Reporting from Hudson, WI
Another early day, as we planned to leave MN by evening. We had breakfast at the hotel while Mindy and Kathy played their daily Rummikub game, along with our friend Janet via Facetime, before we set off.
The Twin Cities are crowded, and the complex series of construction projects doesn’t help getting around. Our first stop, a giant Adirondack chair, was surrounded by construction in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The worker told us they were replacing sand with wood chips, as local cats had taken to using the sand as a litter box. Ewww.
Onto another entry in our Statehouse tours. Minnesota has theirs at the top of a hill, with various support buildings down below. It’s an impressive edifice, and clear that a lot of effort is made to keep it pristine. Legislature was out of session, but the state Supreme Court was not.
There’s a statue of “The Happy Warrior”, Hubert Humphrey, just down the hill.
We drove by the World’s Largest Loon, again surrounded by construction. We couldn’t find a place to park--this became a theme.
There’s a tiny “museum” (more like a window box) just outside a coffee shop. Locals rotate in new exhibits regularly. Currently it’s a quilt with an anti-ICE theme (we saw a lot of this, and for good reason).
Off to the Walker Art Center, and a large outside sculpture gallery surrounded by wildflowers. This includes the famous "Spoonbridge and Cherry"--and a blue chicken.
Moving from St. Paul to Minneapolis. We cooled our heels for a bit while waiting for the Guthrie Theater to open so we could see the public areas. I was thinking this would just be a big lobby, but it had several floors, including an “Amber Box”--a cantilevered room surrounded by amber glass, providing a magnificent view of the skyline.
We then worked our way thru traffic to the main reason I wanted to go to Minneapolis--the statue where Mary Richards throws her cap into the air in the opening of the Mary Tyler Moore show (my second favorite sitcom, just behind the Dick Van Dyke show). Mindy had to drop us off and drive around several blocks while we took photos. I played the confused woman looking on.
Moving on to Mary’s original apartment, which seems far closer to the street than I had imagined. Reportedly, the homeowner at the time wasn’t happy with all the people stopping to take picture and knocking on the door, asking to see Rhoda. So when the show’s producers asked to take more photos a few seasons later, “Impeach Nixon” signs appeared in the windows to deter them. This is why Mary suddenly moved to a high-rise with little rationale.
By this point, we were getting antsy. It was very difficult to drive around town, and out phones (with the directions) all seemed to be running out of power. So we took one more pic of a giant pencil in front of an otherwise lovely home, then skedaddled out of town. A stop at a Damon’s-like joint later for “lupper” before getting just over the WI border before getting to the hotel early to rest (and for me to catch up on my blog entries).
Tomorrow, we explore WI, including an underground tour.
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