Monday, August 23, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (Aug. 23)--My hotel room here is about on the edge of where the old Twins' stadium sat 'way back when. Maybe Harmon Killebrew stood here warming up. Maybe Mickey Mantel or George Brett walked through my bathroom on the way to the team bus, I don't know.

But I do know they didn't have to listen to the incessant parade of Delta airplanes departing to the south, throttles firewalled and barely three hundred feet in the air. For the last six weeks I have lived in hotels seemingly built directly under the glide path of landing airplanes. If the wind shifts they depart across the parking lot, vibrating the window glass and drowning out the television or telephone calls.

I suppose the ALer's had some noisy old Northwest Orient jets with which to contend over the years, but they were only at the ball park for four or five hours. I don't know how the people in the apartments next door have put up with the roar, beginning at six in the morning and going until well after sunset. I should be getting used to it but it only gets more annoying. The Detroit airport was the same way but no one lived anywhere near it, just us schleps in the hotels.

When landing from the north, the planes streak across miles of Minneapolis, the last two or three miles slightly above the treetops. Yesterday I took a drive around the Twin Cities and noticed how low the planes were at Lake Nokomis, a city park in a neighborhood of classic American homes. It looked like the streets the Cleavers, Andersons or the Nelsons might have lived on. Except for the racket from above.

After that I went up to downtown Minneapolis, and over to St. Paul, suddenly realizing there was no airplane noise. For five whole hours, no airplanes. Both city centers are quite alive, with people out on foot everywhere. In Minnieapolis the after-church crowd was all over downtown, in the streets, in the restaurants and on Nicollete Mall.

Over in St Paul the univeristy crowd was having late morning coffee on the sidewalks at several java huts and diners near "the U" as the University of Minnesota is locally known. And all over downtown St. Paul, people were heading for the big city park on Sibley Street and on the lawn at the beautiful state capitol building. Mickey's Diner was discharging the last of the breakfast rush, with a crowd of them lingering on the corner.

After that I drove over to Wisconsin, about 10 miles east. The state border is the St. Croix River. Where I-94 crosses, it is as aide as a lake and a gorgeous marina blue as far as you can see. Sail boats are popular there and the day was quite warm. It looked great.

And back to the hotel. Crossing the Minnesota River as I approached my exit, I saw an airplane climbing from the airport. Even in the truck with the windows up and the air on it made its presence known. Welcome home.