What I Learned

I went to Minnesota last month. This was my first time actually spending time in the Midwest.

Here are some of the things I learned:

-Most people in Minneapolis are very nice, even if you are wearing a Red Wings hat. Except for the bus driver on the way back from the zoo. She was not very nice to anyone.

-Everyone smokes in Minneapolis.

-People do not pick up after their dogs in Minneapolis.

-Revolving doors are the craze in Minneapolis. They are literally on every building.

-Northeast Minnesota may as well be a part of Scandinavia. There are towns called such names as Finland and Makinen, and a large number of viking-themed trinket shops.

-However, I am not sure I'd want to live in a place called Embarrass, MN. Especially if it can get to -64°F.

-Giraffes are surprisingly inexpensive to buy, according to a friend working at a zoo in St. Paul.

-The two pubs I went to were both British themed: Brit's and The Local. Draught Guinness on tap is still my favorite, but Fuller's ESB was not bad at all. Runner up: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Should have tried the cider too, though.

-BP branded stations exist. In California, BP operates under the ARCO brand.

-Gasoline prices are the same across different brands. In California, a Mobil on a street corner opposite an ARCO may be as much as 20 cents more expensive per gallon. Go down the street and the difference may be 30 cents.

-There are more than 1,000 Jimmy John's stores in the U.S. Only one is located in California, and it is in Fresno, four hours away. They do not deliver in the blink of an eye as the commercials suggest. Sad, because I like it much better than Subway.
I wrote to them, and they replied, "Our current growth strategy is to build out the markets we are currently in before moving to new markets."

-Denny's, on the other hand, is rare. Only 13 stores exist in Minnesota, while California has 415. Upon looking up the Wikipedia article, I learned that Denny's was headquartered in Irvine until 1991. It is now based in South Carolina.

-Tornadoes = mythical and elusive, like Nessie.