Since Thursday I’ve been here in Minneapolis. What an interesting place this is! It’s a city full of Swedish-Americans; almost everywhere you look there’s someone with the name “Nordstrom”, “Lundberg” or “Lindh” or any of the thousand varieties thereupon.

Unfortunately my camera doesn’t seem to use a standard USB cable, so it’s a bit difficult for me to show any pictures, but so far I’ve been to a Christian conference that was very interesting; I’ve seen the Swedish-America institute in Minneapolis, I’ve been to the Mall of America (520 stores under one roof), watched a baseball game in the Metrodome, purchased Vikings merchandise, seen the Lake Calhoun, Farmer’s Market, and many, many other things. All very interesting because these are the things I’ve read about for many years in the online Star Tribune.

And, of course, I’ve visited my family here in the States! I’ve met Barbara, Bruce and Roger (my “second cousins removed once” as the term is called); all very nice and it’s been really interesting to talk to them and trace our common history.

If all goes well, tomorrow I’m going to head down to the Vikings training camp in Mankato. That ought to be cool.

I think Minneapolis is one of the nicest cities I’ve been in in the U.S. I instantly fell in love with Chicago, but Minneapolis comes close. If Minneapolis had a more extensive network of light rail/subways, I think it might become my favorite. As it is now, I dread going out on I-494 or I-35W, especially during rush hour. Driving in the States is easy, roadwise; but everyone else and his mother is also driving, which makes it a bit nasty to navigate this torrent of steel, asphalt and rubber. :)