Zoomer Chronicles: Thursday's Sidewalks

    How long have you lived in your current home?  What do you know of your neighborhood?

    Today, Zoomer and I went out to bask in the splendid Minnesota spring day.  My goals?  Get out and about during the precious clement weather days in Minnesota.  Gain experience in navigating in downtown St. Paul.  Goals achieved?  Yes.  But, today had nothing to do with checkmarks and everything to do with experiencing life around me this day.

     St. Paul, Minnesota is said by some to have been designed by a bunch of drunken Irishmen.  Born across the River--the Mississippi River--in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, I did the unthinkable--I moved to St. Paul.  What is the big deal, you ask?  Don't ever tell a native St. Paulite that navigating the streets is difficult.
    Their claim is as perplexing as the St. Paul Streets
     In Minneapolis, 300 Nicollet Mall is located on Third Street and Nicollet Mall.  Streets in Northeast Minneapolis follow U.S. Presidents.

    St. Paul.

    The numbering of streets is continuous.  

    The addressing of streets throughout St. Paul differs from Minneapolis.  500 Cedar Street is not located on 5th and Cedar streets as you might think.  No, 500 Cedar Street is located at the intersections of 11th and Cedar streets.
     Oftentimes, I have called myself navigationally challenged.  My condition did not begin when I moved to St. Paul to go to college in 1978.  Yet, it didn't help:)

     All that said, I feel comfortable in Downtown St. Paul.  I have lived here since 1983.  Yet, today, I discovered new places I never knew existed--a downtown park, several apartment buildings, among others.  I visited places that I had heard of, and had a general idea of--St. Mary's Catholic Church, and the First Baptist Church.
     I have not deviated from my appointed paths--to and from the bus stop, and to and from the store.  Zoomer has freed me of the calculation of paces, by which I measured my days.

     At one point, I was transported back to the sidewalks surrounding 3906 Vincent Avenue in Minneapolis--the home of my maternal grandparents, who lived near the 45th parallel.  3906 Vincent Avenue was filled with hours of fun--sidewalks.  To a kid, who lived in the sidewalk-less suburbs, my grandparents' home--3906 Vincent Avenue--was a tricycle rider's heaven.  Sidewalks.  My brother, sister, and I could go and ride to our heart's content down the tree-lined sidewalks.
     Today, the trees do not shade the sidewalks.  I have traded in my three wheels for four.  Much has changed since then to now.  Yet, from then til now, my goal?  To see how far I could go.  From then til now, my destination?  As far as my wheels will take me.  No departure times.  No ETAs.  Thus, no delays.
      Time to go out to play.