Summer in the ‘Cities Win-Win, or,
“Worshipping False Idylls”
This will no doubt come as sacrilege to many Minnesotans — and isn’t going to endear me to my colleagues who specialize in selling 2nd homes up north — but here goes: my theory about why so many of my fellow Twin Citians cherish a weekend — typically up north and on a lake — at their 2nd (cabin) home is that . . . they’ve all been brainwashed.
Yes, brainwashed.
By whom, you may ask?
By a city-dweller who desperately wanted a way to empty out the beautiful City Lakes on Summer weekends, shorten restaurant lines, and generally have some urban peace and quiet, however temporary.
2x . . . Everything
Why else would hundreds of thousands of people voluntarily undertake twice the shopping, cleaning, maintenance and repairs, utility bills/insurance, property taxes, etc. that come with having a second abode?
Not to mention negotiate congested highways and random traffic jams to get there (and especially back).
Search me.
So, the obvious explanation — at least to me — is that somebody with an ulterior motive sold a whole lot of people a bill of goods.
Good salesman (or woman) . . .
P.S.: Someone in Manhattan is plying the same canard — or used to.
Now, Manhattan simply fills up with New Jersey-ites and tourists on summer weekends.
See also, “‘True Minnesotan,’ Defined.“
