On the eve of the Labor Day festivities, welcome to another edition of Friday Props, another way to bend your mind closer to the weekend. Last week I visited a friend of mine who lives in the flatlands of Minnesota, taking in its foreign cultural landscape and an accent thoroughly entrenched in the letter 'O.' Spectacularly different from Vermont, I spent most of my time bug-eyed wandering around Minneapolis-St. Paul and think that I owe the cities a bit more respect than I had before. First props go to the Skyways of Minneapolis. Constructed to help pedestrians navigate through the city through the winter, the Skyway links 69 city blocks using 2nd and 3rd-story bridges over the streets throughout the city. The climate-controlled walkways make it possible to travel practically throughout the entire city without ever stepping outside and boast restaurants and shops. ELEVEN MILES of walking. Yup.  

On the food scene, Minneapolis and the Minnesota State Fair were playgrounds for my stomach. I could rave about the amazing Bloody Mary's, the bratwurst and the Pork Chop on a Stick, but the best culinary innovation I experienced was the Juicy Lucy. There's no dispute on what eatery invented the Lucy, but as with any great idea, others have imitated and innovated to create a whole new style of Lucy. Put simply, the Lucy is two hamburger patties stuffed with cheese, melting to form a delicious molten core of dairy. I had a 'traditional' at Matt's where the Lucy was invented back in 1954 and a blue cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped Lucy at one of the local upstarts. Both were delicious in their caloric magnitude. This is one Midwestern invention I would cry NOT to see brought to Vermont.

Finally, my third prop has nothing to do with Minneapolis or Midwestern culture. Instead, as I browsed the interwebs for ideas to incorporate into the design of my Enduro racer for 2013, I happened upon this lovely creature. While I do love my Nerf armaments here in the office, this one made mine look like a pop gun...which it is. I think when the winter sets in and I dream of walking the Skyways of Minneapolis chopping on a Juicy Lucy, I'll be spending some time in the basement to craft something like this: