Well, well, summer was finally upon us in July 2010. Suddenly the cold city had converted itself into a bustling and blazing city full of outdoor activities. It was amazing to see the transformation and for us, this was a totally new experience. Temperatures soared to nearly 110 F and in the sweltering heat we wondered if indeed this was the city that only a month ago flt like an ice box!!
July 4th was a long weekend and we headed out with AJ's friends Ani and Madhu on a trip to Chicago! They were a newly married couple who had justcome into Minneapolis and so it was a lot of fun as we regaled our experiences to them! The driv was peaceful and we reached Chicago with a couple of 'Starbucks pitstops', the car was refulled and so were we ;-)
We had booked urselves into Sheraton near O'Hare Airport and used the metro from airport for all our travel needs within Chicago. Our first destination was the Millenium Park, after a bunch of quintessential Chicago pics near 'The Bean' we walked to the hudson river and all around the area. In the vening we headed to Willis Tower and went up for the view from the skydeck. It was overhyped in my opinion and nothing much to brag about..the long lines were tedious and the crowds overwhelming even for an indian.. almost reminiscent of a trip to Tirupati! ;-)
By the time we got out it was already too late for a restaurant dinner, so we stopped by a Subway and headed back to the hotel. The Shraton gave us evry nice rooms with verandahs and all in all proved to be a good stay. The next day we headed to the popular Indian destination Devon Street. After filling ourselves up with some yummy South Indian food at Mysore Woodlands we headed to the Arboretum and thereafter to Downtown again for the fireworks. The fireworks was disappointing, it lasted only 15 mins and we had waited nearly 2 hours for that in the fear of losing our prime watch spots!! Meanwhile we had also caught up with a bunch of my colleagues- Arijit, his wife Sampurna, Adhi and his wife Bhavani. So the 8 of us headed back to the hotel a tad disappoionted with the fanfare.So ended our first long driving trip in Minneapolis. The rest of July was pretty uneventful excepting some troubled times at work for me!
August arrived ans we were looking fwd to the 21st, our parents were coming in on that day. We picked them up at the airport, they had some luggage issues, our 'Mixie' and dad's luggage was coming in a day late. My father in law had left his wallet at the security check in O'Hare!! It took us a couple of days to get all these resolved and finally they were 'settling in'. AJ was really looking fwd to his mom's cooking and to be honest, so was I! We were simply bored of our own cooking!! Everyday we'd come back from office and tak them out somewhere, so we visited the Eagan Towncenter, library, community center etc. Summer fests were on everywhere so there was load to see and do. That apart we took them to the Minnesota Hindu Temple in Maplegrove and the Mall of America for an initial outing. They loved all of it! As expected they were thrilled with the lack of noise and pollution for the first week or so afterward things changed to 'boring' very soon. I did manage to work from home atleast once a week to help reduce the boredom. Their biggest struggle was the lack of a newspaper without which the day was kinda incomplete for them.
Over the weekend the Duluth Airshow was on, so we drove them there and spent a whole day watching the aircrafts on display. The finale with the Blue Angels was very awe inspiring and we could hear them gasp as the 2 angels just averted each other in what was otherwise surely a head on collision. <low whistle> Neat trick that! :-)
By end of August we took a day off and drove them to Chicago again, this time taking them to Hancock Observatory tower, Gaylord Restaurant and the Millenium Park. Mom in law loved shopping for corals at Devon Street, all in all they loved Chicago. It was more like the USA they'd seen on TV :-) We did a mistake by trying to take them by Greyhound bus, it proved to be a pathetic choice, so we rented a car on the way back and all was well once again.
September saw some cooler weather, we took a coouple of days off and flew our parents to Washington DC. After a delayed inward flight we had barely a couple of days to see DC, but parents loved the Capitol, Washington Monument and all the memorials. We saw the White House from a distance and had food at Bombay Club- a quaint Indian restaurant near downtown. The Museums were not of much interest to our parents, they felt it was more appropriate for kids and we agreed! :-)
From here we rented a camry and headed to Niagara Falls, it was one crazy drive there as we wanted to show them the night view of the Falls all lit up! We made it on time and our parents truly loved it. Next day a 'day view' of the falls ensured they'd seen the best of the Falls. The maid of the Mist trip was amazing excpeting the fact that I lost my fav silver bracelet while on the boat! :-( That apart this was proving to be a great trip with our folks!!
