The Drive Home

Lauren left this note for the housekeeping crew at the Fairfield Inn.

We didn't hit the pool at the Fairfield Inn before checking out – as originally planned – mostly because they did not have a hot tub. But we did enjoy a really nice breakfast and Lauren made sure I kept moving so we got out of town at a decent time (about 9 a.m.).

On the way out the door, Lauren and I stopped off at the vending machine, which featured some unusual items. Very unusual items. Like a cheeseburger!

The going was pretty slow on the interstate in the first hour, with blowing snow and lots of ice. But once we got a bit farther south, we were able to get back up to the speed limit. We also did an "Uncle Bill" and ran the van down to near empty before fueling up in Council Bluffs.

There were also sausage, egg and cheese muffins in the vending machine!

The price of gas was about 10 cents cheaper in Minneapolis.

It was pretty sketchy driving the first hour of the trip.

We stopped at Boondocks – just like on the first trip to the Shriner's Hospital.

Lauren enjoyed a nice piece of lemon pie.

What A Day To Be Driving!

This is what it looked like as we were leaving the Shriner's Hospital.

Lauren likes the snow. I don't mind it. But driving in it today was more than challenging. It was a bit white-knuckle at times, very slow going and generally a big adventure.

Blowing snow and 40-50 mph winds created white-out conditions – even in town. The snow was falling so fast, the plows could not keep up, especially in the in-town areas. More than 650 traffic accidents were reported statewide and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote: "By evening, motorists were mired in gridlock, with evening commutes taking twice, sometimes three times longer than usual." We can certainly attest to that. On the way home from our dinner at Pizza Luce in the Uptown district with my friend Melissa German, we were traveling at five miles an hour most of the time.

We stopped to put air in the van's tires. This is all you could see of me out the window.

The purple lines are roads that were not recommended for travel.

The temperature might have said four degrees, but the wind chill was -25.

This is pretty much what our drive looked like all day.

Mall of America Visit

It was only lightly snowing when we arrived at the Mall of America.

We awoke to snow flurries and news that a blizzard warning was in effect for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Not exactly news you want to hear when you will be doing a bit of driving on unfamiliar roads. But Lauren and I knew we only had a few commitments on our schedule, so we made plans to allow for plenty of drive time.

First up was a visit to the Mall of America. Lauren had asked about it and I knew it would be fun to spend a few hours there. We arrived to find it nearly empty and not many more people were there when we left (as the snow continued to fly).

We visited the Disney store, a couple T-shirt shops, a hockey team apparel store, both Oakley stores (who knew the mall had two of them?), the lululemon athletic shop and we ate at Burger King in the food court. The highlight – at least for both of us – had to be the Oakley store. "Chelsea," the associate, didn't realize she was helping me put together my custom prescription glasses order without a chance for a sale. That's because the BMC Racing Team will work with Oakley – a team sponsor – to produce the glasses for me at no cost. What I needed was an idea of which frames looked best for me and what was able to be customized.

Formerly "Camp Snoopy," the amusement area at Mall of America is now a Nickelodeon property.

I thought this was a cute photo – until Lauren told me she posed here last time.

Lauren and I agreed Julia would have loved this store.

There are dozens of Lego choices on offer at the Lego store.

This seemed like an appropriate T-shirt to purchase.

Lauren enjoyed an Oreo shake at the food court.

Driving To Minneapolis

We fought a strong headwind as we headed north toward Minneapolis.

Lauren and I set off today for Minneapolis and her appointment at the Shriner's Hospital. We were going to drive up early Thursday morning, the day of her appointment, but two things changed those plans: Omaha Public Schools called off classes for Wednesday and the Shriner's footed the bill for a night at a hotel.

So we headed out of Omaha about 11:30 a.m. and enjoyed good driving conditions. There was a lot of snow in the Des Moines/Ames area and then again some in Minnesota. But overall, it was a pretty uneventful trip. I joked that a "trained monkey" could make the drive, turning right at the I-80/I-29 junction and then a left at I-35.

We are staying at the former "Kelly Inn" by the Xcel Energy Center. Photos of that to come...

Minnesota has a very nice 3-D sign to welcome its visitors.

Between reading and checking her phone, Lauren was enjoying the ride.

Check out the rainbow (at right) that Lauren spotted.

There was definitely more snow in Iowa than in Omaha.

We saw quite a bit of this as we traveled through Iowa and into Minnesota.

Emily's Birthday Weekend ... In Minnesota

This was lunch at Taco Bell before heading back to Omaha.

Emily's 16th birthday was celebrated in style this weekend when we took a surprise trip to Mankato, Minn., to take in (what turned out to be) a pair of UNO hockey playoff games.

The trip turned out to be quite a blast, especially since UNO beat the "other" Mavericks on Saturday night, which made us decide to stay for the decisive game on Sunday night. Unfortunately, UNO couldn't pull out another win.

Here's one gallery of photos on Facebook. And here is another. And here are a few photos to share on this page:

We had terrific seats and a spectacular view from three rows up.

This is what the bathroom looked like after just a few hours.

We surprised Emily with a Maverick (or BMC Racing Team) themed cake.