Minnesota Trip
We got back yesterday from our Minnesota trip. We flew out a week ago Wednesday for cousin Kara?s wedding to Anand. Kara is a manager for the Gap and Anand is a pilot, both live in Duluth, about a 3 hour drive north of the Twin Cities.
We had an uneventful flight out last...
We had an uneventful flight out last Wednesday with the kids. We were a little anxious since Ethan hadn?t flow yet but it all turned out fine. Emily was good and Ethan behaved. Like with Emily?s first flight. Northwest gave us a certificate signed by the pilot, first officer and head flight attendant indicating it was his first flight. One of the flight attendants even took him for a while and walked up and down the plane. All the ladies like Ethan because he is cute and well behaved, just like me.
We drove up and spent the first two nights at Kara and Anand?s house. They live in a nice bungalow/cottage type home build in the 1920s. Duluth is a cool city on Lake Superior and has a lot of historical charm that makes up a manufacturing town. The first night Patti?s Aunt Carolyn and her daughters came over for dinner.
On Thursday we drove out to Tamarack, about 45 minutes away from Duluth and REALLY in the country, to spend time with Patti?s grandfather and Patti?s parents and brother and his girlfriend who came out earlier in the week for the wedding. They were staying at Patti?s grandfather?s place.
Friday night the wedding couple had a dinner for both family?s that included a traditional Hindu ceremony. Anand is Canadian and ethnically is Indian. The wedding on Saturday was going to be Christian based so they wanted to include something from their Hindu background. It was pretty fascinating watching the tradition Hindu stuff they did.
Friday and Saturday we stayed at a hotel near the wedding reception and where all of the other guests were staying. It had a pool so Emily got to swim a lot and Patti?s teenage cousins very generously played with Emily.
The wedding itself was a great time. In general, weddings are fun but this was particularly special because 1) we are close with Kara and her immediate family, 2) Patti?s extended family is a lot of fun, 3) there was a large group of Indian guests and the DJ played Indian music, and 4) because Emily was in the wedding party and behaved herself. And after a while I realized they had free tap beer.
Sunday and Monday we spent mostly at Patti?s grandfather?s place and got to spend some more time with Kara and Anand before they went on their honeymoon.
The entire trip was great because Patti?s family is wonderful. They typify Midwestern niceness and are very honest, down-to-earth and kind people. They treated Emily and Ethan like they were their own kids and did whatever they could to make Patti and I feel comfortable. We ended up staying in 4 places during the trip, had to meet schedules and were pretty tired at the end, but can?t wait to do it again.
Tuesday morning our trip was over and we were supposed to return to Boston, but that was when things turned to bad. Really bad. I am going to write a special post on the ?events? of traveling back to Boston, that ended up taking from 9AM Tuesday until 1PM Wednesday, but let me leave it with this:
Northwest Airlines should change whatever useless advertising slogan they currently have to ?You?re on your own!?
Stay tuned for my Northwest Airline post, it?s gunna be a good one. I have a new enemy and their initials are NWA.
PS. Stay tuned for pictures from the trip.