On the Grand Mississippi

I never get tired of taking pictures of the Mississippi River and the numerous bridges in the Twin Cities which span it - it is truly a grand body of water.

 View of the Mississippi with the University of Minnesota campus in the background from the Lake Street Bridge - just a short jaunt from my home.

                                                      The Lake Street Bridge by day

                                  The Lake Street Bridge by night - with exquisite lighting

                                           On the dock of the Minneapolis Boat Club on Labor Day

                                                            The Hennepin Avenue Bridge

Minnesota State Fair

 These pictures are unfortunately rather old...they may have been taken in late August or early September. Regardless of their lateness, they are still very important and deserve a blog post, as they illustrate a number of things about aspects of the local culture. This red building was the first thing we saw upon arrival at the fair. Can you guess what the purpose of this exhibit may be? If you guessed that the purpose is to witness live births of farm animals, then you are correct. We only stayed about 3 minutes...the female cow which was in labor looked so uncomfortable with the dozens of people crowded around her pen, so I just couldn't bear to cause her any more grief.

There is a running joke at the Minnesota State Fair - if the food can be deep fried or put on a stick, then that will be done. This isn't necessarily a good thing, either.

         I visited the Minnesota Public Radio booth but unfortunately did not see Garrison Keillor.

That's right - deep fried candy bars. I did not try one, but I can imagine how disgusting they would have been.

I'm tempted to change my voter registration to Minnesota just so that I can vote for this man.

Finally we found some German food for David. Thank goodness - he wouldn't have survived otherwise.

                    You thought Twinkies were already disgusting in their normal form...you have no idea.

Yes, people are willing to wait in line for 45 minutes to get a bucket of these amazing cookies.

                                                     Ooohh, my favorite part of the fair!

                                                                       I certainly did.

                                                       Doing what black sheep do best.

                                  Gross! Needless to say, I did not try any of these deep fried desserts.

 

But I did try deep fried cheese curds!