I am traveling to Minneapolis for a week, beginning excruciatingly early tomorrow morning. The trip will also include a weekend in a place called Grand Rapids, as well as two airport layovers (going and coming) in St. Louis. I have never been to St. Louis, and I am not at all sure which state it is in, but I am fairly certain that the two former destinations are in Minnesota.

I have been to Minneapolis before. It is a cool city with lots of good people. Across the river is another city called St. Paul, where, I am assured by Minneapolisites, no one ever goes. On my last trip, I announced that I wanted to see St. Paul, if only from afar (I did not believe it was really there), but I was told this was not permissible. (I still do not believe it is there.)

The only other things I know about Minnesota are:

1) St. Olaf, MN is the origin of the mythical Rose Nylund and, if she is to be believed, astounding numbers of herring.

2) The state governor is somebody named The Body, who is not as cute as Goldberg, but I would not mind discussing political ideology with him over a nice cup of green tea.

I mention all this not only because my blogging may be spotty for the next several days, but also because some of these places have funny names, which it amuses me to see written out.