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Friday 04 September 2015

This will be a short edition today!

Our flight from Reykjavik to London was due to leave at 0740. They called the flight and a long queue formed but they didn't start boarding. Then they announced it was the final call and still we didn't board. There was no announcement to tell us about delays. I do wish airlines would keep passengers informed better. The same thing happened in Minneapolis last night.

We e decided that we would travel Icelandair again, but would check the price difference with full service airlines. It is a bit of a pain buying food to take on the aircraft, particularly when space is limited. Reykjavik airport in undergoing a major upgrade too. It really needs it if the airline is to cash in on cheap flights and stopovers. Currently, it doesn't have many ramps, this means the aircraft parking on a stand and passengers having to travel by coach to and from the aircraft and also having to negotiate the steps up to the aircraft too.

We were about 15 minutes late off the gate and took off about 1600. Once airborne we quickly climbed through cloud so there were no views of Iceland. The flight was about two and a half hours long, but we ended up in a holding pattern over Heathrow.

It was busy at immigration and it took a while for our bags to appear, but all four made it. Our meet and greet driver was with us within 15 minutes and we headed out of Heathrow to a hotel in Wembley to relax.

That's it, holiday ended and another blog comes to a close. Thanks for coming along for the ride by reading the blog!

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Leaving Minneapolis

Thursday 3rd September 2015

Only one thing on the plan today, catch a flight out of Minneapolis!

After a relatively slow start, we had breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast room at the Comfort Inn is co-located with the swimming pool and makes it feel a bit like a terrace. The TV was on loudly in the corner, which to me doesn't make for a relaxing meal.

After breakfast, we headed to the Twin Cities Premium Outlet Center in Eagan about 5 miles away. It was to be our final retail therapy in the USA. We managed to find some clothes to buy that we 'needed'! We also stopped for a snack lunch. We already knew we needed an extra bag, so having left the Outlet Center, we drove to a nearby Walmart and bought a bag. That was the only thing we bought!

Back at the hotel, we did our final packing, changed into travelling clothes, loaded the car and checked out of the hotel. As it was only two-o-clock, we had a couple of hours to kill, so we sat in the air conditioned lobby of the hotel and read. The weather, which had started out misty and humid had turned into another beautiful hot day.

At around three forty-five, we drove the 5 minutes to the airport, topping up the fuel tank en route. The rental car company (National), were happy with the car and we were quickly on our way into the airport. It wasn't too long a walk, but we were rather laden down with bags! American airports seem to charge for baggage trolleys too!

Having dropped our bags off, we went through security quite quickly and settled down to wait for our flight. We were in Terminal two at Minneapolis St Paul (MSP) airport, the smaller of the two terminals, so there aren't many food outlets or shops here. We did have a snack and bought a few snacks for the flight as we don't think we will get fed. The flight is due to leave at 1930 and arrive in Iceland at 0630, both times are local. I think it is six hour flight by my calculations.

The incoming aircraft arrived at 1810, and now we are waiting fir it to be cleaned, refuelled, re-provisioned and then we are due to board at 1850.

We've been airborne for 5 hours and we have about 35 minutes to go. There is some signs of daylight on the horizon now too. The temperature in the cabin has been way too warm, so warm in fact that the lady sitting between Lynn and I got up about an hour ago to head to the toilet and promptly fainted. Lynn managed to catch her head before she hit the floor. The crew rushed out and administered oxygen, gave her water and cool towels which sorted her out. We thought the crew might turn the temperature down, but they haven't. Usually, on night flights people are wrapped in blankets, shorts and t-shirts would be more appropriate tonight.

0630 and we are at Reykjavik again, we've gone full circle!

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Wisconsin - briefly!

The beach at Hudson, Wisconsin on the St Croix River

 

View from Pier 5 Restaurant, Hudson, Wisconsin

 

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Hobby Lobby and Lunch in Wisconsin

Wednesday 2nd September 2015

The hotel room proved be quiet and comfortable although the armchair had a large rip in it and part of the sink plug mechanism was lying on the floor! I reported both to the front desk and hope both issues will be sorted by the time we get back. Today is apparently International Craft Shopping Day. It must be as we are scheduled to visit Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Jo-Anne's and Walmart. I could be spending some time in coffee shops today I can see!

