Away in the Midwest

Haven't blogged in a while because of family vacations, etc. We went to Minneapolis after a gap of two years, the kids and I. No, I never lived in Minneapolis but visited there very often from Chicago, on account of my brother. The Twin Cities are both lovely and...midwestern. Having lived away from the midwest for eight years (we moved to Fairfield County from Chicago), I saw and compared my new and old habitats with fresh eyes.

OK, so most people already know about the Arctic winters, but then you know that Minnesota is where the lower taiga meets the prairies. So you have to expect the howling winds and the thigh-deep snow, etc. Going from the Northeast, it is striking how different the vegetation is. I had forgotten, cliched though it is, the big midwestern skies. Not as big as Wyoming and South Dakota, true, but still huge compared to the smaller heavens of Connecticut. When a tiny kestrel dived down to catch his prey, it was quite spectacular because there was nothing to block our views down to the ground.

Driving west, even just a little outside the twin cities, the roads are bordered by tall, waving prairie grasses. And the highways are huge. My eye is not used to having such a wide range to scan while driving. Again, very different from the wooded, petite dimensions of the Merritt Parkway or Route 7. Given that the highways are so large compared to here, you would think that driving would be a breeze. In fact, it is alarmingly not so. Bumper-to-bumper traffic is the norm in the Twin Cities during rush hour. And even more alarmingly, Minnesotans are allowed to hold their phones while driving and drift in and out of lanes with cheerful abandon.

The number one reason I might not move back to the Midwest: no, it's not the winter, that's reason number two. No, the top reason for giving the midwest a miss is because I am not used anymore to driving long distances for day to day stuff. E.g. my sister-in-law thought nothing of driving ten miles to get to Trader Joe's. We had a great time with the kids doing the rides in the Mall of America, but one has to drive a lot to get to routine fun places. Most days here in Fairfield County - outside of work, that is - I rarely drive more than three to five miles. As for the winter, it's true, it's not for the fainthearted. And as I am getting older, the prospect of shoveling yards - not feet - of snow off my driveway is less and less appealing.