Our Travel Begins…

Thursday

After months of research and preparation, the day finally arrived for our big (in fact the BIGGEST) trip we have ever done...a 23-day cruise through the Panama Canal! In recent history, all of our trips have begun with a trip to Minneapolis. The airfare is much cheaper flying from the larger airport (MSP) and it would give us a chance to see the precious grand babies!

This time, however, we were flying from the much closer (and much smaller) Sioux Falls, SD airport. Flying from FSD meant we would not have a direct flight which we prefer, but would mean a much shorter drive to get to and from the airport. We knew we would appreciate that when our return flight at the end of the trip was scheduled to land around 11:30 pm and we were going to be dead tired.

What surprised me in booking flights out of Sioux Falls was that using points we could actually get the flights cheaper than leaving from Minneapolis. Back in July we had gotten a Delta Skymiles credit card and earned 60,000 points…more than enough for the two of us for this trip. Another plus was that we were able to book through Park-Sleep-Fly and get a hotel room at the Holiday Inn in Sioux Falls for the night before our flight for about $120 that included up to 30 days of parking! Much cheaper than airport parking and the best part…the parking was in a covered parking garage…something that would prove to be a giant benefit!

Our morning was spent tying up loose ends and making sure the house was in good order before we left. The local news was full of warnings about the upcoming storm that was to hit the next day. What had begun as a winter storm watch had progressed to a BLIZZARD WARNING beginning the next evening. Forecasts were all over the place in their predictions of how much snow we would receive…anywhere from 6 inches up to 16 inches. What the weathermen all agreed on however was that there was going to be wind…and lots of it. On the prairie where we live that means a full fledged blizzard!

Here is the warning that the National Weather Service had issued for the next day…

BLIZZARD CONDITIONS EXPECTED. RAIN WILL CHANGE TO SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT, WITH BLIZZARD CONDITIONS EXPECTED BY EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. WINDS GUSTING AS HIGH AS 50 MPH WILL CAUSE WHITEOUT CONDITIONS IN BLOWING SNOW. SIGNIFICANT DRIFTING OF THE SNOW IS LIKELY. SNOWFALL RATES COULD AVERAGE 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR ON SATURDAY MORNING INTO SATURDAY AFTERNOON. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 9 TO 12 INCHES, WITH LOCALIZED AMOUNTS UP TO 15 INCHES, ARE EXPECTED. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT CONDITIONS, MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL, HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU.  IF YOU GET STRANDED, STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE. 

  

I was so thankful that we were leaving BEFORE the storm hit. I would have been a nervous wreck if our flight had been a day later. When planning this trip, I never imagined that the upper Midwest would get the biggest storm of the season in mid-April!

After checking into the hotel in the afternoon, we did a little shopping. For us, Sioux Falls is our big city shopping destination. Dinner was at Fazoli’s…a fast-food Italian restaurant that we had never been to before. The pasta was good and the unlimited bread sticks were even better. 😊

 

A new store to Sioux Falls...and one of my favorites!

We had scheduled the hotel shuttle to the airport for 4:30 am. My alarm was set for 3:30 am, but I needn’t have bothered. I was still battling the tail-end of a cold and I kept both of us up most of the night with my coughing. What a way to begin a vacation! 😏

Comfy bed...too bad we only used it for such a short time.