This week I'm on a deadline, so my good writing friend Lindsay Harrel agreed to do a guest blog post for my Friday Fun: Minnesota Style Series! She and I were roommates together at ACFW in Texas and then again last weekend at the MBT Storycrafter's Retreat in Otsego, Minnesota. Thanks for visiting my blog home, Lindsay!
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| Lindsay and I in Minnesota |
This last weekend, I visited Minnesota for the first time.
I was attending a writer’s retreat and Gabe was kind enough to drive to the airport (totally out of her way!) to come pick me up. I was afraid I’d have to rent a car and potentially get lost.
Now, I’m an Arizona girl. I live in Phoenix. Yeah, that Phoenix. The one that hits about 117 in the middle of July.
So naturally, since Minnesota was so foreign to me, I had a few…misconceptions before I came.
I didn’t freeze.
I was pretty sure I was going to freeze my rear off. I brought the warmest thing I had and was just sure it wasn’t going to be enough. Despite the picture below, it wasn’t too bad. Well, sure, the wind sliced through me a few times, but it felt much like a January evening in Phoenix.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I WAS cold, but I didn’t freeze. So there.
People don’t really go around saying “You betcha” and “Donchaknow.”
Up until I met Gabe, my only knowledge of Minnesotans came from the awesome cartoon Bobby’s World. My little brother loved that show. Anyone remember it? Anyway, the mom ALWAYS said the aforementioned phrases in this extreme accent.
Although I will say, I smiled when I heard Gabe say “beg”—and no, I don’t mean what people do on street corners. Hehe. (No offense meant to at all. I’m sure I say things “wrong” too. Don’t we all?)
A circular body of water is not necessarily a lake.
Minnesota is supposed to be the Land of 10,000 Lakes, right?
Well, apparently a round body of water does not a lake make. Er…or something like that. As Gabe drove us to the retreat hotel, we passed some water. And I said, “Oh cool, is that a lake?” Gabe laughed and said it was more like a pond, if that.
What?! Don’t judge. The only lake near me is man made. LOL.
So yeah, my visit to Minnesota cleared up a few misconceptions I had. In all seriousness, it was a really great visit and I was sorry to see it end so quickly!
Your Turn: Have you ever been to Minnesota? Have you had any of these misconceptions or known anyone who has?
Since the age of six, when she wrote the riveting tale “How to Eat Mud Pie,” Lindsay Harrel has passionately engaged the written word as a reader, writer, and editor. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication and an M.A. in English. In her current day job as a curriculum editor for a local university, Lindsay helps others improve their work and hones her skills for her night job—writing inspirational contemporary fiction. Lindsay lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband of five years and two golden retriever puppies in serious need of training.
