Foshay Tower

Yesterday our son picked us up for an adventure to our bigger sister city. The local library has museum passes that can be checked out and used to gain free admission to many local sites. We chose the Foshay Tower. Thirty stories up to the viewing platform and a spectacular view of the metro area. I love elevators in old buildings and the attention to design. The elevators in our own building (although plain and simple looking) are your 5 minute chance to get to know your neighbors. It must be what speed dating is like....get as much information in a short period of time....comment on the new haircut, how's your kitchen remodeling going, was it busy at the farmer's market...that sort of thing. If we ever get stuck in the elevator, I hope it will be with neighbors who are bringing home pizza and beer.

Mears Park

When M and I first moved from the suburbs to Lowertown in 2001 we rented an apartment in a highrise across from Mears Park. Shortly after 9-11 the fire alarm in our building went off. We quickly packed a couple of day packs filled with necessities and began hiking down the 14 floors to safety. After arriving out on the street we realized no one else in our building had left. The fire truck was there and we later learned that tenants burning pizza would be a common occurance. Ten years ago Lowertown was mostly deserted both at night and even at certain times of the day. In spite of the beauty of Mears Park, few took advantage of it. That has changed. Each year more and more people are enjoying our great communal backyard. The evening stroll through downtown and the possibilities of what we will see are some of the reasons we choose to live in an urban setting . On this night's stroll to Mears Park we were diverted to the river where we could see fire coming from the Robert Street bridge. The commotion was a burning car below on Sheppard Road, the occupants I hoped were those safely sitting on the curb. A crowd had gathered and we watched briefly as the police redirected traffic before continuing on our evening walk.