Monday
I’m zipping up a hill, beaming. My daily commute uphill has conditioned me pretty well for this hike. I’m halfway between Sioux Falls and Minneapolis, en route to a weeknight concert. But right now I’m thinking about strange it is I’ve never been to Seven Mile Creek park before.
Positioned right outside Mankato, MN, the park has a mix of easy and moderate trails. The trees are about a week from unfurling their leaves, so it’s a little drab, but the eponymous creek is burbling and I’m happy to be out of my car and moving in nature.
Mankato was the place we stocked up on discount loaves from the Sara Lee outlet and chauffeured my sister to Suzuki violin lessons every weekend. Where we loaded cardboard boxes of cheap groceries into the Suburban before cramming in for the 45 minute drive home. It was a place of strip malls and commerce, as a kid.
On this trip, I’m not doing any chores. No grocery shopping, no swinging by big box stores that my city doesn’t have. I can order that stuff online.
No, this trip is a vacation.
I hike two loops, the first with a gradual lift, and the second with a steep incline and the tiniest creek to jump. Disappointingly, when I get to the top, the adventure of the big hill flattens out and I have to walk along the edge of a boring field. I start daydreaming about the blueberry muffin stashed in my car.
The muffin is a stopgap measure. I need more.
I drive directly to REI, not my Airbnb reservation. Some shopping is a fun treat. I’ve worn a hole in my climbing shoes, and I figured it’d be best to try new ones on in person.
I strike up a convo with fellow climbers.
Which is how I end up spending a few hours chatting and climbing at Big Island Bouldering. (I recommend!)
And then…
Tuesday
There’s so much to see at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Should I be feeling something with every piece? Isn’t art supposed to make a big mark?
Walking past an abundance of beauty, I treat it like a hike: just being here is good for me. It seeps in without me even trying. When it’s time to pause, I will.
I take in delights all around.
One thought keeps ringing: we’ve always made beautiful things. People across time and cultures keep at it.
After the art, I crash at my Airbnb until it’s time for the concert.
Wednesday
This morning, I’m going to go to a real restaurant. My Airbnb hosts have a cute pinboard with recommendations, and I head to Maria’s, a Columbian place known for their corn pancakes. I order one pancake with a side of crispy bacon and down decaf coffee while eavesdropping.
Is there anything better?
I cram in three hikes on my route home. I wouldn’t do that many again, but I’m glad I got out of the car a lot.
I drive straight from the last hike to my climbing gym and slip into my regular routine. Just with fancier shoes.
Thanks for being here. I hope your days are full of things you like.
💙, Ten
Elsewhere
I discovered this guy’s Instructables page about painting his bike using patterns generated by equations and got hyped. People are doing such cool stuff!
(This Spray.bike paint looks amazing. Time to find an old bike on FB Marketplace and doctor it up?)
The Make Your Own Gear subreddit is super inspiring. I’m scheming about sewing a climbing backpack out of billboard vinyl.
Wonderful thinker Craig Mod wrote a new book, and that means we get a bunch of wonderful podcast interviews with him, too. These are the two I’ve enjoyed so far:
This one about Japan and the value of boredom and producing books.
This one about living a creative life on your terms.
Can’t wait to sew Leila Makes’ Cedar Pants
St. Peter Co-op is the greatest.
I wish we lived in the same place so we could climb together! I reeeally want to start climbing regularly, but I'm scared of being lonely at the gym. Kudos to you for sticking it out for 6 months before you were able to make friends!
The MYOG subreddit is so cool. I actually have a cousin who started sewing his own packrafting gear and then he turned it into a business: https://sockdolagerequipment.com/