A change of plans: Minneapolis

During my last few days in Wilmington NC, I got a phone call telling me about an opportunity to be a ‘puppet extra’ on the feature-length special of Transylvania TV. This felt like one of those “meant to be” moments, where the universe hands you something that you just can’t ignore. But what was I to do? I’d spent two months meticulously planning and organising my crazy month-long adventure and I had everything booked and planned to spend my last week in America on the beautiful beaches on Miami, Florida and meet my puppet 'cyber' mentor Paul Louis. Paul had been teaching me puppetry online and it would have been really cool to be able to meet him in person and work on some of the things he had taught me.

Minneapolis city-scape

But, somehow I just HAD to change everything. I’d spent the last three weeks on one huge roller-coaster, so why would I stop now, just to laze about the beach on my own? I only had a week left and knew that if I didn’t change my plans, I’d regret it. One of the MANY things I’d learnt during my travels, is that you can’t plan for everything - no matter how crazy in-depth you research. Yes, I had every single day of my month planned, complete with day trips, maps and ‘things to visit’ lists... It may have been a little over the top... More of a book then an itinerary.

So, just like in some kind of movie (comedy of course), I stayed up on the phone and internet all night to my travel agent, Mick Tattam. I was so deadly tired, but my crazy excitement kept me going - that or just sheer delirium. I wonder what Mick thought of my crazy plans - but I’m sure any hesitation on my sanity were long gone after the day I came to his office and asked him to help me book my “big USA Puppet Adventure”... I, of course, still don’t think of myself as 'crazy', but I can understand how some might think the whole thing is slightly odd - but somehow, I just knew everything would work out.

As well as work on the film-set, the other reason I changed plans was to be able to spend some more time with my puppet comrade and partner in crime, Jeff, who also works on Transylvania TV. We’d met at the first festival in the midwest and hung out afterwards together in Kansas City (see older posts). I was also really excited to be able to see my friend Kathy, who I also met at the festival and lives in Minneapolis too.

One, of the many best things about being in Minneapolis (along with the fantastic weather and getting out of crazy humidity of the South) was being in real homes for the first time in weeks! I suddenly realised that I’d spent all this time in hotel rooms and festival dormitories and hadn’t really experienced the warmth of the insides of peoples homes! Also, it was just so nice doing a few normal things, like going shopping, jamming music with a few beers, playing with puppets, sharing life-stories and cultural insights, cooking real food and just relaxing a bit - it was pretty great!

Since Minneapolis is nicknamed the 'City of Lakes', Kathy took me out for a day of bike riding around some of the fantastic lakes around Minneapolis - Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles. It was just fantastic and soooo beautiful! Also a great way to work off all those ‘extra’ kilos I’d gained after weeks of living off strange yellow cheese and deep fried goodness... However, I was a little uncertain about the idea of bike riding. They say you never forget how to ride a bike, but being born rather clumsy, I was a worried it wouldn’t apply to me... I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was 12! Yes - I know I live in Canberra (the city of bikes in Australia) but I’m lazy, ok? But, to my surprise, I was fine! After a few metres of wobbles and shakes, I was on my way, a few metres behind Kathy most of the time, but I didn’t fall off once! I’d have to say, I was rather impressed with myself! Along the way, Kathy showed me the home of the resident gnome who lives in a little cave of a tree along the lake. Kids leave him little messages and presents everyday inside his little door and he writes back to every one of them. It’s very special really and it takes a local to find him.  Kathy also invited Jeff and I to dinner at her place with her family and she showed us all her wonderful puppets and artworks - it was a fantastic day all round!

As well as meeting some of his close friends, Jeff did his best to show and welcome me into every part of his life, which also included teaching me some juggling tricks at his work at Air Traffic - of course a trip to Minneapolis wouldn’t be complete without juggling!

Knowing my love for shopping, Jeff took me to the Mall of America! It’s the largest shopping mall in the USA and any girl’s wonderland. It really was pretty huge! It even had a whole theme park with rides, Lego Land and heaps more we didn’t even venture in. 

The 'salon' in the American Girl Doll shop - for your doll!

Lego Land

We also went to see the site of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Jeff does his shows with Felton, his puppet, here every year. Even though the festival hadn’t started and nobody was really around yet, I could feel the magic and spirit of the festival. It was like walking straight into a graphic novel set in the renaissance time. It was huge. Roads and alleys all complete with little Hobbit caves, magical little forrest walks, and just lots of little pubs and houses that felt like Robin Hood could come walking out at any minute. I wouldn’t be around for the festival when it would start - but maybe I’d stick around to see it next year, the site alone looked pretty amazing - imagine what the actual festival would be like!

We also had heaps of fun going to several fast food outlets - especially the ones I didn’t know actually existed - but had heard the names in movies and TV shows. Taco Bell, Arby’s and White Castle just to name a few...

So, when I saw the signs of White Castle, I immediately began squealing like a little child: “OH MY GOD! White Castle?!?! That’s REAL? Can we go there, pleeeease?” After much debate and talk about how it’s actually pretty crap, I somehow convinced Jeff to take me there to have my ‘movie’ Harold and Kumar experience... But unfortunately, he was right and it was REALLY bad. So bad we suffered some pretty major indigestion that night... I should have reconsidered and put my enthusiasm to the side after seeing that the burgers were called ‘sliders’...

All in all, I had a really wonderful time in Minneapolis - I met some great people and got closer to ones I already knew. I also learnt so much being on Transylvania TV (more on that in next post) and I left feeling enormously inspired - even though it was incredibly hard to leave at all. It was a lovely little last week to an epic month and I only wish it could have lasted longer.