A Brief Getaway to the North–Day Three

On the third day of our trip, we set out to see as many things as possible, beginning with the Cathedral of St. Paul in…well, St. Paul! The skyline of the Minnesota state capital is smaller than that of Minneapolis, but I still enjoyed seeing it, and there was something charming and cozy about the city that I really enjoyed!

The cathedral was absolutely stunning…it reminded me of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis in some ways, and was very different in others.

After we toured the whole cathedral, we drove by the Capitol Building:

And then made our way back to Minneapolis, where we found a good view of the skyline:

And a local landmark, the Witch’s Hat Water Tower:

I really wanted to see the Northwestern National Life Building, which is absolutely mid-century marvelous!

We drove around a bit more, and saw the flagship Target store and the Mary Tyler Moore statue, but it was so busy downtown we couldn’t find parking to get out anywhere. Then we stopped at the Basilica of St. Mary. It wasn’t open for tours, but we did walk all the way around it, and it too is a grand and beautiful building.

We stopped by Lyndale Park where we saw some lovely fountains and flowers:

And enjoyed a meal with friends at D-Spot. I had a burger with cheese curds on it, and there were wings with lavender…such brilliant and unexpected culinary offerings!

One more stop at Caribou:

And then a little excitement back at the hotel. Just as Ryan, Turkey, and Ladybug were ready to leave to see the Sonic Symphony at the Orpheum Theatre (the main reason we chose Minneapolis as the destination for our trip), the power went out, and then the fire alarm went off. There were rumors of flames, and I did smell smoke, but in the end, they allowed us to return to our rooms, and the power came back on not too long after. It was a weird time, with a wedding party in full dress and various motorcycle clubs standing around the parking lot (the two main groups staying at the hotel that weekend), and later on the balconies of the hotel, but there was a nice sense of community about the whole thing…I just wish our room hadn’t been on the 7th floor, because that was a lot of flights to climb down in the mostly dark (and then back up again…we didn’t trust the elevator while the power was out, even though it was operating!).

Anyway, they made it to their concert in the middle of the hotel chaos, and I’m told a good time was had by all.

Up next: An early start for a long drive home!

A Brief Getaway to the North–Day Two

We actually managed to sleep in a bit on the second day of our trip, which is pretty much unheard of for us…but that just meant we were well-rested for our visit to the Mall of America!

My first priority was getting Caribou Coffee…I was not disappointed!

A big highlight of our trip to the mall was visiting the Lego Store:

We even got to see a “Space Brick,” built by the ESA from a meteorite:

The m&m’s store was also really cool…it ended up being one of my favorite stops in the mall!

There’s a whole Nickelodeon theme park in the center of the mall:

I think you can find a Dole Whip just about anywhere these days!

It was just so much fun to walk around a thriving retail space!

Before we left, we stopped for boba:

Five+ hours later, we finally made our way back to the car, and decided since the rain had held off, we would go visit the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

I loved the sculptures and the setting with views of the skyline in the distance!

Up next: A cathedral, a basilica, and a bunch more fun!

The Happiest Trip on Earth–The Bonus Day

MSP—>STL; 8,316 steps

And so we arrive at the “Bonus Day” of our trip. Trying to look for a silver lining, I will say that if we hadn’t had to spend the night in Bloomington, MN, we wouldn’t have seen this cool airport art at MSP. That’s the best I can do.

We left our hotel on the first shuttle out, at 4:30 a.m. We were not taking any chances on not getting to the airport on time! Once we arrived, we went to Caribou Coffee to use our meal vouchers for breakfast. Fortunately, we had enough money to each have a coffee and a breakfast sandwich!

We cautiously made our way to our gate, and it seemed like we would be leaving as (re)scheduled. There was a brief moment where the gate agent seemed doubtful, and started trying to put people on alternate flights, but then they decided they were worried for nothing, so we just sat and waited for our boarding time.

The flight wasn’t very full, so we boarded pretty quickly. We buckled in for what was scheduled to be a relatively short flight and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Because the same issue that had delayed the flight the night before (lack of a first officer) was still a problem. They finally found one on an inbound flight, and I assume she hurried over as fast as possible after she landed, and she was cheered by the entire plane when she stepped through the door. I’m not going to lie…I help my breath while they did the pre-flight check because at that point, I was pretty much assuming they were going to find a mechanical issue. They didn’t, though, and we finally took off (after I had already watched most of the first Downton Abbey movie).

We made it home without further complications, and we didn’t even have to wait too long for our luggage.

And that brings us to the end of our trip. It was an amazing experience, even with the trouble we had on the way home. I’m so glad I had this special time with Turkey and Bunny to celebrate their accomplishments before they move on to the next big thing!

The Happiest Trip on Earth–Day One

STL—>MSP—>LAX; 13,823 steps

Are you ready for a look at the “Happiest Trip on Earth?!?”

To celebrate Turkey’s and Bunny’s graduation, the three of us went on a trip to California, where we visited Disney California Adventure and Disneyland! Two weeks ago, we set out from St. Louis’ Lambert Airport:

Even I, an airport novice, could tell that Lambert is a very small airport:

It was the first time either Turkey or Bunny had flown, and it’s probably been 25 years since I have, so it was quite an adventure for us!

We had a decent layover in Minneapolis-St. Paul, so we had plenty of time to explore the airport, which we all really liked. It was big and bright and busy, and almost like a mall, with shops and restaurants everywhere. There was plenty to see (and lots of moving sidewalks, which I love, because they’re so much fun), so the time passed quickly.

We stopped at Shake Shack (another first for us) for lunch, and we absolutely loved it!

I also got to introduce Turkey and Bunny to Caribou Coffee (something I really enjoyed when I lived in Chicago)…we’re very excited that they’re slated to come to the St. Louis area soon!