Day 18: Twin Cities, Minnesota
Odometer: 99348.9 Miles
Trip Total Mileage: 1895.00 Miles
Position: 45˚ 7' N, 93˚ 11' W
Local Name: St. Paul, Minnesota
For the first time in seven and a half years, I am in the twin metropolises of Minneapolis and St. Paul. After a quick 250 mile jaunt from Moorhead on Saturday, I'm back in the land of my birth-- I spent the first decade of my life In the quiet suburb of Lino Lakes just ten miles north of St. Paul. Since moving to Oregon in 1990ish, I've only been back to visit the home I lived in twice: Once around 1994 and a second and final time in 1998 during a trip here just after my grandmother's death.
Not much has changed in the 15 years I've been gone. There's no sign of overwhelming urban sprawl and no real new developments. The elementary school I attended until the third grade is the same except for all new play equipment and security cameras everywhere. I collected sand from the playground as a keepsake.
Since being in town, I've been staying with my aunt, Janet. She's a very busy woman, quite active at the college she graduated from and the community at large. I get the impression that she deals with a lot of stress and doesn't get much sleep. I hope I'm not imposing too much, but so far I've been low-impact in my opinion. On Sunday, we visited my great-aunt and her immediate family. It was quite a night, they seemed to be quite interested in my cross-country trek. Once more, I was greeted with awe and the spark of inspiration. I haven't seen these people since I could count my age with only two hands but they knew me well enough to help me through the formality of learning their names again. The worst part of this trip has been meeting people I'm related to and then forgetting their names and how exactly I'm related. I'm sure when I get home and have the photos laid out in front of me, I will request the help of my parents to identify the dozens of faces I photographed but don't have names to go with them.
I'll be here until Thursday. I'm not really able to get online like I had hoped, I'm actually piggy-backing onto a neighbor's wireless network to post this (Muahahaha). I bought plane tickets today for a round trip flight out of Buffalo, New York, to New York City. My family convinced me that driving to New York City and having Penguin with me might be an unnecessary risk. I'd have to contend with unreal traffic issues, parking, possible theft and the threat of damage to the car from all kinds of problems. So, with the help of another aunt I'll be visiting in Pennsylvania in a couple weeks, I'll have a ride to Buffalo and a two-day trip to NYC. I'll leave Penguin and all my expensive stuff in Pennsylvania and get the full New York tourist adventure by walking everywhere and taking the subway. I know there were terrorist threats on the subway made not too long ago, but if I lived this whole trip in fear, I might as well go home now.
I saw a documentary on 9/11 the other night... I wonder what it will be like to actually stand there at Ground Zero. In less than two weeks, I'll find out.
Trip Total Mileage: 1895.00 Miles
Position: 45˚ 7' N, 93˚ 11' W
Local Name: St. Paul, Minnesota
For the first time in seven and a half years, I am in the twin metropolises of Minneapolis and St. Paul. After a quick 250 mile jaunt from Moorhead on Saturday, I'm back in the land of my birth-- I spent the first decade of my life In the quiet suburb of Lino Lakes just ten miles north of St. Paul. Since moving to Oregon in 1990ish, I've only been back to visit the home I lived in twice: Once around 1994 and a second and final time in 1998 during a trip here just after my grandmother's death.
Not much has changed in the 15 years I've been gone. There's no sign of overwhelming urban sprawl and no real new developments. The elementary school I attended until the third grade is the same except for all new play equipment and security cameras everywhere. I collected sand from the playground as a keepsake.
Since being in town, I've been staying with my aunt, Janet. She's a very busy woman, quite active at the college she graduated from and the community at large. I get the impression that she deals with a lot of stress and doesn't get much sleep. I hope I'm not imposing too much, but so far I've been low-impact in my opinion. On Sunday, we visited my great-aunt and her immediate family. It was quite a night, they seemed to be quite interested in my cross-country trek. Once more, I was greeted with awe and the spark of inspiration. I haven't seen these people since I could count my age with only two hands but they knew me well enough to help me through the formality of learning their names again. The worst part of this trip has been meeting people I'm related to and then forgetting their names and how exactly I'm related. I'm sure when I get home and have the photos laid out in front of me, I will request the help of my parents to identify the dozens of faces I photographed but don't have names to go with them.
I'll be here until Thursday. I'm not really able to get online like I had hoped, I'm actually piggy-backing onto a neighbor's wireless network to post this (Muahahaha). I bought plane tickets today for a round trip flight out of Buffalo, New York, to New York City. My family convinced me that driving to New York City and having Penguin with me might be an unnecessary risk. I'd have to contend with unreal traffic issues, parking, possible theft and the threat of damage to the car from all kinds of problems. So, with the help of another aunt I'll be visiting in Pennsylvania in a couple weeks, I'll have a ride to Buffalo and a two-day trip to NYC. I'll leave Penguin and all my expensive stuff in Pennsylvania and get the full New York tourist adventure by walking everywhere and taking the subway. I know there were terrorist threats on the subway made not too long ago, but if I lived this whole trip in fear, I might as well go home now.
I saw a documentary on 9/11 the other night... I wonder what it will be like to actually stand there at Ground Zero. In less than two weeks, I'll find out.