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Travelogue
Posted on 2008.06.07 at 06:40
I've only one final leg of my journey to go, and just the idea of sweet little Minneapolis (I've been assured countless times I'm "going to love it there") fills me with anxiety. So, here's a brief summary of my travels to keep my hands steady for the road ahead:
Niagara falls was weird, almost disturbingly touristy (with its wax museums and casino) but sad and creepy, as I walked by the house with two apparently functioning satellite dishes (the door was open, and the TV was loud) and piles of dusty restaurant equipment on the porch. The falls were breathtaking, however, except at night, when they light them in neon colors. I got a $5 t-shirt that says in an oval, "Niagara Falls, Canada." In the center of the oval it also says, "World Famous." Gets the prize for most obvious.
Toronto, well, the jury's still out. I'd need to have a friend who knows the city take me around, I think. I went to the places I was instructed by a native (Queen Street, Chinatown), although I missed the Danforth--except in my car several times--and the most I got out of it was some cheap cotton clothing in Chinatown. Unfortunately, the most memorable aspects of Toronto for me are the irritating driving and European family I shared a bathroom with, who had a 6-year-old boy with terrible aim. Oh, and I sat for tea with a Kashmiri shopkeeper and heard his life story. But that's kind of what I do, no?
Here's a tip: when passing into the U.S. from Canada, do the following: 1) bring an item of produce--say, a bag of grapes; 2) nervously claim such bag of grapes to the immigration official and admit that you did indeed buy them in the market in Toronto; 3) turn bag of grapes over to immigration official. If you appear 1) white, 2) female, and 3) have a Standard American English accent, you will be let through with a stern warning and no further search of your car.
Chicago was not at all what I expected. I guess I've read too much Alex Kotlowitz and Sara Paretsky and haven't listened to Amy enough. It was a beautiful day (although a bit hot and windy), and I wished I'd had more time to explore this really lovely city. But alas, the hotel was three times as much as the next most expensive one (did I mention my accommodations have been quite cheap?--oh, you might have guessed, on account of the seat-peer), and I had to move on to my cheapest yet--$30 a night! I was in a kind of wide-eyed art-loving mood that day, and so the Art Institute veritably made me glow. Of course, it's just an all-around fantastic museum, but I also want to point out that, with a focus on American art, they do a better job of showing works by women and African American artists of the 19th century than any other museum of its kind.
Why don't you take, say, a 3-4 hour break in bumper-to-bumper traffic right now? Because that's what I did, driving the mere 90 miles from Chicago to Milwaukee at 2:00 in the afternoon. That was fun.
The Milwaukee Art Museum is conveniently open late on Thursdays. Still in a wide-eyed art-loving mood, well, you can guess how I felt about this museum. It's actually quite spectacular. I will have photos of this and other stuff later, once I did my adapter out of my trunk. I had dinner in an old restaurant on the lake with an ex-coworker, my first real conversation all week, which was really nice.
Here, have another break, as you imagine me driving in a one-lane bottleneck at midnight from Milwaukee to Madison? What should be ninety minutes turns to another three hours, and I don't arrive until 12:30. Pulled over in the truck lane at a rest stop, a state trooper takes pity on me, gives me directions, and puts on his flashers to get me safely into the proper car parking lot.
Madison. Well, yes, everyone was right about Madison--at least the parts I saw. I started off at the Botanical Gardens, which are free, and beautiful, and of course early June is a wonderful time to go. The conservatory ($1) was like a hodgepodge of every tropical country I've every been too, and indeed there were plants from all over the world, beautifully arranged. I headed into town and parked near State Street, where I spent my day wandering in and out of shops and continually marveling at how friendly Midwesterners are. At the end of the day, I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art for a concert on the rooftop sculpture garden, where I met interesting people (all lawyers--apparently Madison has too many professionals per square foot) and had dinner with one of them. I'd planned on going out and seeing the same band later that night at a club, but I was so tired that I came back to my motel and was asleep by 10:30.
