January 28, 2019

     We finally boarded the Delta flight to Minneapolis at 1:20 am Miami time (or 12:20 am in Minneapolis. It was still raining. We had spent over 15 hours in Miami airport!  However, the plane still needed to be fueled so it was not until 2:05 a.m. that the plane took off.

     The 3 ¼ hour flight arrived at 4:25 a.m. Minneapolis time.  Snow has been falling in Minneapolis for the past 24 hours. Over 10 centimeters has accumulated and the strong winds are blowing the snow and causing wind chills of close to -25°C.  Snow removal equipment was out plowing the aprons and runways. As we descended the snow was horizontally flying past the windows. All the planes at the gates were lightly covered with snow and planes were being de-iced before taking off.

    At the arrival gate, we waited in line for the agent to have our boarding passes printed, since it could not be done in Miami.

    The gate agent gave us all breakfast vouchers, then insisted that Larry and I join her and two plucky 80 year old passengers on the airport cart to take us to the mall where the restaurants are located which would have been a 7-minute walk from our arrival gate and was a 15-minute walk from our departure gate. Catherine was able to keep pace just behind the cart even though there was a space for her to ride. The restaurants were starting to open at 5 a.m. Breakfast was filling for us and Catherine. Scott and Mia opted to return to the gate, getting some sleeping pads en-route and were able to catch a few hours of sleep.  

    In the daylight, the snow was still falling but it did not appear to have much effect on the arrivals and departures.  The temperature at 7 a.m. was -16°C with winds of 18kph, the clouds from the snowstorm were still in the sky, but allowing patches of blue sky after sunrise. It was only a few degrees colder at home where on Sunday they received about one cm of snow which was blown by a strong wind. 

   The scheduled 8:52 a.m. flight was delayed due to the plane having left Minot, North Dakota late.  When the passengers de-planed a cold wind snuck into the departure lounge.  Since the plane could hold about 82 passengers and the jet bridge to the plane did not seal very well to the plane’s structure, it allowed the strong wind to shoot up the Jetway into the departure lounge. Finally, the plane was pushed back at 9:30 only to encounter seven planes ahead of us waiting to be de-iced before takeoffs, delaying the flight another 50 minutes. The flight was about an hour.  It has been several years since we have entered Canadian Customs after a flight here.  Since the flight only had about 70 people, we were processed quickly and found a van taxi to take all five of us home.  We walked through our door less than an hour after we had landed.  

    The total time since we exited the ship was 28 hours.

     Now to go to the grocery store to replenish our fridge.

                   Steps 10,597