Sunday, March 15, 2015

Disney Adventure 2015 -- From Orlando to Saint Paul



The alarm woke us up at 7:10 AM. We did our showers and packed the suitcases. We ate the yogurt parfaits purchased the evening before (thank heavens every room now has a refrigerator) and had coffee. We enjoyed the Disney Nature Channel on the TV until bell services arrived to pick us up and take us to airline check-in. The woman who provided the bell services also came from Colombia. We quickly got through the line to check in for the airport and our luggage was sent directly to the airport.

We went, then, to the Pepper Market. We had two meals left on our Dining Plan so I got us omelets and orange juice. We could use our mugs to get the coffee. While I got the food my daughter waited at a table and watched our things. When I came with the omelets I told her the cashier was also originally from Colombia. 

Meanwhile I made called back to Minnesota to make an appointment at Health Partners for someone to see me about my sore leg. We also got a text from my granddaughter saying she couldn’t pick us up because she forgot she had a class at 4:00. We thought she was on Spring Break this week. We sent a text back saying that was OK because I was feeling like she could handle everything for the trip home.

About 10:45 we walked to the place to be picked up by the Magic Express and quickly boarded a bus. We got to the airport about 11:30. Security was strange. They put us into a special line and swabbed my hands, but not daughter's hands. We put our carry-on things through X-ray security, but we had no more security than the swabbing of my hands.

We then went to the train that took us towards Gate 80. Once there we found a place to sit in the atrium in the sunshine. We spent time there just enjoying a bit of relaxing time.

We had very nice seats on the airplane. I liked watching the map of the plane flying to our destination on the monitor in front of our seats. And my daughter liked looking out the window too. When we left Florida the sky was clear and we could see to the ground for a long time. The same thing happened when we crossed the Iowa/Minnesota border. 

We landed at Gate F8, but I could walk OK. We found our luggage without any problem. Then we again took the Blue tram, went down an elevator, purchased our Light Rail tickets, took another elevator down, and waited two minutes for the Blue Line train to arrive. We transferred at Downtown East and had to wait only 4 minutes for the Green Line train to arrive.

Our final adventure from this trip came at the Robert Street station, the station right before our exit on Tenth Street. Two Metro Transit police got onto the train and asked to see our tickets to make sure we had paid! Good thing we did! This is the first time I have seen uniformed Metro Transit police on the train and the first time they boarded a train to ensure people had paid for their tickets. 

At the apartment, I made some soup to eat. Then I started doing laundry of all the dirty clothes. I took my daughter back to her group home on Tuesday afternoon. We had a good time even though the weather wasn't very cooperative for us on this trip.

Note: When I got to the orthopedist on Thursday I found I have a hip flexor strain-- an injury that happens often to futbol (soccer) players. I'm doing exercises at home and going to physical therapy twice a week for ultrasound treatments to reduce the inflammation.

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