This is going to be quite a different post but Minneapolis holds a special place in my heart. 

It's the city that holds my earliest memories. It's the city where I met my best friend (we met when we were six, so that's 16 years already!) It's the city that I've missed for the past decade. 

Earlier this month, I finally got to go back. I haven't been in Minnesota since I moved back over 12 years ago. I spent the week visiting the old house, my old school, the places I hung out after school (which was either the university's swimming pool, the ice arena, the gymnastics center, or the park), and of course, hanging out with old friends.

One of the things I love about Minneapolis is the old brick buildings that are everywhere in the city. My friend commented that the city was hipster heaven, haha! I love the decay in the photo above. I'm not quite sure what it used to be - probably the old water channel? But it's nice to see bits and pieces of the earlier days among tall commercial buildings.

Minnesota is known as the State of a Thousand lakes, and sure enough, a lot of my childhood memories involved hanging around lakes - either picnicking, or rowing the canoe in the lake behind my friend's house, or feeding geese, and trying to see if I could push my brother in the lake (he always managed to run away last minute...) A lot of people were jogging around the lake, and if I lived around, I'd be happily jogging every morning as well. I mean, look at the view!

I was more amused than one should be when I saw the street sign. 25 1/2 - AND A HALF. It's like they couldn't come up with a name and decided, "meh, let's just add 1/2 instead of flipping through a street name dictionary." 

I don't know if I should love or hate my friend for getting me hooked to a drink I won't be able to have again for quite a while. Caribou Coffee's Sparkling Green Tea Lemonade is so amazing, I was drinking at least a large a day. (And I also bought two larges before boarding the plane - one in my bottle for the flight, and another while I was waiting. Thank you Minneapolis International Airport for having Carribou after customs!) Plus, they have the cutest cups and napkins!