Monday, 9/9

One of the great things about walking in downtown Marquette every day is that you get to inhale this amazing concoction of smells from 13 or 14 different restaurants preparing menu items for that day. Some mornings, you can pick out the Italian food or the German food or the Cajun food; some mornings, it’s just blended together in one giant bowl of nostril stew.

One of the bad things about walking in downtown Marquette every day is that, every once in a while, one of those restaurants burns whatever it is they’re cooking, and that smell kinda hangs over a 4 or 6-square block area of downtown, crowding out even diesel fumes for the honor of “Most Noxious Odor Ever”.

Saturday was one of those days..

I have no idea which restaurant did the overcooking, nor do I know what they were cooking, but the smell? Well, the closest way I can describe it would be to have you imagine a combination of skunk spray, cigarette smoke, and your 2-year old’s 2-month old diaper, all mixed together and put in an oven to be charred beyond all belief. That kinda gets at what it smelled like while I was out walking. It's not a perfect description, but it's close.

Very, very close.

Luckily, the world’s largest natural air purifier is sitting right on the edge of downtown, and the breeze quickly dissipated the stench. Otherwise, I could just see everyone walking around downtown trying to get two or three blocks while holding his or her breath and trying NOT to inhale the, well, whatever it was. And, hopefully, it didn't make its way down to the Beer Fest, where that noxious odor combined with people who've been drinking beer could've led to a natural disaster of unprecedented proportions.

If you know what I mean.

Thankfully, something like that happens VERY rarely. In fact, I'm guessing that when I walk to work in a few minutes that I'll be back to smelling the fragrant aroma that greets me at least once each morning when I head out the door.

Diesel fumes, here I come!

(jim@wmqt.com)