US October 2013 (MN and CA)

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Mostly a work trip, so little time to see anything. I was in Minneapolis for GHC, which is always amazing, and got to catch up with a bunch of people – including two guys I worked with during the summers I spent there! I stayed at the Crowne Plaza (I like their beds). I got sandwiches from Potbelly’s – I loved their milkshakes when I lived in MN. Ended up at a few restaurants, but nothing was really special.

It was weird being back in MN. This was the first place I went to in the US, or even in North America, and since then I’ve spent a lot of time in NYC, California, and of course lived in Canada. Things seemed sometimes familiar but I didn’t really remember much, both summers I was out of downtown although I spent most of my weekends in the city. One of my friends got mugged – in broad daylight – which was horrible. I did manage to make a brief stop at the Walker Art Centre, which was disappointing (large parts of it were closed) although I did find some cool locally made jewellery in the gift shop. And of course we went out to the Mall of America, which was the 4th place I ever went to in America – after two airports and the hotel (my luggage hadn’t made it).

Then on to California, MTV and SF. No time to see art, SF MOMA was closed otherwise I might have made time to pop in to see the mobils. I spent time at Programming Languages I’ve Been Meaning To Try But Haven’t Got Around To Yet (PLIBMTTBHGATY for short) which was fun, and hung out with friends. I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is where I usually stay in MTV, and at the Orchard Hotel in SF, which was OK – little old fashioned. Foodwise SF was better, delicious Chinese food at R&G lounge, and sushi and Asian Fusion at Chaya Brasserie.