Minnesota Road Trip

On the 5th Mom, Jennifer and I left on our annual girls road trip. This year we went to Minnesota to visit with my sister Bonnie and her family. Last summer my nephew Kevin reminded me that the last time that I had been to his house was when he was a baby. He is now 13, so that started the planning.

We were on the road just a little after 8:00 am. We had to get our coffee first. We took I-94 to get to Minnesota. Our first stop was at the Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. A very scenic stop, saw a portion of the North Dakota Bad Lands. Our next fun site was the Enchanted Highway. This a the highway that runs south from Dickinson to Regent. A sculptor had erected a bunch of metal sculptures along the route. We were going to eat lunch in Regent after seeing the sculptures, but when we got there the cafe was closed. We ended up eating lunch in Bismarck, then made our way to Jamestown to the hotel. Mom and I had a nightcap in the hotel bar to salute our road trip.

Saturday morning arrived and we made our way to Minneapolis. Once we hit Valley City ran into a very heavy down pour of rain. It was hard to see, but as long as I could see the tail lights of the vehicles in front of me I was fine. I felt sorry for the motorcyclists that got caught in the storm, but was glad I wasn't in it. We got out of this storm around Fargo.

Stopped at the Minnesota visitor center and picked up brochures for Eagan and the surrounding area. We were going to stop in Fergus Falls to see the water falls, but once again got into heavy rain there. We got out of it for a bit in Alexandria where we stopped for gas and checked in with Bonnie. As soon as we left it was raining hard again, but we weren't in it for very long. Was so glad to finally get out of the rain.

We arrived at our hotel without any problems. The GPS on my phone got me around all that traffic. Our hotel was literally across the street from the Mall of America. We got checked into the hotel and then called home. Then we called Bonnie to let her know we arrived. We got to Bonnie's house to visit for a bit. Saturday was the only day where we could visit with Kevin, Sam and Ken. The guys were leaving on Sunday morning for the cabin by the lake. That would leave us girls time to do girl stuff.

We went out for dinner then back to Bonnie's for some more visiting. Got my picture taken with my nephews and I had fun making funny faces with Sam.