Monday, 7/4, Happy Fourth of July!!!!

So we intended to leave Milwaukee at around 10AM, but that didn't materialize.  I got up early to post the last entry, since we got home at midnight on Sunday.  Everyone else got up around 8.  We packed ourselves up and took out a couple day's worth of clothing to pack separately so we wouldn't need to shlep all the bags in with us when we got to Minneapolis.

Since it was really quiet in the house (not a kid was stirring), we decided to invite ourselves over to Aunt Goldie and my father for breakfast.  Aunt Goldie was thrilled to host us (at least that's what she told US) and put out a whole nice spread for us - bagels, lox, cream cheeses, cereal, olives, cake, milk, juice.

After breakfast, I and the boys took Aunt Goldie up on her offer to browse thru Uncle Yitzchak's library and take whatever books we were interested in.  Arie found a few books and Josh found a couple of huge volumes of Judaic material (Midrash Rabbah).  I think my brother-in-law Larry and Gil-Ezer already got to the library first.

We packed lunch for the long haul to MN, thanks in large part to Aunt Goldie's generosity from her "grocery warehouse" in the basement.  She also gave us some cool kitchen gadgets - a corn-on-the-cob cobb'r and plastic tongs to use when fishing toast out of the toaster (or similar use).  We finally said our goodbyes to everyone and headed out around 12PM.  I started the drive backing out of the driveway, trying not to hit Gil-Ezer's car, but then Karen took over from there.  It was a picture perfect day, so, appropriately enough, I took a picture!

The plan was for Karen to drive until we needed to fill up with gas, which we figured would be about halfway.  (BTW, Google directions said the drive would take 6.25 hours, but the GPS figured just over 5.  GPS was correct.)  So I got to sit back and relax somewhat - even got to close my eyes for a little bit - and observed the miles and miles of corn and wheat fields, among other unidentifiable fields.  It's amazing how much is grown on these fields, and this is probably nothing compared to the fields in the "plains" states.   But we'll probably be trekking thru those as well, so I'll be able to do a better comparison.

Saw some interesting rock formation along the way:

We started off with about half a tank of gas, which would have given us about 200 miles or so before needing to refill.  Karen was getting nervous when it got down below a quarter of a tank, but I had seen a rest area sign for some 60 miles further, so I figured we had about 5 gallons left and would have plenty left to make it there.  Not sure why, but I don't like getting off the highway to fill up and then get back on.  Just seems like you waste more time than at a rest stop.  Nothing to do with cost, just some probably irrational thinking.  But also because we needed to stop for lunch, and the rest stops are much better suited for that.  So it seems like at least 60 miles have gone by and no rest stop.  We got to thinking that maybe the rest stop was on the other highway after ours split off into two earlier.  So it's down to 1/8 tank and Karen keeps saying we should stop, but I'm determined to get to a rest stop.  So I say when the light goes on, we'll get off at the next gas exit.  It kind of felt like that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer takes the Saab salesman out for a test drive and convinces him to keep going to see how far it would go on a full tank.  Kramer had gotten the salesman so psyched up about doing it, but then the car peters out on the LIE somewhere (I think) and Kramer sneaks out and runs off.  So a bit later, sure enough, the light comes on.  An exit or so later we get off and fill 'er up.  And it only fills 17+ gallons!  (The tank holds 21.  We could have made it much further!)  Karen continues to drive until the next rest stop, which was maybe just a few miles down the highway.  So we exit and take a break for lunch and some ice cream/candy.

I'm getting to know a thing or two about rest stops, and by my account, this one was a bit nicer in that it had some nice picnic areas.  A little buggy in the trees, but clean, and plenty of trash/recycling cans.

After lunch the kids got some ice cream or candy.  Josh loves Peanut M&Ms, and he was so excited when we got back to the car and I told him to empty the rest into his hand so I could throw away the wrapper, and he had exactly left one of each color!  It doesn't take much to get him excited.  :-)

So I take over the driving from there.  Karen did about 3 hours, probably the most she's ever driven in one shot, with the exception of 3 hour drives that should have only taken 1 hour without the traffic.  Smooth sailing until we got into Minneapolis, after crossing the Mississippi River.

The GPS has the traffic alerts and says, "Severe Traffic Ahead" and quickly changes the route to go thru downtown Minneapolis to bypass the highway a bit.  So we get a decent look at the skyline and the Metrodome.  The roof is still not inflated yet.  The repairs from the snow collapse are scheduled for maybe another couple of weeks.  They do tours of it, but only on Weds, Thurs, and Sat at 11AM.  So that won't work out for us as we're heading out on Wednesday early AM.

We came across this cool pedestrian bridge also.  It looks like the same design as the new one in Israel not far from the Tachaneh HaMercazit (Central Bus Station).

Continuing downtown, I start noticing some familiar buildings.  I've been there a couple of times for meetings at the Accenture office.  And lo and behold, at the next corner I see this:

It was about 6:15PM at this point, so we decide to head to the Tel Aviv Restaurant (dairy, middle eastern style).  We were originally thinking of going to the Mall of America to do the amusement park in the middle of the mall, but had a feeling it would be closing early due to the holiday.  Below are some of the dishes we ordered.

Fish and Chips

Sabra Pasta

Falafel sandwich

Eggplant Parmesan

As we were sitting waiting for our meals, in walks a woman and her young daughter.  Naama mentions that she thinks she is her friend Chaye Soroh's older sister, who lives in Minneapolis.  She recognized the young girl from when they had come to visit their family in our neighborhood, and Chaye Soroh brought her little nieces to school with her.  Naama was a little shy to go over and ask, but Karen and I go and ask if she is who we think she is.  And, sure enough, Naama was right on!!  I know a bunch of people from traveling there often for work, but what are the odds that this family would be there at the same time as us, and Naama would know them?!?!

On the way back to the hotel, I show the kids a really cool tree house that I always pass when I go to the synagogue for services when I'm there on business.  Bet you've never seen one like this.  Must be at least seven stories high!!

After we check into the hotel, we went for a refreshing swim.  Me, in the hot tub, to ease the pain in my lower back a bit.  I had tweaked it a bit last Sunday on a swing during my softball game, and then again this morning when shlepping the luggage to the car.  I think the hot tub soothed it a bit.

They are having fireworks in a park nearby tonight, but we all decided to skip it since we already had a great show last night.

Tomorrow we plan on going to the Minnesota Science Museum to see the King Tut Exhibit (which Arie wanted to do when it was in Manhattan until recently, but lucky for us the exhibit moved to St. Paul).  Afterwards we'll do the Mall of America.  The amusement park is really good.  I had done it last year with colleagues from work.