Well… I’m sad. It’s time to leave my home state once again, and it feels far too soon. Gather round, my fine feathered friends, as I tell you the tale of my Minnesota Goodbye.
The Mall
This morning I was woken up to the lovely sounds of “Happy Birthday” sung by the best available singers of the time. It was fantastic and I felt so much love that I promptly fell back asleep soon after the finale.
After waking up again, I went downstairs to face the day. Antonio was already up, so after a bit of breakfast, we decided to go to the Mall of America so that he could see MOA in all its grandeur, mid-week and uncrowded. We certainly got what we wished for! There was hardly anyone there, tens of thousands, I’m sure, but in such a large space, it felt empty.
At the mall we visited several stores:
Zumiez for a Donut Racing hat
The Crayola Experience store for a gift to my fiancée
The Lego Displays
A fishing store that caught my eye
And at the end, Starbucks, since walking around all day (again) took a lot out of us
On Returning
On the drive back, I took Antonio around Minneapolis, through the parkways and by the lakes Harriet & Bde Maka Ska as I showed him my first childhood home.
Along our journey, we passed by the George Floyd Memorial outside of Union (formerly Cup) Foods. It was a somber place, a tangible air of history. Names lined the street in front of the store, and a sign on either end of the block declared “The Free State of George Floyd”. No matter your perspective on what transpired there, this was a moving place.
Lingering Activities
After returning from the Mall of America, my mom took me and Antonio to Best Buy for my birthday gift. It seemed that Best Buy really outdid themselves. The locks on their displays are now all electronic, and not a single person of 5 had a card that worked. Unpromising beeps signaled that nobody had a successful card, yet attempt after attempt without trying anything differently! To make matters worse, we could hear the same sad beeps one aisle over.
In the end, the case was never opened, destined to tantalize onlookers without the possibility of releasing its captive product within. In fact, the situation was resolved when Antonio saw a secondary lockbox with the headphones in the Navy color I preferred. By some luck, one card opened the case on one attempt. I left a very happy customer with a fun story about a time when technology went too far for those tasked with managing it.
After our fun time at Best Buy, I decided we should check out Sierra, a company under the TJ Maxx family, with a focus on outdoor products, so basically my ideal of a shopping adventure. I found my holy grail of clothes, gray Carhartt overalls, and what’s more, they were half the price of the ones I saw in the Carhartt store at MOA. They were stamped “irregular” - a perfect fit for me! I would say those are my gift to myself, but if you read yesterday’s post, I’ve been treating myself to F1 cards and Harley Comics already, oh well, you only turn 27 once (probably).
Sending Off
After we got home, my dad had finished the ribs my mom prepared earlier. Delicious. My aunt Ann also happened to stop by, joining for dinner before her dance class, that was a nice surprise.
As dinner wrapped up, Antonio and I brought our luggage downstairs, where we let my mom unpack and rearrange everything much more efficiently. As time ticked on, we played board games, sang songs, and worked on a crossword together.
In these small moments, with my mom and dad looking over an iPad, solving the Dictionary.com crossword of the day as “I’m in a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)” played in the background formed a core memory as a wave of sadness overtook me. Sure, I wish my sister and brother could’ve been there to complete the scene. Next time, I’ll work harder to make that a reality, and I’m going to do better to remember to record these moments for posterity.
It was soon after that my mom actually read the Amtrak policy, noting that we needed to be about an hour or so early to the station to our 11:13 PM train, the only problem is that it was already 10, so we decided there wasn’t going to be a better time to leave. I said my goodbye to my brother, grabbed my shoes from the dryer, and brought the luggage out the car.
Travel Begins
The drive to the station was uneventful until we crossed the Mississippi. A strange bout of road rage occurred right in front of us as a silver sedan (driving recklessly around traffic) was trying to pass an orange SUV. The sedan, behind the SUV, turned their lights on to pass on the right. As Sedan begin changing lanes, SUV, behind a third car, turned on his indicator lights, but did not begin changing lanes.
Turning Point
THIS WAS THE MOMENT, Y’ALL! Sedan swerved back into the lane behind SUV and began flashing her high beams at SUV, who took the opportunity to go through the open lane. But the twist you weren’t expecting is that after orange went through, he merged one more lane over, and when Sedan drove through quickly after, the road rage took over and SUV chased this Sedan down the highway, following behind closely and flashing his high beams at her. As they swerved away, we thought it was the end, but nope!
They must’ve slowed down behind us at some point, because from behind, Sedan drives around our car and then cuts in front of us. I think she’s mistaken us from her pursuant, but here comes SUV, still driving after her. We had to get off the highway at that time, as it was our exit, but we were nearly run off the road by careless people in giant metal boxes…
FINDING THE Train StatIon
Every road leading to the station was closed under construction, and the signage was absolutely unhelpful. After some maneuvering, we got to the drop off area! Which was closed… So we drove out to the nighttime entrance across the street, got the bags out, and I said my goodbyes to the two most important people in my upbringing.
We grabbed the bags and boxes, walked to the door, and were let in by a security guard who asked where Antonio got his (Oakland A’s) jacket. When Antonio answered, “Oakland” there was a tangible humorous awkward feeling that seemed to be shared by every bystander in the station! I think everyone took it positively, it just was funny to me.
Waiting in line
Carrying a box with of trading cards and a guitar amp and a rugby bag with the guitar stand, old cameras and my treasured overalls, this weight got weighty. We got upstairs and immediately got lost in the station. As soon as we retraced our steps, we found a hallway I didn’t notice the first time. We joined the line of passengers waiting to get on. When I asked the attendant about checking the 1.5 ton weight I had decided to impose upon myself, he held a professionally repressed smile, I got the message, we missed that boat by an hour or so.
Train wars of the 1950’s
While waiting in line with my weight, I noticed an art installation high up on the wall, which looked like a colorful ballista. I decided to run with the idea.
They’re relics from the great train wars of the 1950’s, when opposing train companies were in fierce competition with each other over total rail dominance. They built parallel tracks across main streets throughout the Midwest. On each train, multiple marksmen were placed to take aim at the rival train and their stations. The station-mounted ballista was a counter-measure to these brutal battle trains. The craziest part is that there was only one rail-laying company, so this company was rolling in dough and on great terms with both of this companies. This was due to one owner owning both of these train companies…
“Nah,” Antonio commented “that’s a lie” (I should point out that Antonio knew this history was fabricated from the beginning). We got a laugh out of it, and I think the guy in front of us thought it was a pretty funny yarn we were spinning, as he kept looking back at us and smiling. I’m glad someone else found it funny!
As we boarded the train (naturally we were in the car at the far end, adding some more reps to my new luggage exercise program), we had to go up a tight spiral staircase that was too narrow for the Chipotle catering box I was carrying. While I was doing my best to avoid dropping the heavy load, I had to yank the box on end and carry it in front of me.
We finally got out of the stairwell and into our reclining seats. It was a few minutes later while listening to music that I was hit with a much stronger wave of sadness to be leaving my loving family once again. It was a wonderful time in my home state and I cannot wait to make it back again soon.