There was an event I wanted to go to on a Saturday down in Little Armenia, we didn’t have anything else going, so I booked a hotel near the thing and we drove down saturday, went to the event, and came back on sunday. What was the event? Who knows, I didn’t take any pictures there (it was a Q&A for this project by Anush Babajanyan). Anyway, the clouds both ways were spectacular. The second day the whole day we were chasing rainbows.
A lot of people hate the 5 because it’s boring and long and there’s nothing to see but farms for a couple hundred miles. I understand that perspective because I also have felt that way at times. I think it’s actually a very interesting road once you look at it the right way, though. The interaction of the mountains either side of the central valley, the textures and shapes, all that green… Really what’s not to like besides five hours in the car?
Of course, the weather isn’t always benign; I’ve definitely come over these same passes in bumper-to-bumper traffic which is a different kind of misery. I don’t think that’s the road’s fault though.
Posted on 2025-02-20T08:31:16Z GMT
These are actually from the night before the previous post. I’m trying to get ahead of the trend and give up entirely on linearity. I had looked at flights and arriving one day earlier plus a hotel was quite a bit cheaper, so I went for it. I feel like at the time I might’ve also been scheduling with the possibility that Sophie would come along. I don’t remember, it was last year and a while ago.
Downtown minneapolis was very strange. The 10 story condo seemed to have taken over from all other life forms, and they were all shiny and neat, except where a few of them were still under construction. I wonder how many winters all these new transplants will face before they give up and move somewhere warmer? When I lived there, we didn’t stay through a whole one. Moved in the late spring to West St. Paul, started the third grade, learned my times tables up to I think 6’s, had more than one recess cancelled because it was too cold (less than 10ºF), and moved to Oklahoma in December. The wind was cold inside the dang truck. Terrible cold. You’ve heard of lake effects? This is a place that is swiss-cheesed with lakes. Anyway, I digress.
In the middle of summer, that is to say June, it was passing fair and nice. The Football stadium, as I said, looked like an incursion from an alternate reality, or an alien spaceship had landed and the aliens had decided, on balance, to decamp for somewhere warmer. If they’d waited a bit I’m sure they could have bought a nice condo.
Other than the odd stadium, the downtown was quiet on a Friday evening. I walked around for maybe an hour, then the rain started coming down, and I went back into my motel to watch the first presidential debates. Talk about things going non-linear on us, huh?
Posted on 2025-02-07T09:38:31Z GMT
Finally getting to these (checks notes) about six months after I meant to. This was a killer party, lots of good food and music. I kind of wasn’t on my game that night? I’d gotten a bad haircut and had a weird day wandering around Minneapolis. It didn’t matter that much, there was also a real wedding photographer there, so I was able to mostly relax and enjoy. I think this was the trip I really started to notice my like, normal energy levels starting to flag also? Like normally I would have been going to the after party and staying out all night with everyone but I just couldn’t, this time.
I have a shit ton of stuff in the backlog like this, just waiting to be posted (more than a year’s worth at this point). I also have two book projects in full swing, both the San Pablo book and the Big Empty work. Need to get a bunch of it out the door soon, as I feel like a lot of things are just going to keep happening and it’s going to be all I can do to keep up.
Love this kid’s energy. Just like, no rules, this is the best seat in the house right in the middle of the dance floor, and I’m gonna sit here and eat my dinner.
I also haven’t posted the really strange architecture from this trip, wandering around the city near my hotel the night before (maybe I’ll do those next? who knows). The big football stadium that resembled nothing so much as a crashed spaceship or an intrusion from a neighboring dimension. Anyway, I digress.
The aunties and the uncles were also a riot. What a great crowd.
Posted on 2025-02-06T07:51:10Z GMT
