I live in Rochester, Minnesota. Rochester is located in the southeastern corner of the state. We are about 90 minutes away from Minneapolis/St.Paul. Rochester has close to 100,000 people and is surrounded by farm country and a lot of small towns. It has been ranked in the top three cities nationwide by Money Magazine since 1992, I believe. Rochester is probably best known for being the home of the Mayo Clinic.
I actually enjoy living here, even though I can't stand the winters. We have a lot of things that a major city would have, but without a lot of the problems. Although I do have to admit that some big city problems are moving into our community...such as street gangs, murders are on the rise (We had 3 in 1998, I think), and we went through a period where we had a string of armed robberies at area businesses. The Taco Bell where I worked at the time was even a target for an early morning robbery attempt, but thanks to the quick thinking of the store manager, the would-be robber didn't get anything. But for most cities our size, our crime rate is pretty low.
What is Rochester known for? Well, mainly for the Mayo Clinic. Sometimes it's overwhelming to think that what we think of as just a few buildings that we drive past everyday is so well-known throughout the world and draws world leaders and clebrities and sports figures from all over. Some of the world leaders that Rochester has played host to because of the Mayo Clinic include Ronald Reagan (President, US), King Hussein I (King, Jordan), Benjamin Netenyahu (Prime Minister, Israel), and Eduard Shevardnadze (currently the President of the Republic of Georgia, but made the trip when he was the Soviet Foriegn Minister). I can't remember if former President George Bush was ever here or not, but I know his wife Barbara was, and that at least one other former President (but I can't remember who that was) has been here. And we have had many celebrities, whether they be actors/actresses or musicians have come through the city. Television Evangelist Jim Baker even served part of his prison sentence here at the Federal Medical Center. I still remember the time when I saw Tammy Faye Baker shopping here in town at TJ Maxx. I was probably only 13 or 14 at the time, but when I saw her, I knew that I knew her from somewhere and was convinced that she had to be a friend of my parents. After we were a distance away from her, I asked my mom who it was. When I was told that it was Tammy Faye, I didn't believe it until another lady shopping there confirmed it.
Another thing that Rochester has that must other cities don't is that we do have a small lake that has open water all year long, even though we live in Minnesota. Because of this, we get a lot of Canadian Geese every winter. The estimate as to their numbers are 35,000 at their peak in early December. The geese like to make Rochester their winter home because they have the lake they can swim in and get food from, and the people of Rochester will go out and feed the geese bread, so they are in no danger of going hungry here.
I live in Rochester, Minnesota. Rochester is located in the southeastern corner of the state. We are about 90 minutes away from Minneapolis/St.Paul. Rochester has close to 100,000 people and is surrounded by farm country and a lot of small towns. It has been ranked in the top three cities nationwide by Money Magazine since 1992, I believe. Rochester is probably best known for being the home of the Mayo Clinic.
What is Rochester known for? Well, mainly for the Mayo Clinic. Sometimes it's overwhelming to think that what we think of as just a few buildings that we drive past everyday is so well-known throughout the world and draws world leaders and clebrities and sports figures from all over. Some of the world leaders that Rochester has played host to because of the Mayo Clinic include Ronald Reagan (President, US), King Hussein I (King, Jordan), Benjamin Netenyahu (Prime Minister, Israel), and Eduard Shevardnadze (currently the President of the Republic of Georgia, but made the trip when he was the Soviet Foriegn Minister). I can't remember if former President George Bush was ever here or not, but I know his wife Barbara was, and that at least one other former President (but I can't remember who that was) has been here. And we have had many celebrities, whether they be actors/actresses or musicians have come through the city. Television Evangelist Jim Baker even served part of his prison sentence here at the Federal Medical Center. I still remember the time when I saw Tammy Faye Baker shopping here in town at TJ Maxx. I was probably only 13 or 14 at the time, but when I saw her, I knew that I knew her from somewhere and was convinced that she had to be a friend of my parents. After we were a distance away from her, I asked my mom who it was. When I was told that it was Tammy Faye, I didn't believe it until another lady shopping there confirmed it.
Another thing that Rochester has that must other cities don't is that we do have a small lake that has open water all year long, even though we live in Minnesota. Because of this, we get a lot of Canadian Geese every winter. The estimate as to their numbers are 35,000 at their peak in early December. The geese like to make Rochester their winter home because they have the lake they can swim in and get food from, and the people of Rochester will go out and feed the geese bread, so they are in no danger of going hungry here.
