Oh Canada

So here we sit I sit in a hotel room in Thunder Bay Ontario, yes Canada. So time spent in Minneapolis was pretty fun. We got to do quite a bit and eat a lot of food. We saw two great shows, A Prairie Home Companion and another one called Triple Espresso. It's surprising to me in the twin cities how many people don't drive. Well I guess there are just as many cars and people still drive but the number of people using other means of transportation. There are people running, walking, lots of bikes, skateboards, roller blades, wheelchairs, just everything but cars. We toured Guthrie Theater backstage and all three stages. Saw their super cool public library of four floors and fireplaces. Did you know that Minneapolis has 7 miles of sky walks connecting their buildings downtown so people don't have to walk outside in negative temperatures? Did you know that there was a Red Bull sponsored bike race through them? I have to admit that this is some of the prettiest country up here. Today we left the last of the leaves behind us, the snow picked up around noon and snowed all afternoon, but none of it stuck. Driving along the rocky shores of the Great Lake Superior on one side with white birch trees and fur trees along the side of the road. Passing over creeks and waterfalls too. Well we saw a moose on our way, some deer, more bald eagles, a fox, a snowshoe hair, and lots of trees. One other thing is trains. There are lots of trains here. On the Mississippi River there are lots of barges used as well. There was a diagram we saw about transportation. One jumbo barge is equivalent to 15 jumbo hopper train cars which is equivalent to 58 tractor trailer trucks. Now out on the Mississippi where its wide they may have as many as 15 barges all together (we saw one). 15 barges can carry 22,500 TONS. Now would you rather see a tugboat pushing 15 barges down the river of 870 tractor trailer trucks. Hows that for a load?