We had a late start today as we weren't in any hurry, well I wasn't anyway! We left the hotel at around ten having asked for our room to be sorted out. We rejoined the I-494 East and headed for Minneapolis's twin city of St Paul's. They are almost joined at the hip and only separated by the Mississippi River. It was a busy urban freeway with lots of exits and lots of traffic. At the end of the I-494, we joined the I-94 East for a couple of miles before turning off for Hobby Lobby. This is heaven for Lynn!

I left her here and drove around to find a route to the nearby Michaels, another craft shop. I then returned to Hobby Lobby after half an hour as requested to find that a further 45 minutes was needed! I found Caribou Coffee across the parking lot and enjoyed a drink and the free wifi for a while.

When I returned to Hobby Lobby, Lynn had finished stripping the store of their goods and the credit card got rather nervous! Lynn had bought some nice material and several craft items, apparently at bargain prices compared to UK. The best news was that it had been such a good experience that the visits to both Michaels and Jo-Anne's had been cancelled!

As it was lunchtime, we set of to find a nice lunch spot. It's difficult sometimes to find somewhere peaceful in a huge city and back on the I-94, we 'accidentally' crossed the St Croix River into the State of Wisconsin. We turned off straight away, but couldn't help going into the town of Hudson. As if you haven't guessed knowing my enjoyment at visiting new States, this was a new State to us and the 10th visited on this trip.

We found a nice riverside restaurant, Pier 5 Riverside Dining, and sat on the terrace. Lynn had Caesar Salad, I had Chicken and Wild Rice Soup and half a Smoked Turkey sandwich. It was half a sandwich, not half a turkey just to clarify things. It was a very pleasant lunch. I hadn't imagined we would manage to visit Wisconsin - much!

Back in Minnesota, we headed for another branch of Walmart where I dropped Lynn. I continued on to a branch of a shop called Cabelas. This is an outdoor shop. In this one store it is possible to buy anything from a large speedboat, through a garden tractor complete with JCB-type bucket digger, to anything an angler could ever want or need. It's also a hunters shop, so almost any kind of rifle or crossbow along with shelves of ammunition as on sale here. At least half the huge store is taken up with camouflage clothing and equipment. They also sell hiking kit including trainers and sandals. I managed to replace my Merrills sandals for $65 and got a new leather belt for $25 dollars. I asked for Military Discount and got 5% off too.

By now, Lynn had progressed from Walmart to Hancock's Material Shop. I drove there and went to rescue her from fabric heaven. Oddly, she didn't seem to want to be rescued.

Back on the I-94, we headed west to junction of the I-494 and turned back south towards our hotel. We had one last treat in store today, a laundrette! We found one by looking on the iPad it was W 90th St. While the laundry was washing, I filled the car with fuel, it cost $33 for over 14 U.S. Gallons of unleaded petrol. By my calculations, that is 55 litres of petrol for £22.00, by my reckoning that's 40p per litre! Now, I'm sitting watching the clothes go round in the tumbler drier as I type.

Back at the hotel, we emptied the car of all our purchases and relaxed for a while before venturing to the Outback restaurant attached to the hotel. Outback is a chain restaurant with an Australian theme, the food is good and the beer cold as you'd expect. We both had a full rack of back ribs as it is our final night in the USA. Thoroughly stuffed, or should it be replete, we came back to the room to do a bit of packing and see if we needed another bag from Walmart!

So, in the past 26 days, we've visited two countries (Iceland, USA), 10 States (Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin) and 5 National Parks (Cascades, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Badlands), plus a National Monument (Mt Rushmore). We've stayed in 12 Hotels and driven 3689 miles.

It's certainly been an amazing trip!

