One Mississippi

Not to sound like a a broken record, but I'm behind on blogging ... again!

Last month I hopped on a series of planes and by way of Chicago found myself in Minneapolis for a few days. I was out there solo, but managed to have a good time nonetheless.
The first night when I was walking to my hotel I noticed a series of bikes scattered around the city. When I looked up the name online I was pleased to find out there was a cool bike share program in Minneapolis. Score! Thankfully I had a few hours to kill before catching my return flight and I was able to pick up a bike to get around and see more of the city. So I did what any normal person does, I strapped my bag (with laptop!) to the front of a bike, stuffed my camera down my coat, and zoomed around the city. You know, sans helmet and all!
When I picked up my first bike I refreshed myself with the rules and found that if I "rented" a bike for 30 minutes or less it was free. There was a $5 daily rental fee, plus an additional charge for renting bikes for loner than 30 minutes. So for the next two hours I hopped around from one bike station to the next and was able to see most of the city for a whopping $5 24 rental fee on my series of bikes. There was only one 30 minute period that ended with me peddling furiously towards a bike station to return my bike, get a new code, and check out the exact same bike! I got there with 2 minutes to spare! Not too shabby!

Don't let the straightness of this pedestrian overpass fool you! The 90 degree turns at the end proved to be a bit tricky on a bike!

I have to admit, it's been a long time since I've been sharing the road on a bike with vehicle traffic. I was slightly nervous and at first stayed on as many side streets as possible! I also didn't stop very often to take pictures because I was having too much fun peddling around.

There was a really interested and complicated series of skywalks throughout the city. I guess folks there like to have a way to travel from building to building in the middle of winter without bundling up. It took a lot longer than walking on the street, but it was kind of cool to walk from a downtown office building back to my hotel without stepping outside.

I'll search out a baseball stadium any day of the week. Unfortunately, tours weren't given on the day I was there. Maybe next time I'll be back during baseball season.

One of many bike pit stops!

I left my last bike where I began my journey, grabbed my luggage from the hotel, and then walked up to the light rail headed for the airport.

See you later Minneapolis!