Minnesota

Minnesota greeted us with landscapes that reminded us of Lithuania: lakes, flats and mosquitoes. It reminded us of the Lithuanian summer a lot when we get to go swimming and see swamps full of lilies. Then we came to the shore of Lake Superior with its marina, lighthouses and limitless water horizons where you can spend an endless amount of time watching the sunsets.

In the middle of the lake area of Minnesota, where I barely expected to find any civilization except for an occasional gas station, we were greeted by a college town - Bemidji. You can apply to study almost anything there from international studies to mathematics. I have never heard of Bemidji State University before so I was amazed by the selection of courses you can take in the middle of the forest.

One adventure worth remembering in Bemidji is how Vėjas called the cops on us. He accidentally dialed 911 and it rang for a couple of seconds. I received a callback and the police department insisted on visiting our home even when I said that it was an accidental call. I understand that they thought I might be lying and I got to meet the local sheriff. Vėjas was obviously very excited and I hope he does not yet understand that if you dial 911, you get to see Mr. or Mrs. Sheriff.

We also passed through Fargo, the same one from the movie of the same name. But at the moment, instead of freezing temperatures and snowplows, we got extreme heat and high humidity. But as with most infamous cities (South Park, for example), it was quite funky. Every person we met on our way was a fashion idol or an interesting personality to say the least.

Another city on the lake shore called Duluth was like a ghost town version of San Francisco with Victorian architecture, a pier and even a suburb that looked like Berkeley. Looks like the city had much better days in the past, but is still charming and worth visiting. We saw some incredible abandoned warehouses and factories that are waiting for a new creative owner and they made my imagination go crazy.

We also enjoyed Minneapolis. Even though this was ground zero of Black Lives Matter protests, it was very relaxed and diverse. We saw some graffiti and plywood on some windows, but definitely not anything worth being afraid of. I am glad we did not skip Minneapolis just because of the recent events.

Besides interesting cities and endless views of the lake, we are just slowly adapting to the Midwest vibe - green, slow and funky.