Business Trip

Iowa has been a bit stark most of the time this winter, as you can see. The other day I was driving to work after another storm, and the road was icy, and I thought to myself, "You know, I hate everything." I'm not the type to stay cranky, though, and I mellowed out. Still, given the unrelenting cold and storms, I can't say I was terribly enthused about my business trip to Minnesota. I wondered why they couldn't send me to Florida.

Within a day in Minneapolis, though, I realized I could even go so far as to vacation in Minnesota in winter. It was great. I was there for five days and it never snowed once. The hotel had a swimming pool and a hot tub, and my coworker turned out to be an even bigger foodie than I am. We went to the Good Earth on the first night, where I had a Japanese udon noodle soup with bok choy and other vegetables. The next night we ate at Fasika Ethiopian restaurant; Ethiopian is one of my favorite cuisines. Then we ate at India Palace in Roseville, where we received truly professional service, and the food was perfect. Finally, we went out for Tibetan and Nepali food at Everest on Grand restaurant in Saint Paul, and everything was divine there too. I ate jak dumplings.

I dragged my coworker to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which was free and turned out to have a tremendous and varied collection, though usually just one or two works on display by any particular artist. They had something for everyone; my coworker likes the Dutch Masters, from whom there of course were some selections, as well as Chuck Close, and they had a huge work by him. I was thrilled to find three Edward Weston prints, and I also for the first time encountered the work of George Tice, which I found very exciting. In addition, the Tatra car took my breath away.

I was sorry to leave, and when I approached the Iowa border I was even sorrier. When I got about 25 miles north of the border, it started to snow. As I neared the border the wind picked up, and by the time I crossed into Iowa I wanted to turn around and go back. However, the driving was more or less safe, and I didn't have any trouble getting home. I did spot one motorist sitting, unmoving, in his car with both hands on his steering wheel, at the bottom of a deep median. He appeared to be meditating on how he could have possibly ended up at the bottom of the median. I called 911, and in less than five minutes I saw a police car headed in that direction.