Listing Through Life

After the conference, I drove over to tour Fort Snelling, but it was closed. The web page said it would be open, but it was closed. A lot of other people were there to see it, but it was closed. I headed into St. Paul and ate lunch at Mickey’s Diner.

Mickey’s is a funny place. It’s an authentic diner, built in 1937 and brought to this spot where it has operated ever since. Unlike Fort Snelling, it’s never closed “except when it needs repairs” — and it isn’t very clean.

The locals eat there. Near the end of my meal, three people wandered in who were obviously very high on some substance. My waitress and the bus boy stood behind the counter in front of me and discussed the arrest of a shirtless man that was taking place across the street. Three college students at a nearby booth were talking about a Bible Study. And yet it’s been around so long that it’s also a tourist attraction. Others, like me, were there just to see the place and enjoy the atmosphere. It’s been featured in several TV shows and served as a location in several movies. The menu lists all the famous people who have eaten there.

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, which was decent. My waitress talked me into hash browns — “they’re really good here.” And they were good, but a bit weird with a cheeseburger. My chocolate shake was very good. I didn’t hang around long, I didn’t want to get towed. The half hour I spent here seemed more like an episode of a TV show than a lunch.

After the conference, I did a bit of sightseeing. My first stop was Historic Fort Snelling.

Fort Snelling was closed. The Internet said it was open, but it was closed. A lot of other people thought it was open, but it was closed. There was no explanation. It was just closed.

But I walked around a bit and took a few photos. It wasn’t very satisfying. Because it was closed.

I walked from the river to Target Field through downtown Minneapolis with no map.

Now an office building, the Ceresota Building was once the Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company Elevator A. It was built in 1908 and is the largest grain elevator ever built of brick (whatever that does for you).

My random path took me past this sculpture, titled “Inner Search” on the corner of 3rd Street and Second Avenue. The “eye” was supposedly inspired by the eye on the one dollar bill.

A bunch of cement balls lined the mirrored walls on the other side of the building.

The web site Start Seeing Art has this to say about “Family.”

“Family” features a mother, father and two children, barefoot and apparently wandering and about to reach the end of their journey. It feels like there’s some sort of context missing, like we should know more about who they are or where they’re going or where they’re coming from. But it’s just not there.

Which is an obvious attempt to say something when there was nothing to be said.

On my stroll from the river to Target Field, I happened upon this odd mural on the side of the Rosenthal Furniture store.