I'd better get to breakfast so that I'm fortified for the drive to Minneapolis. I hope you enjoyed this little 7-day jaunt as much as I did. I do promise photos, which take much less time commitment (although if you've gotten this far, you've either skipped to the bottom, or, well congratulations--you should win something).
Niagara falls was weird, almost disturbingly touristy (with its wax museums and casino) but sad and creepy, as I walked by the house with two apparently functioning satellite dishes (the door was open, and the TV was loud) and piles of dusty restaurant equipment on the porch. The falls were breathtaking, however, except at night, when they light them in neon colors. I got a $5 t-shirt that says in an oval, "Niagara Falls, Canada." In the center of the oval it also says, "World Famous." Gets the prize for most obvious.
Toronto, well, the jury's still out. I'd need to have a friend who knows the city take me around, I think. I went to the places I was instructed by a native (Queen Street, Chinatown), although I missed the Danforth--except in my car several times--and the most I got out of it was some cheap cotton clothing in Chinatown. Unfortunately, the most memorable aspects of Toronto for me are the irritating driving and European family I shared a bathroom with, who had a 6-year-old boy with terrible aim. Oh, and I sat for tea with a Kashmiri shopkeeper and heard his life story. But that's kind of what I do, no?
Here's a tip: when passing into the U.S. from Canada, do the following: 1) bring an item of produce--say, a bag of grapes; 2) nervously claim such bag of grapes to the immigration official and admit that you did indeed buy them in the market in Toronto; 3) turn bag of grapes over to immigration official. If you appear 1) white, 2) female, and 3) have a Standard American English accent, you will be let through with a stern warning and no further search of your car.
Chicago was not at all what I expected. I guess I've read too much Alex Kotlowitz and Sara Paretsky and haven't listened to Amy enough. It was a beautiful day (although a bit hot and windy), and I wished I'd had more time to explore this really lovely city. But alas, the hotel was three times as much as the next most expensive one (did I mention my accommodations have been quite cheap?--oh, you might have guessed, on account of the seat-peer), and I had to move on to my cheapest yet--$30 a night! I was in a kind of wide-eyed art-loving mood that day, and so the Art Institute veritably made me glow. Of course, it's just an all-around fantastic museum, but I also want to point out that, with a focus on American art, they do a better job of showing works by women and African American artists of the 19th century than any other museum of its kind.
Why don't you take, say, a 3-4 hour break in bumper-to-bumper traffic right now? Because that's what I did, driving the mere 90 miles from Chicago to Milwaukee at 2:00 in the afternoon. That was fun.
The Milwaukee Art Museum is conveniently open late on Thursdays. Still in a wide-eyed art-loving mood, well, you can guess how I felt about this museum. It's actually quite spectacular. I will have photos of this and other stuff later, once I did my adapter out of my trunk. I had dinner in an old restaurant on the lake with an ex-coworker, my first real conversation all week, which was really nice.
Here, have another break, as you imagine me driving in a one-lane bottleneck at midnight from Milwaukee to Madison? What should be ninety minutes turns to another three hours, and I don't arrive until 12:30. Pulled over in the truck lane at a rest stop, a state trooper takes pity on me, gives me directions, and puts on his flashers to get me safely into the proper car parking lot.
Madison. Well, yes, everyone was right about Madison--at least the parts I saw. I started off at the Botanical Gardens, which are free, and beautiful, and of course early June is a wonderful time to go. The conservatory ($1) was like a hodgepodge of every tropical country I've every been too, and indeed there were plants from all over the world, beautifully arranged. I headed into town and parked near State Street, where I spent my day wandering in and out of shops and continually marveling at how friendly Midwesterners are. At the end of the day, I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art for a concert on the rooftop sculpture garden, where I met interesting people (all lawyers--apparently Madison has too many professionals per square foot) and had dinner with one of them. I'd planned on going out and seeing the same band later that night at a club, but I was so tired that I came back to my motel and was asleep by 10:30.
I'd better get to breakfast so that I'm fortified for the drive to Minneapolis. I hope you enjoyed this little 7-day jaunt as much as I did. I do promise photos, which take much less time commitment (although if you've gotten this far, you've either skipped to the bottom, or, well congratulations--you should win something).