Day 27: Minneapolis MN
Welcome
Yesterday we arrived in Minneapolis and spent the day in a Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomington, South of the city centre.
I began my day with a bowl of non seasonal fruit that was leftover from our rider.
The closest attraction to our hotel was Mt Normandale Lake rated 1 star from 1 review. The Lake was created in 1979 from a marsh flood plain along Nine Mile Creek and helps to control water levels downstream by storing and releasing excess stormwater. There were a number of amenities available at the lake including picnic areas, an ampitheatre, a boat launch (limited to 6 horsepower), and a 3km cycling and walking loop which I greatly enjoyed using on my run.
The rest of the day was uneventful save for the moment that we discovered the bus bathroom had locked itself. Several lock picking attempts were made before the eventual success came from unscrewing and removing the handle.
I have been receiving a fair amount of feedback about my bus tour segments and it seems that a lot of folks are still struggling to conceptualise the size and layout of the bus. Hopefully this slow motion clip should put everyone’s confusion to bed. WARNING this video may cause motion sickness.
As we are on the penultimate blog post for the tour I thought it would be a good time to answer a couple more of the behind-the-scenes questions that have been lurking on peoples’ lips.
Yes - the birds on the left are the same as the ones on the right - they are mirrored to create an artistic effect.
Yes - the birds are inflatable - there is a secret motor hidden in one of the Kea wings.
No - the cardboard cutouts are not 3D - they are held upright by a simple A-frame brace on the back.
No - the cardboard cutouts don’t travel with us on the bus. They remain in the trailer in this road case that was fabricated by Tristan Deck.
