Minneapolis Light Rail

I spent the days before and after Christmas this year traveling between my adopted home on Ivar Hill and my childhood home in northern Minnesota. I left southern California before the sun rose on the 20Th on a very pleasant experience with Super Shuttle (only $25 from Hollywood) after a smooth flight on Northwest I landed in Minneapolis in the afternoon where i got the pleasure of taking the relatively new light rail line from the airport to downtown where i was meeting up with my ride the rest of the way home.

The light rail line - called the Hiawatha line - has two stops in the airport (one at each terminal) and arrived promptly once i got to the stop. The ticket machine accepted my credit card and took my $1.50 for a ticket ($2 during rush hour) and similar to L.A. i didn't need to show my ticket to anyone to board the train.

I sat down and watched the roughly 20 minute trip to downtown pass outside the windows of the train. At every stop you could see signs of great revitalization in the form of new development. At my stop downtown i could see other travelers waiting for the train to take them to the airport. Overall it was a very pleasant experience - I'm sure it doesn't serve that many places in Minneapolis but it seems like a fairly sound foundation to start building a system on. If you are traveling to Minneapolis consider the Hiawatha line for your transit needs. Once you get downtown the bus system is convenient.

Hiawatha Line

Seen in Hollywood

Walking home Friday night and i stumbled across this impromptu fountain at the corner of Hollywood and Wilcox. That is a fire hydrant that for some reason was gushing water about 20 feet in the air - a few onlookers were getting wet but mostly people just driving by.

Village Pizzeria Update

The storefronts at 6363 Yucca are progressing nicely with construction crews in and out of there everyday. I'm not around during the day at all to see if they are moving in ovens and other equipment yet but construction does seem to be moving. Last week they added the steel roll down doors. A few days ago noticed they had installed all glass doors in one of the openings. The store is shaping up to be a really nice addition to a strip of Yucca that is striving for a new identity.

I'm anxiously awaiting the first slice.