Apollo Lee

I went to a wedding, where I was the only person present who hadn’t been taught to polka in public school. I walked around downtown Minneapolis, crossed the Mississippi River on foot, and wandered around Dinkytown. People in Minnesota are really nice.

I took some of my family on a road trip. We started out in Western Idaho and did a counter-clockwise loop. We visited Portland, Astoria, Tillamook, Oregon City, Salem, Eugene, and Bend.

I want to see the whole continent. I cannot look at a map of Australia without getting a lip-biting desire to trace out a bicycle tour around the continent.

Am I obsessed enough?

The birthplace of Bossa Nova. The home of Corcovado, Ipanema Beach, and maybe the most beautiful city in the world.

“Oh, but I watch her so sadly. How can I tell her I love her? Yes, I would give my heart gladly. But, each day when she walks to the sea, She looks straight ahead, not at me.”

Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Girl from Ipanema

Well, the nightlife scene wasn’t what I was used to, but it was a nifty, friendly town with lots of geeks (well, the ones I know anyway). It’s really flat and apparently they have good beer, but I don’t drink. It was fun, though. For some reason, I thought Lake Michigan would have tides.

While I was born elsewhere, I grew up in Idaho (if I grew up at all). The state, which has as many people as San Jose, California, has so much beautiful scenery that even people who grew up there (like me) haven’t seen it all. While it’s a conservative state, the people are very friendly, but not nosy or prying.

Most people I know who moved there from somewhere else absolutely insists that it’s the best place to live anywhere. Of course, it’s easy for me to take it for granted and dislike it because I grew up there and found it boring (especially when I was a teenager). Now that I’m older, I find that I appreciate the things that make the Gem State unique more and more. Next year, I plan to ride my bicycle through a significant portion of the Snake River Valley.

You should definitely visit.

My alma mater, The University of Idaho, is here. I went to school here for too many years. This is the first town I lived in that I really loved. There are more cultural events happening here per capita than any other place in Idaho.

The things I miss are my radio station, my favorite grocery store, and the jazz festival. Also, my circle of friends was very large, because it’s a small town and it’s much easier to get to know people than it is in a major metro area, like the one in which I live now.