Travellin'

I seriously love to travel. I do. I love renting cars and driving the hell outta them. I love getting lost in a new city -- though not when I'm expected to be somewhere. I love the process of figuring a city out, getting a sense of it's personality.

P.S. I love Minneapolis. Great frickin' city. And I'll tell you why:

1. Skyline... I love a good skyline
   
2. College town
   
3. Lots of local shops... restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores
   
4. Mary Tyler Moore will be forever cute to me
   
5. Water, water everywhere
   
6. People... friends, colleagues and strangers alike, they're just different, and they really set the tone

I guess people are different everywhere. And I could go about making some grand generalizations (which I'll probably do in a minute) that a lot of folks will disagree with. Regardless, I really do think each city has a personality, made up of a lot of things, but also largely the people there. Question is, are they more a product of their environment (the other stuff) or do they interact with it, bringing a common human element, or do people in cities really have distinguishable attitudes?

Here's some juicy generalizations, as promised. Minneapolis has a lefty bent. The whole state does, technically. But Minneapolis also has a sort of Californian-save-the-world vibe going on. Recycling is really expected. Composting is not out of the ordinary. It's got a major university in it, which brings liberals and pot-smokers. I saw two MASSIVE head shops and smelled prolific weed in the air in the partying downtown Saturday night. The personal is political, and there is a significant core of folks walking the walk there, bringing the median even closer to the left.

DC has universities, and liberals. But there is also a conservative element, both from the political party and from the sheer pomp and circumstance of the government machine. Power brokers and deal makers tinge the air and make it bitter. Seriously. The nasty, dirty, back room deals... I swear I can feel them. But then, I'm a little nuts.

So... maybe I'm just swooning still, but it seems like an awesome town. Good people, with good intentions, trying to do the right things and take care of each othe and have a good time too.

Word up, Mpls.