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My Summer Vacation

This is probably a very first for me. I’m actually happy to be back home. Usually as a trip dwindles down, I’m filled with dread about having to return to work and the monotony of real life. But by the end of this trip, I was over it. I just couldn’t wait to get out of there.

This trip was a journey through the upper midwest, starting in Minneapolis then going through the Lake Superior shores of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan before heading through the Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula and circling my way back to Minneapolis by way of Milwaukee.

Let’s start with the good.

  • It was beautiful. Seeing the Great Lakes for the first time was stunning. The lush green forests were a great contrast to the brown chapparel I’m normally used to in LA.
  • People were nice. It’s true that people were nice. I wasn’t used to seeing people wave at me while driving down the opposite side of the street. I’m not used to strangers saying hello to me as I’m walking down the street. I’ve lived in a city for way to long I guess.
  • I saw a couple of baseball games. Saw the Brewers beat the Reds at American Family (nee Miller) Park and the Twins beat the Tigers at Target Field. These were the first live baseball games I’ve seen since the Dodgers lost to the Nationals in Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS.
  • I rented an Audi A5 with a sunroof to drive around in. It felt cool except when getting in and out because the seat was so close to the ground.
Audi

Now the bad.

  • It’s so white with a capital /H/. This is self-explanatory, but it was a similar culture shock I experienced when I first got to Santa Barbara. Oof.
  • I’m so senile. This continues my saga of a deteriorating memory. It started when I sat on the tarmac in LAX that I realized that I left all of my medications at home. Fine. I got an emergency refill when I made it to Minneapolis. Then that night I lost my credit card. Seriously, this needs to fucking stop.
  • The weather was crazy. It started in the mid-90s, then when I got to the UP of Michigan it was rainy and in the 50s. When I made it back to Minneapolis, it went back to what I am used to in LA in the 80s. But fuck man, I’m glad I brought a jacket.
  • Stupidity. Sure people were nice, but seeing all the Trump banners and flags STILL hanging up eight months after the fucker lost is annoying. I don’t usually discuss politics with strangers because I assume they are all Trumpers and I’ve already lost too much faith in humanity.
  • Shitty driving. You would think the home of car factories will make for better drivers, but Michigan drivers are fucking awful. On a two-lane highway, they would rather form a long line and risk a chain accident than pass a truck going 20 mph under the speed limit. This was the biggest reason I wanted to get the fuck out of Michigan. Then in Wisconsin, they are fucking insane! They will cut you off at will. It’s without malice, but just don’t be in their blind spot.

I’m back home. I feel like I need a make-up vacation. Where to?