About a week before we left, I kept watching the weather outlook in Minneapolis, and it did not look good. First I noticed the frigid temps were barely going to make it above zero degrees, and second, a huge snowstorm came on the radar a few days prior, set to land the day/night before we left. This was going to be an interesting trip to say the least! We can't remember a time after we moved away that we were back visiting in February!
Our plan that weekend was to head out to Wisconsin right after we landed to see my aunts and uncles (my dads siblings) for the afternoon, and be back into the cities that evening to have dinner with my stepmom. Then on Saturday we were spending the day with Robbie's family, and on Sunday to spend the morning/afternoon with my brother before our flight returned home. It was going to be a fun-filled weekend!
Our flight was due to depart Cincinnati at 9:05 am on Friday, and arrive into Minneapolis at 10:30 am. We got a few texts the night before stating that the flight had been delayed 45 minutes. We knew there was nothing we could do about it, so we just rolled with the punches. The silver lining was that we could sleep in longer I guess. I felt bad telling my aunt that we would be delayed getting to her house by 45 minutes. Appreciatively, she understood; she was just excited to see us for whatever amount of time we had. We eventually took off at around 9:50 am, but still landed at our originally scheduled time of 10:30am! Awesome!
We had a car rental in Minneapolis, and being we hadn't checked a bag, we went right over to the rental counter. We had thought ahead and rented an SUV because we didn't know what the weather would be like in Minnesota. That was the best upgrade ever! The car rentals were in a parking garage, and when we located our car, all the doors except the drivers side front was frozen shut. It was SO COLD, and when we got in the car, the outside temp was -5, inside a parking garage! Luckily someone had started the vehicle before we got there so at least it was warm inside. We flung our bags in the backseat, and off we went to Wisconsin! The huge blizzard that Minnesota and Wisconsin had the night before had passed by Friday morning, but the roads were still pretty slick with snow still on them. On our 1 hour and 45 minute journey, we passed about 5 abandoned cars in the ditch/snow piles, and we were right behind an accident! Then, just as we were crossing the bridge into Wisconsin, the back passenger door opened! I was trying to open it in the car rental garage, but it was too frozen, and eventually it opened after it thawed out in the car. It was the worst timing, but we pulled over safely on the other side of the bridge and closed it! Whew! We drove very cautiously, but we made it to my aunts by 1pm! Not bad!
My Auntie Ann and Uncle Duane were hosting us for the afternoon, and my other Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Donnie joined. Auntie Ann and Aunt Kathryn are sisters. When I called Auntie Ann from the car to let her know our ETA, this is how the conversation went: "Hi Auntie Ann, this is Jaclyn." Auntie Ann's response: "Oh, good!" I love how excited she was to see us! Auntie Ann made us a great meal, and we had great conversation! I hadn't seen them in 5 years, so it was so good to catch up with them. It was also my uncle Donnie's birthday on Feb. 10th, so we had a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to him as well.We wanted to leave by 4pm so we could make it back to Minneapolis while it was still light out. And we had a plan to meet my stepmom and sisters for dinner at 6:30 that night. We sadly said goodbye to my aunt and uncles in Wisconsin, and by 4:15 we were back on the road!
Through Taylors Falls on the way back from Wisconsin
Ice houses on the lake.
Naturally, we hit rush hour traffic as we neared Minneapolis. We were going to check into our hotel before dinner, but the closer we got, the later our arrival time was, so we just decided to head to the restaurant instead. My stepmom Gloria lives north of downtown Minneapolis, so we met her, my stepsister Kori, and half sister Tami at an Applebee's close to where she lives. The 3 of them were already there when we arrived shortly before 6:30, and we started catching up with everyone right off the bat! It was so nice to see this part of my family in the same day; my dad and Uncle Mark would have been so happy!! We had yet another great meal, paired with many stories! I can't believe I didn't think of taking a few pictures during our Friday visits! I guess we were just too caught up in catching up! They say that if there aren't pictures it didn't happen. Well trust me, it happened, and it was wonderful! We said our goodbyes to them around 9pm, headed back into the arctic tundra to our car (-7 degrees at this point), and finally checked into our hotel, the Embassy Suites in downtown Minneapolis.
We had stayed at this Embassy Suites once before, in October for Robbie's brother's wedding, and we think we will stay there in the future as well. Another added plus, especially during this visit: the hotel had valet parking, and it was underground! Hooray for indoor parking! Check-in went smoothly, and we were finally settled into our room, all nice and warm!
Embassy Suites behind pure ice!
Our hotel view. I liked the depth!
The next morning, Saturday, we woke up and got ourselves the Embassy Suites made-to-order breakfast, an array of omelettes, french toast, pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, and several pastries! This is another reason why we love Embassy Suites properties! After breakfast we had a few hours to spare before we had to leave for Robbie's family gathering, so we decided to walk the Minneapolis Skyway system! After all the years of both Robbie and I living in and around the Twin Cities, we had never really walked through the skyways until now. Fittingly for the climate, Minneapolis has miles upon miles of skyways that connect nearly every building and hotel in downtown Minneapolis. We got a map from the front desk, and off we went! Below are pictures from nearly every skyway, looking out onto the streets. My favorite series of pictures is of in and around the Government Center, particularly the green-roofed City Hall! We walked almost all the way to U.S. Bank Stadium, and back to Target Field! It was the best way to stay warm on a frigid morning!
Skyway randoms
Series of the IDS Tower
Series of the Wells Fargo Building
Inside the Wells Fargo Building. We got yelled at by a security guard for taking this picture.
Coming into the Government Center
City Hall! Also, my favorite picture of the weekend, and probably the most symmetrical photo I've ever taken!
