“Ice cream!”

Screeeeetch!

I’d never seen a Honda Insight turn so quickly. But then, perhaps one never had a sufficiently compelling reason.

Vince and I pulled into the ice cream shop’s parking lot. We were returning from an extended-weekend backpacking trip on Minnesota’s North Shore, and we had intense cravings for food that wasn’t dehydrated or in bar form.

Over the previous 2 days, we had backpacked over 33 miles: 15 on the first day, 16 on the second day, and 2 on the third day. That might not have been so tiring were it not for the extreme, repeated elevation changes and the unusually warm weather. On the other hand, the high peaks provided excellent vistas, and the lack of rain kept the trails pleasantly dry.

Our path took us from Brighton Peak north to the Cascade River. We passed through cedar, birch, and pine forests, next to beaver ponds and rock cliffs, and over rocky rivers and mellow streams.  At night, the stars shone brightly, accented by flourishes from the beginning of the Perseids. It was tremendously relaxing.

Despite the beauty of nature, it was great to get back to get back to good ol’ civilization, where we nursed our blistered feet and rested our tired legs.  And ate ice cream.  Deliciously cold ice cream.

The simplification of my life through the divestiture of material possessions continued today with the departure of my prized toy.

Goodbye, Bimmer.

I am in utter shock. Disbelief, really. An eight-lane bridge over the Mississippi for a major freeway, 35W, collapsed about an hour ago in Minneapolis.

The good news is that, as far as I know, my family is safe. The bad news is that many families will not be so lucky.

For those unfamiliar with the area, that is one of the heaviest-trafficked roads in the Twin Cities, and the collapse happened during a traffic jam at rush hour. The bridge deck is now in the Mississippi. My god.

This post marks the end of the 100/100/100 challenge. It’s been an interesting experience. Of the two aspects to the challenge (size and frequency), I found the 100-word constraint far more trying.

Analytically, results were mixed. There were no significant differences in the daily pageviews or visitors compared with an earlier period (excepting the posts that were on social news sites). The average number of comments per post was 1.6 compared with 2.9 for all other times. However, on a daily basis, the challenge produced 1.5 comments per day compared with 0.5 for the past.

What did you all think?

(This post is the last in the 100/100/100 challenge)

Today, I was walking in the Arbor Lakes development, an upscale “lifestyle center” outdoor shopping mall in Maple Grove, Minnesota. The look is very Californian, with beige stucco and red tile roofs.

The sky was blue and the weather was hot, well over 90 degrees. As I strolled along the promenade past the storefronts, I couldn’t help but feel strangely comfortable. That’s because almost all of the stores had their doors wide open and were spewing massive amounts of cold air-conditioned air outside!

Such waste is nothing new, but in these days of heightened environmental awareness and increased energy prices, it seems especially flagrant.

(This post is the penultimate part of the 100/100/100 challenge)