January Review

While January started innocently, it turned into a fairly eventful month. Welcome two thousand ten (or as some of you prefer, twenty-ten). New Years eve was uneventful (we really are this old) when Cheryl fell asleep before Molly. Admittedly, I was asleep before midnight as well.

The excitement didn't really start until the 8th. Molly and I had scheduled a trip to Denver in an attempt to create an annual tradition of taking the train to visit Granma and Bumpa. Unfortunately, the weather (lots-o-snow) conspired to delay our trip. The train to Denver was canceled for three days. We were not able to get out of Osceola until the 12th, but fortunately, we were still able to take the sleeping car.

For Molly and I, the roomette was perfect. I took the top bunk while Molly slept below. It was just enough room for the two of us and we had an electrical outlet so we could watch videos (the Phineas and Ferb episode about bubbles...for your PaF fans...you know who you are) before falling asleep. The next morning we had breakfast in the dining car before arriving in Denver.

As you may have known, Molly was not a big fan of dogs. Maybe it was a result of my own personal issues (sure, Sharkie was a nice dog and Benji didn't mean to corner me in the garage), but Molly has shown a little fear (healthy) around dogs. However, a week around Brownie and Nikki (sp?) and she is a changed girl. By the fourth day, she had the audacity to ask me whether we could get a dog of our own!!!????!!!!

The visit with Granma and Bumpa was a ton of fun. They seemed to appreciate Molly's running commentary coupled with interpretive dance, while Auntie Jeanne indulged her with fancy dresses and dance clothing. We went swimming in Highlands Ranch's best watering holes and watched Mac and Jacob play basketball.

The trip was capped off with a visit to the Denver Museum of Natural History and Science and lunch at Casa Bonita. Surprisingly Mac and Jacob had never been to Casa Bonita. When things were all said and done, all three of them wanted to have there birthday there. Molly would even agree to the limit of only bringing three friends.

After returning from Denver, we turned around the next weekend and drove up to St. Paul on Saturday to experience their Winter Carnival. Despite the rain we made the drive up Saturday, January 23rd. We just missed the opening parade, but we spent the afternoon at the Minnesota Museum of History, dinner at a Japanese noodle house, and the remainder of the evening listening to the rowdy hockey fans who were sharing our hotel.

Sunday morning we hoped to find a nice place for brunch, but after wandering the St. Paul skywalk system we willing settled for a Crown Plaza buffet. Full of waffles we headed for the Minnesota State Fair Grounds to attend the snow sculpture contest and wander the Vulcan maze. Despite the light drizzle the sculptures were amazing and the snow maze was fun...twice. The highlight, however, was a giant pile of snow. Molly was marked by a Vulcan and received a frosty kiss from the North Wind Princess. Back to downtown St. Paul we viewed the ice carving (not doing so well in the drizzle) and did some ice skating at an open air rink. A driving nap of St. Paul promptly ensued.

The next day started innocently enough with a coating of fresh snow across St. Paul. We had a quick breakfast at Mickey's Diner and made a beeline to Ikea. Stocked with meatballs and lingonberry sauce we headed home...into a blizzard.

By Austin we were hitting patches of white-out and the roads were starting to become snow covered in spots. We had a clue things were getting bad when we noticed I-90 West was closed. As we crossed into Iowa we decided to stop at the Iowa Welcome Center to check road conditions. However, as we drove past the on-ramp we realized it was closed. After

being informed by the nice janitor at the Welcome Center that all road south were closed, we headed for the Country Inn/Diamond Jo's Casino conveniently located next to the Iowa Welcome Center. Cheryl's persistence got us a nice room and Molly was introduced to casino life. Enthralled by the slots and keno machines, at one point during dinner in the casino buffet she suggested that one of us should go try to win some money. However, her keen eye for martini glasses was rewarded by little custard desserts brought out special for her.

The next morning we were able to make the drive back to Des Moines. The usually two hour trip took over four hours. But after passing the scene of a 48 car pile up from the day before, we were happy to have extended our trip by a day.