A downtown different with art

Having traveled a significant amount south of the border, I’m fairly confident in saying there’s a definite similarity to the look of larger American cities. It’s even more striking as you move away from the east coast. Yes, all cities have their distinguishing features, but subtract obvious landmarks (like the Space Needle in Seattle) or geographical markers (a mountain off in the distance in Denver), and there’s a lot of sameness. Of course, I’m not speaking of New Orleans… that doesn’t look like anything else. But you get the point.

Minneapolis, especially in its downtown area, is a bit of an American cookie cutter environment of high rises in the usual architectural styles. Although that remained my impression through five days in the city, the longer I was there, public art kept catching my eye and added a lot of character to what I was seeing in my walks. Like these statues outside of Target Field paying homage to two Minnesota Twins legends: Harmon Killebrew on the left and Kirby Puckett on the right:

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Back from Seattle

I was not ready for post-election America.

Arriving in the USA two days after the recent election, I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a blue state in mourning. The wounds were fresh. People were hurt. Deeply hurt. I was in Seattle for a medical education conference and every keynote speech had been torn up and rewritten in the aftermath of November 8. Every workshop and panel discussion had a tie to the election. At every table I sat, I was asked what Canada thought of what had just happened. In my head, I had a chuckle at the irony of an element of the Canadian psyche in seeking validation from Americans now emerging from my colleagues to the south.

This was a predominantly work-related trip, but even my limited social and tourist activities around the edges kept bumping into post-election America – demonstrations in downtown Seattle, overheard conversations and newspapers filled with election coverage. Even with all of that as a backdrop, I’ve taken away some great memories unrelated to politics. I ate close to my weight in seafood (oh, how I miss fresh seafood in Saskatoon), did a tour of Seattle’s baseball stadium, sampled a good number of Pacific Northwest craft beers, and had a memorable night at a big college football game. I’ve got a backlog of writing to do, but will write more about my Seattle experiences in the coming weeks and months.

Moose Jaw

There are a ton of really cool places in Saskatchewan. Through a spring, summer and fall of living in this super easy to draw province, I’m happy to have seen a bit of this place and am excited of everything else to explore in the years ahead.

My in-laws visited back in late August and September. Nearing the end of their trip and with a desire to see something else in their first visit to Saskatchewan, we decided on a day trip down to Moose Jaw. The easy drive from Saskatoon gave my mother and father in-law the experience of being out on the prairies. I was agreeable to this trip because I have always have wanted to visit Moose Jaw. First, it was a must see for me for the uniquely Canadian name alone. But I also have a fascination with oversized roadside attractions and wanted to see this guy up close – the town’s mascot – Mac the Moose.

Mac the Moose

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An annual baseball trip

A direct flight from my new hometown of Saskatoon made Minneapolis an easy choice for my summer baseball trip this year – five games in five days, including being able to squeeze a Sunday afternoon game in ahead of my flight back home. I picked up an assortment of tickets and figured the subpar Twins might allow me to upgrade a few cheap upper deck seats into some better seats over the course of my visit. That strategy worked out quite well, but for game one, I sprung for a legit good seat. Beer in my hand, I settled in for the first of what would be a lot of pitches over the five days.

Twins-Astros game

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Night in row 8

My last night in Minneapolis got off to a less than stellar start. As I left my hotel to walk to Target Field for my fourth baseball game in four days, a man walking toward me punched me. In fairness, he was suffering from something and staggering as he walked toward me and likely in his mind thought I was trying to block his walking path. His punch connected with my arm and I was more stunned than hurt. When I got to the ballpark about fifteen minutes later, I had mostly forgotten about that incident because it was a beautiful night for baseball. I grabbed a Minnesota craft beer and took up a seat for batting practice right down by the field. Little did I know what else I was in for this night.

Minnesota Twins game

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A day in Edmonton

What to do with a day in Edmonton? After arriving the afternoon before, having a meal, then heading to a Tragically Hip concert, our first ever full day in Edmonton was wide open for anything we wanted. My wife knew she’d be putting up with dinner in a craft beer bar that night, so to even the score, we started the day at a 100% gluten-free restaurant for breakfast. We had the GF Diner in the Strathcona neighbourhood all to ourselves and enjoyed a lovely and delicious breakfast. My wife’s french toast was outstanding, and my breakfast hit the spot. I even liked the gluten-free toast.

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Alberta beer sampling

With the move from Halifax to Saskatoon and all that entailed, this has been a year of shorter trips and vacations. One of those was a July road trip to Edmonton to see the Tragically Hip play on their last tour. Like all my trips this year, and owing to Saskatchewan’s limited selection of craft beer, I managed to find a way to sneak in some sampling and tastings over a couple of days in Edmonton.

On the afternoon before the Hip show, I noticed an interesting beer and wine store in the downtown and grabbed these two to put on ice back at the hotel. The Blindman Session ale was very tasty post-concert. I should have been smarter and grabbed more to bring back home.

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Back from the (other) coast

I’m just back from a few days spent in Vancouver. Vancouver has always held a special, almost mythical place in my heart.  Growing up on the east coast, and having spent a good portion of my adult life within walking distance of the harbour in Halifax and never too far out of sight of the Atlantic Ocean, the coast on the other side of the country always appealed to me.  I didn’t make it out to Vancouver until I was 39 when my wife and I stretched out a work trip and spent a week falling in love with the city. Even before that trip, I had often dreamt of Vancouver. Truth is, I was in love with Vancouver before I had even set foot in the city.

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Retracing steps in Quebec City

When I’m traveling solo, one of my favourite past times is simply wandering around the city I’m visiting. In Canada, I can’t think of a better city in which to walk around aimlessly than Quebec City.  I’ve been there often and think I’ve walked every street in the old city many times over. But seeing the architecture, the art and the people never gets old.  On my most recent visit in June, although my time was limited as this was a work trip, I managed to put a few kilometres of wear and tear on my shoes retracing some of my favourite steps. Seen many times over by my eyes, Quebec City will always hold a special place for me.  It is a uniquely beautiful city.

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