The Town

The name is a bastardized version of Sioux name, the daughter of a chief who, the story goes, died tragically in order to avoid marrying a man she did not love. It's a gorgeous river town, with the Mighty Mississippi making up the eastern border.  It sits in a river valley, bluffs surrounding it, protecting it from the worst of the Minnesota weather and giving it the claim of "most temperate city in Minnesota."  The most notable landmark in town is a rocky mass of limestone that juts out over the rest of the bluffs, the only limestone remaining from the quarrying that was an early industry in the town.

Taken from the scenic overlook when we first moved in August

The 2010 census puts the population at just over 27,000.  Three institutions of higher learning are located in the city and the combined enrollment of those schools is about 10,000 of that population.  But education is not the number one employer here - industry and health care get the top billing.  More than 20% of the land area of the city (town?) is water and it feels damp and wet everywhere you go.  As I sink into the sheets at night, I squirm around, feeling the dank invade my soul.  Rumor has it ice skating is going to be awesome this winter thanks to the lakes that make up such a large part of the town.

It's a border town and we've taken our bikes across the bridge to Wisconsin more than once.  It comes with the eccentricities of any border town - the Fleet and Farm has both Vikings and Packers apparel for sale, we get television channels from both sides of the river, and there is a lot of talk about filing taxes in two different states at cocktail parties.  When we first moved here, all we could talk about was how nice the people were.   And they are nice.  Road rage doesn't seem to exist here.  Folks let pedestrians cross the streets without marked crosswalks.  The clerks at the grocery store are genuinely concerned when Italian parsley is not in stock.  The baristas at the local coffee shop are willing to make recommendations.  It's weird to actually see Minnesota nice in its full glory here since no one who lives in the Twin Cities is from Minnesota, you don't actually get it there.

Dr. BB loves it here.  He really does.  I hope someday I do, too.