The Journey Begins

 Monday, February 17, 2025

The day was finally here. It was time to leave home to begin our winter get-away. And based on the weather forecast, we were lucky to be leaving Minnesota! We were under an extreme cold weather warning and when I woke up, the temperature was -13º F with a windchill of -35º F! The thermostat in the house was only set on 64º (I like it cool), but the furnace was running nearly continuously.

Bob decided he would stick to his normal routine and play pickleball this morning. I chose to skip my Aquanastics water aerobic class (or "Awkwardnastics as my kids call it!) The thought of getting into a swimming pool on this frigid morning just didn't excite me and I still had too much to do at home before we left.

I did some last-minute packing and then gave my neighbor a call when I remembered the "King Cake fiasco" that happened last year when we were away. (If you aren't familiar with the incident and our favorite rodent, Rocky, take a look at this post.) Let's just say Rocky and his friends had a party without us last year. I told my neighbor that if she saw a package on our front porch to grab it and enjoy the cake inside.

And speaking of Rocky, with the cold weather, we made sure to give him a few extra treats when he came to the door. We explained to Rocky that we were going to be gone for a little while but that we would be back in three weeks. I'm sure he understood every word. 😉

Rocky enjoying some fruit and nuts.

Rocky's friend also stopped by.

I checked in for the early morning flight that we would be on tomorrow. This past summer, Bob applied and was interviewed for Global Entry when he flew home from a mission trip to Peru and that also qualified him for TSA Precheck. Since I don't have pre-check I was Googling things like "is mascara considered a liquid?" to make sure I didn't get into trouble.

I got sidetracked in my packing when I started reading a Facebook post about ways to deal with norovirus. The post had over 200 comments and I read each and every one. Last year I worried about Covid, which really didn't do much good anyway since I caught it at the end of our Alaska cruise. This year Covid will seem easy compared to what I'm reading about the norovirus that is spreading through cruise ships. One suggestion was to take a probiotic so I dug out a box that I had in the cupboard and took my first dose. I also read that meclazine (motion sickness med) might help with nausea and I already had that packed in my "pharmacy bag" along with Imodium (for the other end of the symptoms!) Otherwise the only precaution that works to prevent the virus is just wash your hands. Wash, wash, wash. I was surprised to read that the Eurodam does not have handwashing stations at the buffet which makes it hard to wash before eating. There are public restrooms nearby but using those goes against all of the advice that says to avoid the public restrooms!

I have a long to-do list on my iPad that I go through each time we take a trip. Some of the things get done two or three weeks in advance. Others are the very last-minute things we do before we walk out the door. Once I was satisfied everything on the list had been checked off we ate an early lunch and took off for our son's house in the Minneapolis area. Bob was a little concerned because the car was struggling to start in the cold weather but it finally did.

Fortunately, our trip was uneventful. There was snow on the ground the whole distance, but not really that much. The sun was shining and it was easy to be deceived into thinking it was a pleasant day until we stopped for gas. We nearly froze!

On the drive, I was looking on social media and saw that there had been a plane that flipped upside down in Toronto when it landed. It was a little disconcerting because it was a Delta flight that had originated in Minneapolis...just like we were scheduled to be on tomorrow. Surprisingly there were no fatalities and it was amazing that everyone was able to get out of the plane quickly.

It was President's Day so the grandkids had the day off from school and were home when we arrived at their house. We caught up with some of the things they had been doing and just enjoyed being with them. Our daughter-in-law had made chicken and wild rice soup for dinner which tasted especially yummy on the cold day. There was talk of going into their sauna, but it never happened. Our son built an outdoor wood-fired sauna this winter and they have enjoyed using it on cold days.

Bedtime came early for all of us. Our flight was to depart at 7:45 am in the morning which meant I wanted to be at the airport no later than 5:45. The drive from our son's house takes nearly an hour which meant the alarm was set super early!