Minnesota Misadventures

From my MN trip, I got home safely, and late, rolling in after midnight CA time. My wife and son came to pick me up at the airport, a great sacrifice on their part, as they had to rise early to go to work and school respectively.

My brother, Dave, and I had some misadventures on our way to the airport. First, we took 494 to get to 394, but the transition from the 494 to the 394 was closed. So we got lost for a while down in Hopkins. We tried to take Minnetonka Blvd east, but at some point, it was closed. We backtracked to MN 5, and found lots of traffic. We finally wound up near our parents' first house in Hopkins, and drove by. It looked a lot smaller than I remembered it. We then found our way to Dinkytown, by the University of Minnesota. After buying some assorted gifts for the family at Gold Country, our stomachs rumbling, we turned the corner to find Vescio's CLOSED! Closed on Mondays. Argh! We had been planning on dining at Vescio's for weeks. We ate there as kids, a nice Italian place. I had my first pizza there. Their pizzas were square. When I encountered my first round pizza later in life, I thought something was wrong with it! In spite of Vescio's having its own web site, I guess we never checked on the hours. Doh!

We then drove towards the airport, looking for a place to eat. Wound up eating french toast at IHOP. I told Dave the story of my son's friend, Myles. On a drive to Long Beach to see the Ice Dogs play, we passed an IHOP on the 710. As we passed, Myles exclaimed, "Ooh! I love IHOP. They have great pancakes. Do you know why their pancakes are so good?"

"No, Myles, why are IHOP pancakes so good?"

"Because they mmmmmmmmake 'em!"

"OK"

Then we looked for a gas station to fill the rental car. Driving around for about 30 minutes, we found nothing. And with time running out for Dave to check in, we just returned the car and paid their hefty inflated gas prices.


Once in the airport, and checked in, my name was called on the PA. "Would a Mr. James Stochl please report to customer service at Gate 3?" I thought, "Uh, oh. I have been bumped." Sure enough, I got to the gate and was apologetically told my seat had been taken by another person. How could this happen? I had visions of staying overnight at Lindberg until the next plane to LA arrived. Instead, they gave me a seat in first class! This is the third time I have flown in a first class seat in the last six weeks! I could get used to it.

I flew home on a Boeing 757, a very nice plane. Of course, I suppose all planes are pretty nice in first class! The interesting thing is that in the 757, the door to the plane is between the first class and the coach class. The first class cabin is ahead of the door, while the coach class is aft of the door.

On the way home, we flew over some thunderstorms. It was a little bumpy. But the views were spectacular. Watching lightning flash under the clouds from 35,000 feet is incredible. All over the sky below us, we could see flashes of lightning. I did not take any pictures, but this is a picture of lightning. Imagine the clouds being lit up from the inside, or actually the underside, like in this picture. Not picture this happening as far as the eye can see from 35,000 feet. It was beautiful! Awesome! I am very glad the weather had cleared in Los Angeles so we would not have to land in a lightning storm.