Wayne and Erika Pfeiler

Wednesday was our last day in Mpls, and luckily, Erika had most of the day off. We walked out to the MN Sculpture Garden ann then to the Walker Art Center. Student admission was just $5, and it was pretty cool. They had tons of photographs from Diane Arbus. I can't say I've heard of her, but the pictures were really good. They look like they were taken in the 1970s, and showed a wide sampling of people from all walks of life. I kept wondering how she got so many people to let her into their houses to take such candid pictures. There was a lot of modern art, some found art, and several video pieces.

There was a cool interactive piece called the Dolphin Oracle, or something like that. It had a projector, showing a cartoon dolphin, and a couple seats with a wireless keyboard. Visitors are asked to type to the dolphin and ask it questions about life. Its answers was sort of like what you get from a fortune cookie, but it was still fun. I read more about it later, and they say the dophin's program adds to its database with each interaction, trying to become "smarter". It asked us a couple questions when it didn't understand what we meant, and after we explained ourselves, the dolphin would respond, "okay, I get it." Definately go talk to the dolphin if you get a chance to visit the museum.

After the museum, we walked back to the hotel. This was the hottest day in Mpls while we were up there, and it felt more like what we've been used to in Raleigh. We had already checked out of the hotel and had some time to kill, so we had a drink at the martini bar inside. Erika went to take down her poster and then it was time to go.

We took a taxi to the airport and had some dinner at Chilis in the airport before climbing on the plane back to Raleigh. It was a fun trip, and we had a great time. My impression of Minneapolis in July is great. But I'm not so sure how I'd feel about it in in the middle of winter :)