must come to an end, we had to depart... to more good things. We had to experience more food - this time, the traditional Chicago deep-dish pizza. Lauren and Clay met up with us and took us to legendary Gino's East - which resembled a crack house from the inside, due to the insane amount of graffiti that was on EVERYTHING:

Even the Blues Brothers!

And if you love your health, please do not consume this pizza in one sitting. All cheese, sauce, and ours had the "sausage layer" on it.

Good - but in small quantities. Personally, I felt it helped when I beat my chest a few times to get the heart going after the occasional cardiac arrest.

We called it a night after that. We simply had no choice. The pizza won. More architectural exploration would have to wait until the next day.

Chicago - Day 1

So - we're in Chicago, the very first leg of our trip. We were a little worried at the border, seeing how there was a team of border guards searching every other car that crossed. However, we miraculously passed through without incident.

Making it out of Michigan, and through a seemingly unmarked part of Indiana, was fairly easy. Going up the I90 toll route towards Chicago seemed cheap... at first. 60 cents! But then, like 1 mile later, we hit another toll station on the same road. $1.50. Cruised along over the Chicago Skyway, only to be hit by another $3.00 toll. How sneaky! Toronto needs this.

Speaking of Toronto, and the comparisons that seem to be flying whenever I hear of Chicago and Toronto in the same sentence, we could not help but think of comparing the two. Is Toronto a world-class city?

I can't answer that here, and without my wife's contributions.  But perhaps we will get around to that later. If not, sorry for raising your expectations.

But for now, I leave you with a picture of the people we visited.

Clay and Lauren

So nice, and hard-working. I admit, we felt guilty flaunting a 6-week vacation while they work long hours every week... but that's what youth are for, no?

Regardless, they did show us a few things, and pointed out many attractions that we would see later. We can already tell that we will only scrape the surface of what Chicago has to offer in the short time that we'd be there.