From here we headed to New York city where we spent a couple of days showing them the Empire State Building, Times Square, Statue of Liberty and Union Station. They loved New York too and felt it was closest to how things were back in India. We also met up with a couple of relatives who were living here and the trip ended on a high as we made a mad dash to reach DC airport only to see the flight take off literally in front of our eyes!! For our parents that was a traumatic incident!! We however saved the day by getting into another flight from a nearby airport. Back in minneapoli th enest day a gloom set upon all of us..... our parents trip was coming to an end.... almost before we realized it we were back in the airport bidding them farewell..both AJ and I had tears in our eyes by the time we were back home. Home felt soooooo empty that day!!
The end of their trip was also the end of another season in Minneapolis for us.... by this time we were very homesick and felt the need to be back in India. Meanwhile I was expecting my sister over in a weeks time and for now that was the silver lining in the cloud.
July 4th was a long weekend and we headed out with AJ's friends Ani and Madhu on a trip to Chicago! They were a newly married couple who had justcome into Minneapolis and so it was a lot of fun as we regaled our experiences to them! The driv was peaceful and we reached Chicago with a couple of 'Starbucks pitstops', the car was refulled and so were we ;-)
We had booked urselves into Sheraton near O'Hare Airport and used the metro from airport for all our travel needs within Chicago. Our first destination was the Millenium Park, after a bunch of quintessential Chicago pics near 'The Bean' we walked to the hudson river and all around the area. In the vening we headed to Willis Tower and went up for the view from the skydeck. It was overhyped in my opinion and nothing much to brag about..the long lines were tedious and the crowds overwhelming even for an indian.. almost reminiscent of a trip to Tirupati! ;-)
By the time we got out it was already too late for a restaurant dinner, so we stopped by a Subway and headed back to the hotel. The Shraton gave us evry nice rooms with verandahs and all in all proved to be a good stay. The next day we headed to the popular Indian destination Devon Street. After filling ourselves up with some yummy South Indian food at Mysore Woodlands we headed to the Arboretum and thereafter to Downtown again for the fireworks. The fireworks was disappointing, it lasted only 15 mins and we had waited nearly 2 hours for that in the fear of losing our prime watch spots!! Meanwhile we had also caught up with a bunch of my colleagues- Arijit, his wife Sampurna, Adhi and his wife Bhavani. So the 8 of us headed back to the hotel a tad disappoionted with the fanfare.So ended our first long driving trip in Minneapolis. The rest of July was pretty uneventful excepting some troubled times at work for me!
Over the weekend the Duluth Airshow was on, so we drove them there and spent a whole day watching the aircrafts on display. The finale with the Blue Angels was very awe inspiring and we could hear them gasp as the 2 angels just averted each other in what was otherwise surely a head on collision. <low whistle> Neat trick that! :-)
By end of August we took a day off and drove them to Chicago again, this time taking them to Hancock Observatory tower, Gaylord Restaurant and the Millenium Park. Mom in law loved shopping for corals at Devon Street, all in all they loved Chicago. It was more like the USA they'd seen on TV :-) We did a mistake by trying to take them by Greyhound bus, it proved to be a pathetic choice, so we rented a car on the way back and all was well once again.
September saw some cooler weather, we took a coouple of days off and flew our parents to Washington DC. After a delayed inward flight we had barely a couple of days to see DC, but parents loved the Capitol, Washington Monument and all the memorials. We saw the White House from a distance and had food at Bombay Club- a quaint Indian restaurant near downtown. The Museums were not of much interest to our parents, they felt it was more appropriate for kids and we agreed! :-)
From here we rented a camry and headed to Niagara Falls, it was one crazy drive there as we wanted to show them the night view of the Falls all lit up! We made it on time and our parents truly loved it. Next day a 'day view' of the falls ensured they'd seen the best of the Falls. The maid of the Mist trip was amazing excpeting the fact that I lost my fav silver bracelet while on the boat! :-( That apart this was proving to be a great trip with our folks!!
From here we headed to New York city where we spent a couple of days showing them the Empire State Building, Times Square, Statue of Liberty and Union Station. They loved New York too and felt it was closest to how things were back in India. We also met up with a couple of relatives who were living here and the trip ended on a high as we made a mad dash to reach DC airport only to see the flight take off literally in front of our eyes!! For our parents that was a traumatic incident!! We however saved the day by getting into another flight from a nearby airport. Back in minneapoli th enest day a gloom set upon all of us..... our parents trip was coming to an end.... almost before we realized it we were back in the airport bidding them farewell..both AJ and I had tears in our eyes by the time we were back home. Home felt soooooo empty that day!!
The end of their trip was also the end of another season in Minneapolis for us.... by this time we were very homesick and felt the need to be back in India. Meanwhile I was expecting my sister over in a weeks time and for now that was the silver lining in the cloud.
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