Minneapolis Trip

This past weekend I went to visit my best and longest friend ever in my life : Diane Rucker (nee Mulso). She moved away to follow job perspectives for both her and her husband, Derek. She has two beautiful girls, 4 1/2 year old Sabrina and 2 1/2 year old Fiona. We scheduled a NO KIDS weekend and she booked a hotel. Since last year she came out here, this year I went out there - sounds like an annual thing, doesn't it? I sure hope so! We stayed at the Grand Hotel Minneapolis (www.grandhotelminneapolis.com ). We did wonderful girl type things like shopping for clothes when we could TRY THEM ON, and spending time at the spa. We ate at grown up restaurants that do not even have high chairs or kid's menus (www.fhimas.com ). We carried ridiculously small pockets and left pacifiers out of them (I did, however, sit on a barbie toothbrush in Diane's Camero). We had the most incredible time ever and loved every minute. I missed Emma and Mary a lot, and I was glad to get home, too. But I want to talk about the airports.

I have been in quite a few airports in my time: JFK, Barcelona, Florida, Mexico, Minneapolis, Istanbul, London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Amsterdam, Denver, California(can't remember which one we flew in to - around Santa Cruz), and, of course, Detroit. I know some people who won't fly - some for the airplane and others for the airport. I happen to love airports. I love seeing the different people coming and going: the ones running to catch flights, or just walking fast with a little skip to seem as though they are not running, the flight crews who are determined and sometimes resigned, the arrivals that calmly stand on the moving walkways and try to adjust to the new place, the families with kids and too many toys, the business man with laptops that almost always come out of the brief case, the vacationers returning home that have too much stuff in their carry on and try to stuff it through the x-ray machine when it doesn't actually fit, and every one else in between. I love the fact that you can shop for just about anything - need flowers? Got 'em. Need diamond rings? Got 'em. Need Advil? That, too. How about a mug that displays the city you are in? Yep. You can also eat pretty much anything: from Taco Bell and the requisite Cinnabon, to sit down "Mediterranean Fare" restaurants. E-check in has made it wonderfully easy - you print out your own boarding pass and just go straight to security without having to stand in more lines then you need. I love the microcosm of society that coalesces within those doors.

That being said, I hardly had time to watch anybody at the airports. I was dropped off and picked up (a true luxury, I say) without any extra time to wander or watch. The trip was a joy, from the airport all the way back to the same one. It was great to get home and see Mary, who had contracted a nasty head cold and gave Jim grief all weekend. She cried with relief when she saw me, and then complained for a while. I can only imagine she was telling me all about her cold and the weekend. Emma stayed at my parent's house so I picked her up on Monday. She greeted me with 3 word sentences that started with her trip to my Mom's on Friday (bye-bye, Mum's bluuuuuuuue car). Jim promptly got Mary's cold and has been miserable all week long with a fever and bad congestion. It is good to be home.