We Pay Our Respects to George Floyd and Survey the City

We've been having talks with Meadow about what's going on lately. It can be hard to explain without her actually seeing it. We've had the news on more, but I thought she should see some things in person.

This Sunday we came to 38th and Chicago to pay our respects to George Floyd.

I had wanted to come during a weekday morning as I knew it would be busy on the weekend. Masks and hand sanitizer were required before entering.

The names of black people killed by the police were painted on the road.

Black Lives Matter. The current structure of policing does not make many Minneapolitans safer, especially BIPOC people. Change needed to happen years ago, but hopefully we reach for a new understanding of what public safety means.

We decided to grab some lunch at our favorite tamale and taco places. Lake Street needs our business more than ever right now.

First I picked tamales for the kids at La Loma.

Then we got some tacos and a burrito at Taco Taxi.

Meadow has been asking to have a picnic lately. I think we fulfilled her wish.

Meadow has been interested in Star Wars lately so we have been watching the movies. Theo now thinks everything is a light saber.

We then decided to check out Midtown. Another area that was damaged with fires.

This intersection was much harder hit than where we'd been to date. A one block span of Chicago just south of Lake is nearly all severely damaged.

It was a hot day. Our neighbors offered us their old sandbox to use as a wading pool for the kids.

It's strange to go and reflect on how we systemically hurt Blacks in this country and then come home to lily white Southwest Minneapolis.

Still, on a hot day it's a wonderful time to play in our condo buildings little yard.

Comments

A Texas-Louisiana-Arkansas Hipcamp Road Trip: Back to Arkansas and a Night in Iowa

I hadn't really planned on driving through Mississippi, so I found a route that took us back through Lousiana and into Arkansas. Before we made it to the Land of the Downriver People we stopped in Monroe for some soul food.

A Smoky Weekend at the Cottage and a Stop at Ladysmith's Northland Mardi Gras

This summer we decided to go to the cottage any weekend we had nothing else going on. This week, due to fires in the Boundary Waters and Canada, the air quality was pretty terrible. We debated if we should still go, but it looked like it would clear up by Saturday. So we took the chance. And by terrible, we mean the worst air quality we'd ever seen. Along the way we decided to stop at John and Heidi's Happy Daze . We've passed this place probably 100 times. It was about time to stop by. I ordered the prime rib sandwich special. Yummy. The sandwich that is. Everybody's food was really good, but Brooke's was the star of the show. I want to get back here asap. Now if only this pesky smoke would go away.

Japan Family Trip - Part II: Exploring the Shrines and Wilds of Nikko

We had originally planned on taking the bullet train down from Tokyo to Kyoto for a day or two. While being epically fast, it was a bit spendy for the four of us. After talking to Brooke's coworker we settled on a two day trip to Nikko and its World Heritage Sites to break up our week in Tokyo. This turned out to be an amazing decision. The town is teaming with beauty from ancient shrines to epic waterfalls and some of the best meals we had on our trip. Kyoto didn't seem all that appealing to me when I started researching which location to go to. I too am glad we chose to head north to Nikko. When we booked our Tobu Nikko Spacia X tickets I upgraded to the premium seats thinking that we'd be sitting facing one another. Instead we ended up with 4 individual seats, two in the first two rows and two in the last two rows. It turned out just fine with the kids sitting in front of us in two groups. Meadow and I were seated at the front of the car. Once in awhile we'd pas...

Search This Blog