We only had a limited amount of time for our visit, and we could afford three nights in a motel. Unlike past trips, however, David wanted his own room. He had saved money for it, and that's how he wanted it.
I think I know why. One of his parents snores. Fairly loudly at times. I'm not saying who. But when he went with me to the football finals last fall, he and I stayed in the same motel room. He didn't have any complaints; said he slept well. So ...
There was also the time a few years ago he went out to get the continental breakfast and bring some of it back to my wife and I--only to
The trip over there was long but uneventful. We made our traditional stop to view the bison just after entering Minnesota, about five or six hours into the drive ...
Things changed when we reached the Twin Cities. I had been driving for five or six hours by then, and even a break for a snack really didn't give me much of a mental break. Before long, I broke.
The problems arose for three reasons:
1. I was driving in an unfamiliar area--we were going to the south part of the Twin Cities area, the part that I was relatively unfamiliar with. I had studied the maps, so I thought I was well prepared.
2. I got thrown off by all the freeway construction taking place in the Twin Cities area. It's a growing place, and freeways are being revamped all over. Lanes were closed, shifted over and re-routed.
3. We arrived at rush hour. Lucky me! We drove merrily into an area where rush hour and road crews had combined to create a hell of a traffic snarl. Stop and go. I knew I had to make a turn onto the beltway that circles the Twin Cities themselves, and I was trying to focus on that.
But my muddled mind was having a hard time processing east and west while traveling south. Sure enough, I turned east when I should have gone west. A mile or two later, I realized my mistake. Traffic was tortoise-like, but I eventually found an exit that allowed me to re-enter the freeway going west.
Of course, that put me right in the extremely slow section a second time. Stop and go. It was hot. I was tired. The motel rooms had been reserved, so that wasn't a concern. But I needed a break.
After what seemed like a full week, we exited to a lesser-used road that quickly led us to the area where the motel was. We got into our rooms and had supper. Soon we were on the road again, because David wanted to visit a Best Buy. We headed back to the beltway. This time, the sign was confusing, and I missed the exit I wanted.
This wasn't any fun, and I wasn't a happy camper. I usually stay cool, but things were getting to me. Finally, I found a place to exit and turn around the right way. Fortunately, by now the traffic volume was a lot less.
We found the Best Buy store with no other major problems and walked around for a while. I discovered a new DVD set from the latest Rolling Stones concert tour. Had to get that. And I did. That was all, too. David exercised his shopping muscles and bought a bunch of stuff. That was part of his reason for going on the trip, after all.
While all this was happening, storms had been brewing up around the Twin Cities. At the motel, we had looked at the weather radar. After the stop at Best Buy (from the parking lot), I managed to get some pictures of building thunderheads. See the moon at the top of this shot?
This one looked like Godzilla standing over the Twin Cities at sunset. I was fascinated. We rarely get storm clouds like this back home.
In fact, some of the storms that raced through the Twin Cities that day left large hail--up to baseball-size. After we got back to the motel, we walked to a nearby Dairy Queen for some ice cream. While sitting there, I saw this pink cloud catching the final rays of the Wednesday sun ...
The area around the motel largely missed the storm--only heavy rain and some tiny hail for a minute or so.
The motel had free internet (yay! Super 8!), and I caught up on a few other blogs before bed. One of my friends on efx2 lives in Minnesota, and I thought she lives on the north side of the Twin Cities area. Sadly, that wasn't the case--she's about 50 miles away, and our schedule didn't permit that long of a side trip. That was the stop I was hoping to make. But it just wasn't to be. I wrote and apologized.
But we were here anyway. The plan for Thursday: The massive Mall of America, which is big enough to house an aquarium (which we also wanted to see). First, I needed some sleep.
(to be continued)
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