Our return to the States was fairly uneventful. We cleared customs at JFK and ran to get our bags checked and through security to meet our flight 30 minutes later. Lucky (or not so lucky) for us, that flight was a bit behind. We made it into Chicago and sprinted to our next gate. Again, we made it just in time. Again, the flight was delayed. We actually boarded the plane and were then deplaned a few minutes later. (I had a momentary flash back to our trip to Valdez in 2000 when we sat on the plane for an hour burning fuel off and then were deplaned for a 12 hour delay!) The weather in Wisconsin was keeping us out of the skies, but we did eventually get moving.When we arrived at the Minneapolis airport, we were set to grab our\u00c2\u00a0 bags and head home. It’d been a long day, and we were coming up on hour number 24 of being awake, but we both felt awake enough to make the drive. Fast forward to an hour later – still waiting for our packs which would never arrive. So, we got our little form to call the airline and report our bags missing, and then we went off to pick up our car from the Park ‘N Go.<\/p>\n
By the time we actually got our car the Holiday Inn across the street was looking mighty inviting. We got the last non-smoking room there, grabbed some fried food (yum!) and a couple of drinks downstairs in the bar, and then slept away our first night back in Minnesota. We hoped to grab our bags from the airport the next morning, but they still hadn’t arrived… so, up North it was with hopes the bags would be found and Fed Exed.<\/p>\n
We made a stop to see Gram and Gramp once we hit Virgnia, but they were out for the afternoon. So, we’ll head their direction today, I think.\u00c2\u00a0 We visited with Jimbo, shared pictures from the trip, and ate some pizza to wrap the evening up.<\/p>\n
This morning I realized that I was short a pair of running shoes – being that my bag is still not here. Anxious to get a little exercise in and unable to go for a job, I decided to go for my first real swim (the kind you actually stay in for more than 5 seconds). Dad had told me that the water was beautiful, so I anxiously changed into my suit and headed for the dock. Dad and I, apparently have different ideas of what beautiful water feels like… tolerable was more like it. But, at 7:00 on a Saturday morning, it was a great way to wake up! Every day should begin with a swim.<\/p>\n
Bill and I began a list of things we’d like to do this summer. We don’t want to be tied down to the list, but we want to make the most of our days off. The list includes all kinds of random things – visiting a strawberry farm, spending a whole day canoeing, our vacation to the Dells, meeting our friends & their new baby for a Twins game – to name a few. It’s exciting to know that we still have lots of mini-adventures ahead of us.<\/p>\n
This weekend is Timberdays in Cook. We’ll hit the parade tomorrow, but otherwise I don’t get overly excited about the annual festival. There is, however, a chance that I’ll get to see old classmates that I normally wouldn’t. I’ll look forward to that.<\/p>\n
Let the summer begin!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our return to the States was fairly uneventful. We cleared customs at JFK and ran to get our bags checked and through security to meet our flight 30 minutes later. Lucky (or not so lucky) for us, that flight was … Continue reading