Minneapolis, with a heart shape drawn around it

I have fallen in love with Minneapolis. Its like New York City but in a more chewable size, with nicer people and a midwest vibe. I realize that this smitten feeling is happening in the summer season and that in winter, it might be a different story; but with all of the coffee shops and diners and art museums and easy public transportation and walkable neighborhoods and tons and tons of great bench spots -- all of that might out-weigh cold temperatures and lots of snow. I'll have to test that out, though.

I, luckily, befriended a local and got the low-down on what I needed to see and do. And this person happened to be an artist -- a photographer, at that -- and had a show going on in town, which I checked out. It was give-me-goosebumps fantastic. Please check out his work and revel in his genius: www.timpphoto.com. He will be famous one day and I will be all "...I knew him when..."

So I spent three fantastic days in Minneapolis. My room accommodations were at the Minneapolis International Hostel. Usually, at hostels, I bunk in a room with other ladies but I decided to get my own room for this part of the trip. It ended up being a room the size of a closet up in the attic:

I was standing in the doorway for this picture. The room ended on the other side of the bed and there was one chair and a bedside table in the nook to the left. The only way to stand up straight was to stand in the skylight window (you can kind of see it at the top.) It sounds like I'm complaining but I found it to be perfect. It was all the room I needed. And larger rooms just mean larger messes for me.

Instead of writing a full report on hostel-living, I'll do a quick pros and cons rundown:

• Pros: Cheap (usually $25 to $35 a night in places where hotels would cost over a hundred); located in the downtown areas of cities, right in the middle of everything; they have a comfortable feel (kind-of like a mix between being at home and being at summer camp); they have kitchens that you can use and laundry facilities and usually the house host will put out information on the cheap places to eat and things to do for free; its easy to meet new people from different places.
• Cons: Being in the middle of town, it can get noisy at night (in Newport, the hostel was in the bar area and from two until five in the morning I got to listen to the drunks trying to get home and some of them seemed to be trying unsuccessfully. There was one long stint of people right outside my window debating how they were going to carry the token drunk girl home, complete with said drunk girl crying and apologizing); rooming with other people can make it hard to get to sleep (I've roomed with a girl that snored loud enough to drown out my dad's snores, a woman that had incessant coughing fits through the night, and a sleep-talker who would have moments of talking loud and fast until someone else in the room calmed her down).

I do need to admit, though, that I am writing all of this while I'm sitting in a suite at the Hilton in Fargo. That's right -- living the high life in Fargo. I cashed in all of my rewards points on the credit card that I've had for the last ten years. Its labor day weekend and my plan is to hibernate in luxury while the masses take to the highways for picnics and what-have-you. I've got Diet Coke and Twizzlers and US magazine and a jacuzzi bathtub. Well, helllloooo, Saturday night.

Random pic of Northern Minnesota backroads:

What I've listened to in the last week:

"Shake the Sheets" by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

"War on Errorism" by NOFX

"Rabbit Fur Coat" by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins

"Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles

"Painful" by Yo La Tengo

"Z" by My Morning Jacket

"27" by Mon River Ramblers

"One Beat" by Sleater-Kinney

"All Hands On The Bad One" by Sleater-Kinney

"New Moon (Disc 1)" by Elliott Smith

"Bangmasters" by Van Morrison

Soundtrack of the movie "Marie Antoinette"

"Cassadaga" by Bright Eyes

"Let It Be...Naked" by The Beatles

"Daybreaker" by Beth Orton

"Kicking Television" by Wilco

"The Early Years" by Tom Waits (was a perfect match for Northern Minnesota)

"Just Like the Fambly Cat" by Grandaddy

Audiobook: Discs 1-3 of "Holidays on Ice" by David Sedaris

Audiobook: Discs 4-5 of "Chelsea, Chelsea, Bang, Bang" by Chelsea Handler

Audiobook: Discs 1-4 of "Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens