Meandering Experience | E2
EPISODE: TWO
Well, dam. The Little Falls Dam to be more specific. A fixture in the town and in my life, especially as an adolescent. Being a tagalong to the whims of my parents, as many of us are when we are young, I did not have a choice about whether I lived in a small town, big city, up on a hill or down in a valley. None of us do. Where we are born and raised is a part of us. It is a unique association because we don’t choose it. I did not choose Little Falls, but I did embrace it. I especially embraced the flowing river and the dam that harnesses the river’s energy.
I feel fortunate to have grown up in a small town in Minnesota. Sure, Little Falls has its peccadillos to say the least*, but there are plenty of reasons to be proud to have called this my home. Its location astride the Mississippi is one of the hallmarks of its charm. Given that the Mississippi is the 3rd longest river in the world last I checked, there are many established towns and cities that share a deeply rooted connection to this mighty river. To be from a place counted among them is an honor and a privilege.
I have recently inadvertently enrolled in the University of and about Little Falls, MN and the surrounding central Minnesota area. At this school of my own making, I am learning a lot about my home town. Having established a vacation rental in the area I feel compelled to ensure that those who book a stay get to know and enjoy the area. To aid in this endeavor, I have some of my own learning and discovery to do.
Though I grew up in Little Falls and my family has been rooted in the area for more than 100 years, I departed for college when I was 18 and have not returned to live there full-time. I visited my parents many times, but Little Falls has not been my adulthood home. Without the direct experience of living in the town as an adult, to represent this place and the community to a larger audience, I have taken to educating myself on the deeper details of Little Falls both past and present.
Starting a vacation rental is a challenging process in many ways. One of the initial challenges for me has been the soul searching it took to decide to do it. This year Airbnb posted a celebratory article about the number of total hosts to date and other related statistics. With 5 million Airbnb hosts and counting, I guess I’m not the only one who made this decision. Many people have been trying their hand in the short term rental (STR) business for all sorts of reasons. Making money and being one’s own boss seem to be at the top of the list according to these, and other, sources: Airbnb article, Quora post.
I’ll admit, income and a flexible work life do land quite high on the list for me as well. Though my reasons for starting this adventure have been similar to most, because the place I started with is in my hometown I have surprised myself with a renewed and growing interest in the area. This has also forced me to acknowledge that though I walk about the world claiming this place of origin, there is plenty I have yet to learn about it.
As I seek out information about local events and work on administrative tasks for managing a vacation rental, I also wend my way down memory lane. Reflection and emotion float in and out as waves of memories lap familiar shores in my mind. Recalling my childhood is like working on a nostalgic patchwork quilt while taking breaks from carrying out a variety of often dull adulting tasks.
As I posted a photo of the Little Falls dam the other day, I was thinking of the hours I spent sitting and watching the waters flow. So many of my youthful days were spent running around the accompanying park with a close friend who lived next door to the dam. We were twin-like, even in name, Julie and I. Inseparable. We did many young person things like sitting on the large tree that draped out over the rushing rapids a short distance from the dam. We also dared to step, sometimes waste deep, into the murky ice cold waters just as the spring melt overflowed onto walking paths on the banks of the shore. We had an imperative task to complete. We had to free the icebergs to make their way farther down the river. Well, imperative perhaps only for keeping our active young minds and bodies engaged.
After recently reading a little about the history of the dam, and also simply being older and wiser, I have a new appreciation for the structure. I also have a new appreciation of how completely clueless we were of some of our reckless actions. Indeed, and especially, a new appreciation of how annoyed the police officers must have been when they had to come down to the park and get us out of the river when the water was so low we could technically walk across right in front of the dam. The suddenly visible rocks that dappled the landscape during a rare time when the dam gates were closed was entirely too tempting to our brazen young minds. Given the amount of time we spent bobbing up and down those particularly tumultuous shores of the Mississippi, we were lucky we didn’t make a false move resulting in us being swept into the rapids.
Reading now that a few original dam structures failed and were washed away makes it both slightly painfully, and almost laughably, apparent that we were indeed reckless at times in our youth. Laughable only because fortunately nothing bad came of any of what are now fond memories. If I was presented with the same opportunity today I would think and act differently. Although, it was pretty cool to be able to nearly make it to the island in the middle that was normally cut off by rushing rapids. Some might say they’d still take that chance, but as I have aged my sense of adventure has not so much dulled but shifted in definition. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.
**Though I am fond of the place where I come from, I also acknowledgement that the history on these lands and across the United States is complicated and issues stemming from this history are still present today. Especially for BIPOC that have suffered and continue to suffer violence, trauma, displacement, and other serious issues. This acknowledgement is one of the ways I choose to honor and respect all cultures and be the change for better moving forward.
Also, in case it isn’t abundantly obvious, I do not condone, advise, or otherwise support anyone repeating the actions described here. They are clearly dangerous and should not be repeated.