Every trip is destined to have some drama (or trauma) at some point ... ours occurred on Friday! Let me explain ...
... we are a band of middle aged women who live in a very remote corner of the planet, a small town without stoplights ... we are from a very isolated (can only get there by air or by sea) community! We had no business (obviously it was ignorance) driving an oversized vehicle in downtown St. Paul with only mapquest as our guide! We attempted this DURING RUSH HOUR ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON! Of course there was TRAUMA DRAMA! Especially for the driver...ME! We finally arrived, after navigating through construction zones that mapquest was unaware of! ;-)
We were scheduled to take a dinner cruise on the Mississippi that evening ... after arriving a new challenge presented itself ... the hotel had no parking available for oversized vehicles! YIKES!!! We dropped Terry, Barb and Julie off at the hotel to check in while Lila and I searched for a parking garage that would take our vehicle. It was very stressful ... we thought we were going to miss the cruise!
With only minutes to spare (Lila and I still had not checked in to the hotel) we grabbed a cab to take us to the launch site, which was visible from the hotel. Our cab driver didn't know how to get us there, so he took us across the river and dropped us off ... we had to walk fast across a large park area but arrived in time! We were hot ... sweaty ... tired ... and I was completely stressed out!
But "old man river" worked his magic, and once we were on board ... all the stress left!
We were all surprised at how natural the shoreline along the river was ... it didn't feel like we were in a metro area!
It was a beautiful cruise ... great food ... just what we needed!
The QBees with the St. Paul skyline behind them! What a great way to end the day!
This was the view from the hotel room. Can you see the boat we took the night before? Too bad the cab driver couldn't! ;-) At least we were laughing about it the next day!
Saturday morning we had breakfast at this St. Paul landmark ... Mickey's Diner!
It has been featured on numerous television shows, including Mr. DillyDally's favorite ... Diners, Drive Ins and Dives!
The food, service and atmosphere was a wonderful way to end our time in the big city!
Getting here almost did me in ... ;-) ... but once here we enjoyed every minute! The trauma had passed and has become quite the "story"! Yep ... reliving the drama leaves us in giggles ... even I can laugh about it now!
Neal, the gentleman in the photo, did so much to make our experience here at the hotel memorable. He really went out of his way to help us out! The people who enter our lives, even briefly, can have such an impact ... he truly was an angel in disguise ... an unexpected blessing! I love my dillydally life and the people who, however briefly, enter there!
No comments:
Post a Comment