Weekend Trip to Minnesota
- simonsenhailey
- Aug 21, 2017
- 6 min read
Crazy me decided it would be a good idea to set off on a quick trip before starting the fall semester. My cousin, Kari was getting married in Fergus Falls, MN. My dad and I had bought airline tickets weeks ago, and since I was so busy that week (with the first week of school and all), I had to fly out of the Grand Junction airport, rather than DIA in Denver. Because of this, I had a crazy amount of connecting flights for the amount of time I was actually there.
I woke up at 3:00 Sunday morning (the day of the wedding) to fly out of Grand Junction at 6:00. Bruno (my boyfriend) drove me to the airport. (Bruno couldn't go because he had orientation for nursing school that he had to go to.) We ended up over estimating the time I needed to be at the airport, because when we got there, the doors were locked. We waited for a bit for someone to come unlock them and let us in. We finally got in and I tried to use the kiosk to get my tickets, but it didn't work, so we ended up waiting for all the American Airlines workers to arrive at work and for them to get ready for their day. Once I was all set to go, I said goodbye to Bruno, and made my way through security to board my plane to Dallas, Texas.
After My First flight, I wasn't feeling too well, so I was looking forward to my two hour layover in Dallas (not sure if it was the man that sat next to me, with horrible body odor, or just the changes in altitude). Once I arrived in Dallas, and was back on my feet again, I went for a walk and grabbed something to eat. I waited at my gate for my flight to start boarding. I boarded the plane to head to Fargo, North Dakota.
My 2:30 arrival was on time, and I was happy to be out of the air for the day. Once I arrived, my dad was there waiting to pick me up. We drove for an hour to Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and arrived at our hotel. I quickly got ready for the wedding. After rushing to finish getting myself together, I hopped in the car to head to the 6:00 ceremony.
We were supposed to leave early to take family pictures, but we left around 5:15, and it was about a 30 minute drive to the venue, so it didn't seem like we were going to be there very early. Through the chaos of everyone trying to get directions from Siri and Map Quest while we were driving, we managed to end up at a closed road. It was also the same road that was going to take us to the wedding. We then had to take the detour, which ended up being much longer than anyone wanted it to be. We finally made it to Phelps Mill Park, which was where the ceremony was being held.
It was a pretty location and a beautiful evening. I said hello to many relatives who I haven't seen in years and only met maybe once or twice. The ceremony was set up in a field, and the alter was under a big tree. I was given the job of being the guest book attendant, so I stood at the entry way and greeted people and invited them to sign the guestbook as they walked in. The ceremony was nice. It was very traditional. They honored my uncle, (Kari's dad) who had passed away from cancer a few years ago. they chose to pour two colors of sand into a box to signify both of them coming together as one, which I thought was a neat touch. After the ceremony, we took the Simonsen family pictures that we were late for.
Afterwards, I went to check out old flour mill. It was a very cool building. There were three stories, and it was very old and historic. They used to actually mill flour in that building. It was pretty cool to see the history. I got some really neat pictures. The sunset was so pretty over the water I just had to take a bunch of pictures of it.
We drove back to the hotel, where the reception was set up. I stood by the guest book and watched the gift table as the wedding guests filled the ballroom. Once the wedding party entered I put away the gifts and went in to enjoy the rest of the evening. The decor they had was pretty. They had a traditional Norwegian wedding cake (our side of the family is Norwegian), and a candy bar table. I talked to a bunch of people and danced a little bit. I even taught my dad a bit of swing dancing. It was a fun night. The party ended around 11, and I was happy with that because I was exhausted.
My cousin, Ashley (Kari's Sister), invited me to go stay with her for the night. I agreed. It was a nice time for us to catch up and spend some time together. I went to their farm and we spent the rest of the night picking out outfits for her engagement photos that she was taking the next day. I woke up and went back to the hotel for breakfast. I said goodbye to everyone and headed back to the airport for another day of flying.
I got to the gate and boarded my plane. It just so happened that the solar eclipse was going to happen while I was in the air. I had no idea what to expect, or how much of it I was going to be able to see. I got on the tiniest plane ever, and I watched out the window for most of the flight. I was a little disappointed with what I saw of the eclipse. It was pretty cloudy and I didn’t see much, but there was a pretty ombre blue in the sky. The rest of the flight was a bit nerve-wracking because there was a lot of turbulence and it was such a small plane. I landed in Chicago and rushed to my gate.
The Chicago airport was huge! It took me a while to get to where I needed to be. I had no idea how big that airport was. I waited to board and got on the biggest plane of my trip. The flight from Chicago to Phoenix felt like forever. It was my longest flight and it was hard to calculate the duration of the flight with all the time changes. I was excited to be in Phoenix because it was closer to home, and one of my last flights.
I got off the plane and went to find my next gate. I had plenty of time, so I wandered around and got some food. I went to my gate to get ready for boarding, and the system they were using went down, so they couldn’t let anyone board. I sat and waited for a long time as they kept pushing out the estimated time to depart back further and further. As I waited I received the good news that I was cast to be in a student piece for dance (I would later find out I was cast into four pieces!!) I had auditioned for the show the previous Saturday. After an hour and a half later than the original boarding time, the system finally came back and we were able to board. I got on the flight and went to my seat in the very last row. I sat down and then about a minute later the flight attendant told me and the girl I was sitting next to that we could move up to whatever open seat we wanted. I ended up by the wing with a row to myself.
I landed in Grand Junction around 11:00. I was happy to be home and ready to get into my routine for the semester. I got to my apartment, showered and went to bed, ready to get up for an 8am class the next day.I was happy I went to the wedding. I became a much more experienced traveler, and I did it all by myself, which I was proud of, because I was pretty nervous about it before my trip. I was pretty happy with the flights I had, even though there was the little glitch in Arizona. It was good to get out of town for a bit before the craziness of the semester began. It was nice to see my cousins and spend some time with them. I know it meant a lot to my family that I made the effort to go up and celebrate the day with all of them, which made it worth it for me. Overall, it was a good trip. I was exhausted, but it was a fun way to end the summer.
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