It's the Minnesota pickle

This is all Lisa's fault. The first time she sang a few bars of the Gedney pickle jingle, I was confused - Gedney brand pickles are not distributed here in the former Blagosphere. The second time she sang it, I became obsessed.

Dancing Pickle Warning: do not listen to this dumb song.

Gedney,
It's the Minnesota pickle.
Get me a Gedney
It's the Minnesota pickle.
Bring out more Gedney,
It's no ordinary pickle.
You betcha, Gedney -
It's the Minnesota pickle.

Buy them in New Ulm,
St. Cloud, Duluth, and Montevideo,
Rochester, Blaine, and even
Waaaay up in Warroad.

Gedney
It's the Minnesota pickle
They're good to...Gedney
It's the Minnesota pickle.
They taste good, Gedney,
It's no ordinary pickle.
You betcha, Gedney -
It's the Minnesota pickle.

The Gedney jingle contains a pickled road trip idea. Just for fun, let's have a look at how that trip might proceed from New Ulm, in south-central Minnesota, to Warroad, on Lake of the Woods, only 35 miles from the northernmost point in the conterminous United States. For the extra briney bonus factor, let's visit each place in the order in which they are mentioned.



It's interesting to compare different routing algorithms. The total length of the routes suggested by Google Maps and Microsoft MapPoint are within 75 miles, or about 6%, of each other. Away from the Interstate system, Google seems to prefer US highways while MapPoint seems biased to state roads.

For example, both direct us from Blaine to Warroad via Duluth, but the Google Maps route sends us north on US-53 through the Iron Range to International Falls and then west, while MapPoint directs us on state roads past Upper Red Lake to Rainy River. In this case, I think my preference would be to follow Google through the mountains.

Likewise, both algorithms suggest traveling between Montevideo and Rochester via the Twin Cities, but Google suggests US-212 over MapPoint's preferred SR-7. Personally, I have to side with MapPoint on this one, because Lisa and I were married just off SR-7 in Excelsior.

Oh, and take note: Stop #4 is pronounced "Monta-video." Video, as in Betamax. Observing the local pronunciation will avoid a faux-pas, which, after all, would put you in a real pickle.