Posted by: Sal with help from Grace.
Posted by: Sal
As Australians, we don't really understand the cold too well. Particularly how to deal with all the crazy stuff that happens when the water turns hard and the rain becomes white and fluffy, and invisible patches of slipperiness suddenly start appearing on the footpath, causing you to perform a remarkable simulacrum of Charlie Chaplin confronted by a banana skin.
To address this gap in our climatological education, clan George-Thompson (aka Sal, Nic and Gracie) headed northwards over the yule period, to Chicago and to Minnesota (fondly known as "Minne-snow-ta" to locals, according to the Lonely Planet). And cold indeed we found.
As Australians, we don't really understand the cold too well. Particularly how to deal with all the crazy stuff that happens when the water turns hard and the rain becomes white and fluffy, and invisible patches of slipperiness suddenly start appearing on the footpath, causing you to perform a remarkable simulacrum of Charlie Chaplin confronted by a banana skin.
To address this gap in our climatological education, clan George-Thompson (aka Sal, Nic and Gracie) headed northwards over the yule period, to Chicago and to Minnesota (fondly known as "Minne-snow-ta" to locals, according to the Lonely Planet). And cold indeed we found.
Us experiencing REAL cold.
We went to Chicago on the 22nd and were met by our lovely friend Stefan and his gorgeous Mum Martine, and were deposited downtown where we met Aussie friend Ciaran and headed to some iconic burger bars and blues clubs. Eventually we got back to Stefan's gorgeous family home and settled in very comfortably indeed. The next few days were full of architecture (various buildings downtown and a Christmas-Day tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the Oak Park neighbourhood), science (the Field Museum and the endless nerdy conversations between the four academic types), delicious food (something about staying in a family with a French Mum just set us up for that) and Christmassy activities (Midnight Mass, lighting "luminaria", Christmas itself). We really enjoyed being spoiled and mothered and looked after - it was a wonderful time.
The Chicago skyline.
The old Chicago public library.
The "Chicago Bucket Boys."
On Boxing Day we bade Ciaran, Stefan and co farewell and jumped on a train for Minneapolis. It was a 8 hour train ride, which sounded a bit daunting, but it went much faster than an 8 hour flight, and we had fun learning about dining carts and watching the landscape get progressively whiter. We pulled into St. Paul at 10.30pm and were met by Lori and her sister, fed sugar cookies and dropped at a very comfortable hotel.
The next day we spent the morning at the Art Institute (where Nic enthused about suits of armour, while Gracie and I ticked off Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Dali, Cezanne, Bonnard... and more) and then in the afternoon set off for Lori's family's lake house about 2 hours drive north of Minneapolis. Snow had fallen and the world was rendered in a palette of whites, greys and browns, with the occasional dark green pine tree thrown in for relief. We didn't arrive until the evening, so we didn't realise how pretty it was until the next day. The house was only 20m or so from the lakeshore. We were into snow pants in a jiffy and making snow angels before you knew it. We picked up some cross country skis that afternoon and spent a few hours getting over the extreme uncoordination associated with their use (we're great at it now, of course). We took them out again the next morning - it was a lot of fun. After freezing our butts off skiing, we wanted pizza. In the pub we met a bloke who turned out to be an old family friend of Lori's and who decided that the Aussies had to have a go at snowmobiling! Accordingly we all showed up the next day and nervously listened as he told us how much damage ($2000 worth) his son's friend had done to the machines - just that morning! Apparently not learning that letting complete strangers operate your expensive snow toys is a silly idea, he then set us onto the machines, and without so much as a "now this is the accelerator and this is the brake" roared off on the ice! We spent about 15 minutes getting a taste of this noisy, smelly, but fun winter sport - and I for one was quite happy with limiting our period of liability to that short a time.
The next day we spent the morning at the Art Institute (where Nic enthused about suits of armour, while Gracie and I ticked off Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Dali, Cezanne, Bonnard... and more) and then in the afternoon set off for Lori's family's lake house about 2 hours drive north of Minneapolis. Snow had fallen and the world was rendered in a palette of whites, greys and browns, with the occasional dark green pine tree thrown in for relief. We didn't arrive until the evening, so we didn't realise how pretty it was until the next day. The house was only 20m or so from the lakeshore. We were into snow pants in a jiffy and making snow angels before you knew it. We picked up some cross country skis that afternoon and spent a few hours getting over the extreme uncoordination associated with their use (we're great at it now, of course). We took them out again the next morning - it was a lot of fun. After freezing our butts off skiing, we wanted pizza. In the pub we met a bloke who turned out to be an old family friend of Lori's and who decided that the Aussies had to have a go at snowmobiling! Accordingly we all showed up the next day and nervously listened as he told us how much damage ($2000 worth) his son's friend had done to the machines - just that morning! Apparently not learning that letting complete strangers operate your expensive snow toys is a silly idea, he then set us onto the machines, and without so much as a "now this is the accelerator and this is the brake" roared off on the ice! We spent about 15 minutes getting a taste of this noisy, smelly, but fun winter sport - and I for one was quite happy with limiting our period of liability to that short a time.
We arrived in Duluth (another couple of hours further north again!) on the 30th and had a lovely but odd dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant. The food was 5 star, but the waitress was classic diner. We knew about her opinions on Australia, her "kid", her job and her college ambitions before a) she knew we were Australian or b) we had worked out why she was talking to us. Wierd - but the food was ace.
We spent most of NYE driving north of Duluth on the shore of Lake Superior. It was stunningly beautiful. I'll let the photos say the rest. We spent NYE itself in a pub back in Duluth, marvelling at the various interpretations of the "semi-formal" dress code by the local population. NY day saw us limp back to Minneapolis, and we spent our last day there (the 2nd) at the Science Museum (a travelling exhibit from Pompei was the main attraction) and shopping on St Paul's "Grand Avenue".
We spent most of NYE driving north of Duluth on the shore of Lake Superior. It was stunningly beautiful. I'll let the photos say the rest. We spent NYE itself in a pub back in Duluth, marvelling at the various interpretations of the "semi-formal" dress code by the local population. NY day saw us limp back to Minneapolis, and we spent our last day there (the 2nd) at the Science Museum (a travelling exhibit from Pompei was the main attraction) and shopping on St Paul's "Grand Avenue".
Sal and Gracie with our lovely host, Lori.
The frozen shore of Lake Superior.
The city of Duluth. It looks soviet but is really nice.
All of us skiing.
A frozen house in Minneapolis.And now we're back home! Its great to be back in the house and especially to have Emma the puppy back in our lives (we took her to the farmers market this morning where she behaved very beautifully to all the big dogs and people who wanted to fuss over her), but getting back to work is going to be a struggle. A struggle which, personally, I am deferring until Monday morning after Gracie's departure for Perth.
In conclusion: snow is fun, cold is manageable with sufficient clothing, Minnesota is beautiful and Chicago is a lot of fun!
