January 27th
We started our drive to Minneapolis we still weren’t sure if we would drive direct or overnight in Fargo. Weather showed that there would be some issues near Minneapolis but we wanted to get closer and see before we made a decision.
We stopped in Grand Forks for a quick snack and gas. We also picked up road snacks there and continued on toward Fargo. We used Target’s wifi to check the weather and it still looked like there was going to be freezing rain near Minneapolis but it didn’t seem clear how bad it would be from the forecast so we wanted to get closer and if we had to stop in St Cloud or Albertville that would be fine. The kids were doing great and we wanted to take advantage of that.
We transferred the kids to the back seat and gave them a bunch of snacks and continued on.
About an hour past Fargo the weather turned crap with light snow and rain. Roads seemed good though so we kept going. The last 2 hours of driving took over 3 hours in the end. The American highways maintenance folks were out in full force salting the roads like mad – we were able to keep going at an ok clip and never felt like we were going to have too much trouble so we kept going and managed to get to the hotel not long after 6 pm.
The worst roads were right in Minneapolis with some ice and fair bit of snow accumulation.
We were able to check into the hotel a day early (Country Inns & Suites – Bloomington Mall of America) – there was a TGIF (very good service) attached to the hotel so we went there for supper and then Heather took the kids to the pool and I rested in the hotel to help my eyes recover.
I did some checking and it looked like the weather was going to pass and there would be no issues with our plane being delayed for weather.
So first hurdle overcome.