Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Arrival in Minnesota

I arrived in Minneapolis during a thunder storm at 10.34pm on Wednesday 11 June. Thankfully I was oblivious to the weather conditions, as I slept through it and wasn’t aware of the extent of the storm until I was met by a very worried Tom and Judy who had been following the weather reports and the effect the adverse conditions had been having on the air traffic.

Conditions in Minneapolis/St Paul that night were pretty bad, Tom and Judy told me of instances where planes had to stand off fifty miles from the airport before they could attempt to land while other planes had to divert to different airports.

The skies begin to clear after the thunder storm and the moon appears

On this occasion the trip from Ireland was long and arduous. Having arrived at Shannon at 7.30am to catch the first leg of the flight to JFK where I had a scheduled layover of more than seven hours before boarding the connection for Minneapolis/St Paul. This flight was further delayed due to the conditions in Minneapolis. When I eventually got into the air on my way to my final destination, I had been travelling almost 24 hours and so it was that soon into the flight, I fell asleep and didn’t waken until we were touching down at Minneapolis.

I think, even though I awoke to the sound of applause from my fellow passengers, which might indicate that the landing was a little rocky and everyone was relieved to be on Tierra firma, that our flight came in after the worst of the storm had passed. The principal thing is that all flights touched down safely that night and everyone reached their destinations safely.

My destination was, as usual, everything I knew it would be and a good night’s sleep in that beautiful room that I have now come to know so well and a shower to get rid of the trail dust had me fit and ready and looking forward to seeing Sarah and the boys, Davey and Derek, the next morning.

The boys, Davey and Derek, knowing grandma was on the way were well primed and ready for fun.

Judy has well documented the day on her blog
and I have a couple of extra pictures that I hope you will enjoy.


Judy flying high

Derek on the slide

3 comments:

Adam Wright said...

Joe,

I'm glad you made it safely to Minnesota. I wish you were taking a trip to the Southern US this time.

I hope you enjoy your time in Minnesota.

Judy Roo said...

it really was quite a night when you arrived....Tom and I were both happy and relieved to know you didn't experience a lot of turbulence and landed safely...I am so glad our weather has been good for the rest of your trip so far..only once did we have to batten down the hatches due to a thunderstorm that came up quickly..that was kind of fun for you though I think...

the picture of the moon is great and we sure did have fun with Sarah and the boys...

have I mentioned I love to swing?

Anonymous said...

Oh my Joe, I can't believe you slept through the whole thing! I would of freaking out myself! Thanks be to God that you arrived safe.

Judy if I was around I'd "swing" you on the swing....(my students use "swing me" vs "push me") lol lol

hugs....enjoy the fun!