Minneapolis

I know I have been to Minneapolis in Spring and even Summer, but it's those cold Winter visits I remember, so this green drive is really a pleasure. We have so many friends from Minnesota and we list them and talk about them all.
This must be the 5th time we have seen a wind turbine propeller (are those the right words?) go by on a giant carrier.

 There are so many windmills here.

Giant fields of them. I still think they are beautiful.

I could tell you this was the Mississippi or the North Racoon or the South Skunk and you'd never know. Almost all my river photos look the same, I know. Blame the Highway Department for those concrete walls. All of them are full up and into the trees.

I never have anything nice to say about these fast food chains, but here I say to so many of them,
"THANK YOU". They have the best, cleanest restrooms and we stop at them often, just for that purpose. Look how colorful this one is.
Faulkner makes the miles fly by: Keith Carradine reads "Spotted Horses", Debra Winger reads "Barn Burning", and Arliss Howard reads "Wash". All read well and I am a Faulkner convert.
Suddenly, after hours of prairie, the Big Smoke.

The Normany is a classic 60's hotel in a neighborhood that has a confused identity now. Look at the pool in the atrium.

The hallways are paved with multicolored slate, shellacked, and the exterior looks the same as the walls in the pool room. It's French.

And Lucia's is American. American food at its best which means seasonal, fresh, and local. And a GREAT cocktail called a Vesper (equal parts gin and vodka, with Lillet, made like a martini). I found Lucia's on Tripadvisor by looking for a restaurant close to Magers &Quinn where John is reading tonight. Boy were we lucky.
Just a note on the AAA Travel Guide tips for restaurants: they may be recommending places where Americans go to stay fat.

Magers & Quinn is another fantastic bookstore. Smaller-much smaller-than Powell's but it reminds me of Powell's long ago. Shelves and shelves of books, new and used mixed and not too carefully filed so you do a little more looking somehow. Dave Enyeart is the event coordinator and he and his crew are happy to have us there.

John reads "Tramps" in a slightly different edit, tending towards the Ojibway character Big Ten. The audience loves it and loves him. They buy a lot of books and I see a couple of fans ordering THINKING IN PICTURES to learn more about how John thinks and writes.

Here is John with Al Milgrom. If John is the godfather of US Independents, Al is the grandfather of the US Art House. Talking with Al was a nice way to end a great night.

Good night, Minneapolis.