The Salad Days

Many have seen me as a master of the obvious throughout my life. I'll admit, I am fascinated by things that most people would either find mundane or obvious. One of the things that always has fascinated me is that almost all major cities are by bodies of water. Again, this is obvious. Water is pretty high on the list of priorities in any civilization. Even Los Angeles, a city wherein 3 million people dwell in a desert climate, locates its downtown by the LA River (not to mention its proximity to the Pacific Ocean). Las Vegas is only possible due to technology. If it had been founded 200 years ago, it would no longer be in existence.

Which brings me to my photo here. St. Anthony Falls (seen in the photo) is the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi River. It is located in downtown Minneapolis. Today, I stood on the Hennepin Avenue bridge overlooking the falls. I had not had a chance to see the falls as of yet. As one stands on the bridge, one sees the downtown Minneapolis skyline on the West Bank of the mighty Mississippi. As I stood there, I realized, "This is why this city is here." It is only this aberration on the Mississippi which brought all of the skyscrapers and culture into existence. This is mundane and obvious. However, how could something so mundane and obvious lead to such a community?