The Traveling Begins

Our trip began early this morning as we left Santa Fe in the dark, telling our dogs goodbye (they will be cared for by our friend, Bruce) and headed to Albuquerque for our flight to Minneapolis. We didn't encounter any problems checking in and going through security at the Sunport was a breeze and before we knew it boarding began and we were off to Denver (the flight was only 52 minutes) where we had an hour and a half layover. While waiting Thomas and I talked about this being our first trip where we didn't have to worry about his dad. For those who haven't heard or didn't know Thomas and I have been taking care of his dad for nine years now since Thomas' mother passed away. His dad had been declining since Christmas and we have had him on hospice since then. The hospice team was really helpful and we were very glad to have them and their support. Early on Easter morning Cliff passed away. Even though we knew that his time was limited and had been preparing ourselves it was still a shock and the past week has been a little confusing.

Minneapolis, MN

Trying to get things organized and taken care of and getting ready for this trip - which is a work trip for Thomas - has been a little crazy. We both feel that getting away will help and hopefully we will be able to get some rest and relax a little. Anyway the rest of the layover was quiet and we just read until it was time for the next part of the flight. The flight from Denver to Minneapolis was about an hour and 45 minutes - I ended up sleeping most of the way and all of a sudden we were landing. We got our bags and made our way to the rental car place and we were ready to start our trip.

The weather in Minneapolis when we arrived was cloudy with a little drizzle and the temperature was around 54°, so just a little different from Santa Fe.

Minnesota Capitol

We had made plans to visit the Capitol Building in St. Paul so we set the Garmin and headed out. It only took about 15 minutes to get there and we took a self guided tour of the building. It is a beautiful building and I wish we would have had more time to enjoy it. But the building was closing at 3:00pm and that only gave us about 50 minutes to wander around. I was glad to be able to visit and I may go back on one of the days Thomas has his conference. We left the Capitol and decided we needed something to eat. On the way to the Capitol we had passed a barbecue place and decided to give that a try. So we made our way to Famous Dave's and had some great food. We had brisket, chicken and pork with sides of fries and mac & cheese. They also have cornbread muffins which were delicious. The mac & cheese had little bits of jalapeno it and was also really good.

Great Barbecue

The meat was cooked just right and was very tender. They also had bottles of barbecue sauce on the table that you could put on the meat - sauces called Devil's Spit, Sweet and Zesty, Wilbur's Revenge XXX Hot, Rich and Sassy and Texas Pit. I tried them all but my favorites are Devil's Spit and Sweet and Sassy. We also decided to get some dessert to take back to the hotel for later - I got banana pudding and Thomas got some bread pudding. (They were both good - as we just finished eating them.) By the time we finished eating the rain was coming down harder and we decided to just head to the hotel and check in and get a little rest. We kind of have some plans for tomorrow but we will see how the weather is when we wake up. I'll be back to let you know how tomorrow goes.