I only spent about two days in Minneapolis this past weekend, so I didn’t get to see much. The purpose of the trip was to see my grad school friend Yan get married. I didn’t want to use up too many vacation days so I flew in on Friday and left Sunday (the wedding was Saturday).
My Magellan GPS, bought just before the trip, performed admirably. It took a few minutes to update once I left the airport rental car garage, but once it did, I got to the hotel with no problems whatsoever. I can’t imagine traveling without one of these now. Oh, and Hertz gave me a Mustang!
I think I was the only one at the wedding who stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. I have to say, it was not bad at all. A king-size bed, couch, coffee table, free wi-fi, free breakfast, exercise room. The people staying at the Doubletree didn’t have all that and the Doubletree is a supposedly “better” hotel. Yeah, right.
There was only time to do one sightseeing destination on Saturday morning/afternoon (the wedding was in the evening). So my friend Don and I went to the Mall of America. Just to say we’d been there. There’s an amusement park in the center of the damned thing, so that’s where we made a beeline for. One log flume and two rollercoasters later, I felt a little queasy and wondered if I was getting too old for that stuff. Maybe it was just the environment shift from traveling or jet lag. Hopefully.
The wedding of Yan and Sonia was very simple and informal. Very sweet. It was in an oak grove a short hike from the park pavilion where we had the dinner afterward. Since Yan is a vegan, let’s just say the food wasn’t to my taste. But I tried to try everything. Leftovers from dinner the night before (my room had a fridge and microwave too!) helped when it was over.
My GPS dutifully got me back to the airport on Sunday. There was lots more in Minneapolis I wish I could have seen. Another time…