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Over the Border

South Dakota/Iowa State line

Iowa/Minnesota State line

 

 

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Three States

Tuesday 01 September 2015

Our room in Sioux Falls was surprisingly quiet considering it was in the middle of the city, we could hear traffic noise and the distant hooting of a train, but nothing to disturb a good nights sleep. Our plan for the day, simply put, was to drive to Minnespolis.

There was no complimentary breakfast at the Holiday Inn, so after a slow start, we set out east on the route 42. We stopped within a couple of miles at a Denny's we just happened upon. We've been joking about having breakfast at Denny's for most of the trip, but because we've had so many complimentary breakfasts, haven't stopped at one. To be truthful we haven't seen many since Seattle.

They have a new 'healthy' menu and their signature breakfast offering of the 'Grand Slam' meal is quite well hidden. I found it. It consists of two very thin rashers of streaky bacon, two minuscule (smaller than chipolatas) sausages, two eggs (sunny-side up, over easy, scrambled or omelette) and two buttermilk pancakes. This apparently adds up to 840 calories, always assuming you don't smother your pancakes with maple syrup. Oh, and as much coffee as you can consume without leaking. I can confirm it was delicious and removed the need to find lunch later.

Lynn, on the other hand, decided that she should try the healthy option rather appropriately called, 'The a Invisible Woman Breakfast'. I almost wet myself when it arrived! The first plate had bacon, a hash brown and two eggs over easy. The second plate had two buttermilk pancakes covered in strawberries and bananas. It looked huge compared to my breakfast. I have the pictures to prove it, even Lynn was laughing!

Following this gastronomic orgy, we waddled out of Denny's and got in the car to head for Minnespolis. Our route, and I confess this was my suggestion, took us east on route 42 until it crossed into Iowa, another new state for us. After a quick stop for the now obligatory photo, we continued East on what had become the route 9. This took us through mainly dairy and cereal farms in rolling countryside through Larchwood to the small town of Rock Rapids. Here we turned north up route 75 towards Luverne. Nine miles later, we crossed into the State of Minnesota, our fourth new State of the trip. I usually reckon I've not visited a state unless I've had a beer there, but I'll have to make an exception for Iowa. Beer at 1030 whilst driving didn't seem appropriate.

Once at Luverne, we joined 'Old Faithful' the I-90 yet again. We had decided that we'd do Interstate the rest of the way as there wasn't much to see. We didn't even have a map of Minnesota (and still don't) so relied on going on the I-90 and the I-35 all the way. This cost us about 40 miles as we should have cut across country on the mainly 4-lane highway, the route 60. Take note should you ever pass this way!

The I-90 was pretty dull to be honest. We stopped briefly at Blue Earth ( really this a place name) for a comfort break before we met the I-35 at Albert Lea, another good place name. Here we turned North towards Minnespolis and left the I-90 for the last time. The remainder of the journey was uneventful. We did encounter several sets of raid work on both Interstates. Each involved long stretches of driving in one lane on the opposite carriageway. Due to the lack of cross-over points, these sections of road works were often 10 - 15 miles long. Even though this was a 'contra flow' with no barriers between traffic lanes, the speed limit is still 60mph for all traffic. It seems to work well too.

By 1630, we'd managed to find our hotel, the Comfort Inn, next the the I-494 and Minnespolis/St Paul's International airport. We are booked in for two nights. The hotel is comfortable, if a bit shabby, and we have a ground floor room. The hotel has an Outback restaurant attached to it. It also has a swimming pool and complimentary breakfast.

Having emptied the car into our room. We took a trip to the local Walmart. Does this have a familiar sound to it? Sadly for Lynn, there was no 'material' section, so it was a very quick visit. Having failed here, we decided to go the Mall of the Americas, a huge indoor mall, like Meadowhall, only far bigger. So much bigger, in fact, it had a full sized indoor theme park in the middle! There are at least three rollercoasters, a log flume and several other large, rather scary rides there.

We didn't buy anything or go on any rides, but did watch the splash down part of the log flume for a while. Having exhausted this pastime, we plucked up courage and went for dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp House. We ate shrimps just because you should. Now we have to plan how to find several craft shops, the premium outlet centre and a Cabelas outdoor shop for tomorrow.

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