Inside the Government Center!
Beyond the Wells Fargo Building in the foreground is the Marquette Tower, where my dad and aunt used to work!
First Ave, and the Target Center to the right!
Skyway to the Target Center
Skyway to Target Field!
They were doing construction on one of the outside gates, in this weather, on a Saturday! They are CRAZY!
Kirby Puckett!
Robbie imagined this picture of the Twins statues to be the Twins postseason in the early 2000's, and the snowbank being the Yankees, never being able to get over that obstacle and actually beat them!
After the Badgers game, we left soon after to head up north to near St. Cloud, MN to meet up with Robbie's dad and family! We were both looking forward to this visit, as it was a belated Christmas as well! It also happened to be Robbie's Grandma's 84th birthday, so we were excited to celebrate that also. The plan was to meet at Robbie's dad's in Foley, and drive to a close-by restaurant where we made reservations for 17 people! A lot of the family I had just met in October for Robbie's brother's wedding, and that is where Robbie had re-connected with a lot of them since childhood, too. They were so welcoming back then, and I expected no less this time also! At Robbie's dad's house was his did and wife Terri, his aunt Debbie, and Grandma and Grandpa. We visited there for a while, and met the rest of the family at the restaurant around 4pm. Most of the family was waiting for us, where I met Robbie's uncle Bob and his wife Karen for the first time, along with their daughter Christine and her new husband Hector. We also met with Robbie's aunt Tammy and Aunt Bonnie, along with Bonnie's daughter and one her of 9 (!!!) kids! Later, Terri's son Derek joined us with his wife Selena and new baby Cash. It was a full house, and I could feel the love and laughter almost immediately. Everyone in Robbie's family is so nice, and we are so grateful to have started a long-lasting relationship with all of them!
Robbie's parents and grandparents
Paul (Robbie's dad), and his siblings (minus one sister) and their parents!
Paul and his mom!
The birthday girl!
After dinner, we headed back to Robbie's dad's house, and almost everyone followed! It was fun to sit back and watch the family bonding happen. Also, Robbie's dad turns into such a softie when he gets around his grandbabies and other toddlers! It's sweet to see! We already made rough plans to come visit in the summer and have a big get-together, outside when it's warm! We had a long drive back to the cities ahead of us, so we said our goodbyes around 7:30-ish. On this day, for the record, we only saw it get to -4 degrees!
On Sunday, our travel day back to Cincinnati, we woke up to snow! This was going to be interesting! After our 2nd hearty breakfast, we were headed to my brother's house, who also lived in Minneapolis, thankfully! This day was the first we saw the temps above zero. I think we saw a balmy 16 degrees outside! Heatwave! We arrived at Johnny's around 10:30 am, and he greeted us by shoveling us a path all the way from our car to his front door; such exceptional service! It had been somewhere near 2 years since we've seen his family, and we were chomping at the bit to see them, especially our nephew's who had no doubt grown like weeds! In between our visits, our intentions were good to visit, but the last 2 years have been somewhat of a transition in our lives and it just never worked. Our nephews, JG, William, and Aiden, were all there to greet us with big hugs! And there was no more doubt, the boys HAD grown like weeds! They were all very excited to see us, and show off their toys and their rooms. Pretty soon, I was jumping on the twins' beds with them! It was so fun to see how smart they all were, at only 3 and 5 years old! Our visit with Johnny and Maura was really good, too! We caught up with them the whole while! We made a pizza for lunch, and at about 1:00, we got a text that our flight was delayed 40 minutes. We were originally scheduled to depart at 3:56 pm, but now we were pushed back to 4:40 pm. But, that meant more time at the Kasper's! One of my favorite parts of the visit is when Aiden sat beside me and insisted I tickle his feet for like, an hour! He would giggle the whole while! All the boys play so well together and they have such great imaginations! JG and I were playing "kitchen" at one point, and the stories relating to the fake food he came up with was beyond me! At about 2:30 we started saying our goodbyes to the Kasper's, and we gave the boys about 4 hugs each! Each of them gave us a drawing that they had done, and they are hung proudly in our house! Along with the drawings was a belated Christmas gift of a 2019 calendar with pictures of the boys, taken in those specific months in 2018! It was all so thoughtful!
The boys dressed in all Wisconsin gear specifically for us! I couldn't choose just 1 of these because they are all pure gold! I also love how JG has practically the same expression on his face for each picture! His dad used to make that face when he was little, too!
By the time we left, it was still snowing, and as we were en route to the airport, our flight got delayed again, and then once more while we were AT the airport! We brought our car back, and headed in where it was nice and warm! We got through the TSA line, and found a restaurant to sit down at and pass the time. It was called Twins Bar and Grill, and it had pictures of local towns baseball fields, and a whole wall depicting the MLB logo, all made out of baseballs! It wasn't the worst place to wait out a flight delay!
Local Twin Cities ball fields
These are all baseballs! How cool!
Finally our flight took off at 6:30, after sitting at the de-icing area for at least a half hour! On the flight home, we just reminisced about the weekend that just passed, and how much fun we had! It was the first time we flew back to Minneapolis, and we realized how easy it would be to see all our family and friends on a more regular basis now that we are just an hour and 20 minute flight away! We hope to visit every couple of months now, but NEVER again in February if we can help it! We knew we did a lot of driving in such a short period of time, but the family time we spent was priceless! We calculated we spent roughly 8 hours driving and saw 39 people over the weekend! Those are the kind of visits we love!
When we got back to Cincinnati, it was rainy and foggy, and the tops of the buildings downtown were in the fog! It looked pretty cool!
Until next time Minnesota; you've been real (and very very cold)!
