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I spent two weeks at the Mayo in July. They are amazing.

However, we stayed downtown, and there were more ME people there than Americans. We were at a long term hotel, and apparently a lot of Middle East people live there on a permanent basis.

Full burkas for the women, men with the turbans, robes, with rugs, praying facing East, the whole Muslim package.

Of course, I am American, and was wearing summer clothes. Oh, man, if looks could kill. Leering men, contemptuous women, Arabic spoken everywhere. I felt like a foreigner in my own country.

And this was right as the Israeli/Hezbollah war was breaking out. I was VERY uncomfortable.

OK, I hear you.

Fortunately for me when I had to go back for additional 'stuff' I stayed at a motel away from downtown.

Just think, for a lot less money you could have avoided all that!

Hey Teeny,

It's been a long time since I last saw you on these posts. Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience in Rochester. I hope that your Mayo visit was successful.

I do know what you mean about feeling uneasy, though. I lived in Rochester about 16 years ago, and it has changed quiet a bit since then. Mayo and alot of the hotels do quite a bit of catering to ME clients. Hopefully some of the beauty of the freedom that we enjoy infects some of these oil barrons, but I doubt it.

As a side note, most of the crime in Rochester seems to come from Hmoung and Black gangs from the Twin Cities. Most of that crime is amongst themselves and unless you're involved in illegal drugs, you won't see any of it.

If you're in Rochester again, I recommend taking a small side trip to Lanesboro. It's been featured in many magazines as one of the more unique small towns of Minnesota. Very friendly people and very few, if any, ME types.

Take 'er easy.