Minnesota Nice

For my first pass-riding trip as an official airline employee, I chose to go to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the weekend...

The trip could not have been more perfect - good food, good friends, good fun. The weather was perfect - 70 & 80's, sunny and bright. I was surrounded by rolling green fields and pristine forests - it was like I had walked into a postcard. People I met there said I got extremely lucky - it's rarely this nice there. Apparently, most of the time it's unbearably cold, and then when it's hot you get eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Let's go over the events - got picked up at the airport by my friend Simone and went to a place in Uptown called Zeno, a coffee and dessert bar - great atmosphere, great almond raspberry sucree.

The next day, after gorging ourselves on homestyle pancakes, sausage, and hashbrowns at the Original Pancake House, we headed to the infamous Mall of America. The place was great, but not as big as I had imagined. In my mind, the Mall of America was supposed to be like Disneyland with a roof, but that's just my imagination being irrational. We did some quality shopping (no sales tax!) and briefly watched some fancy yo-yo action (they were hosting the Midwest Yo-Yo Championships). After the shopping bonanza, we picked up some groceries and headed over to a fabulous condo in St. Louis Park for a cooking/dinner party. I have no idea how much Simone's friend paid for the place, but it was unbelievable - a loft with floor to ceiling windows on 3 sides. There was a summer fair complete with ferris wheel and concert just across the lawn from her place - it was like she lived at a resort. We left the balcony door open to enjoy the cool breeze and soulful renditions of everything from 'Play that Funky Music White Boy' to 'Crazy in Love' as we ambitiously tackled cooking multiple Indian dishes from handwritten recipes. After collaborating for 2 hours to make chicken curry, navrathan korma, and kheer, we all sat down to a lovely dinner complete with stimulating conversation.

That was basically the end of the official events. However, I saved the best part of the story for last. Well, as you may or may not know, as an airline employee I can fly standby for $25 domestically. The flight to Minneapolis was pretty much full, but somehow I ended up with a whole row to myself. Sitting there in my $12.50 seat that I booked last minute to a place I would have never had the motivation to visit otherwise, I thought to myself, "I think I could get used to this." Then, after everyone was seated, a gorgeous, blue-eyed pilot came over and asked if he could sit in my row. I'm starting to like the perks of my job a lot at this point. Unfortunately, I noticed the flash of gold on the left hand, so I figured that was pretty much the kiss of death for this fantasy... but then he started a conversation. Let's just say, if this had been a date, it would definitely rate as one of the top all-time dates ever... the chemistry was there. We ended up chatting for the entire flight. He was commuting to work - flying lines out of Minneapolis for Northwest's regional partner. This former college baseball player was sitting there in his pilot's uniform smiling at me for 2 hours - need I say more? So HOT! We had been chatting and laughing for so long that when we were walking toward baggage claim after exiting the plane, the lady who had sat in the row in front of us turned around and said, "Do you guys know each other, because you get along so well!" I think she was just annoyed at the fact that she had to listen to our conversation the entire flight. Sadly, we had to part ways when we got to baggage claim and Simone was there waiting for me (I've never been so disappointed that someone was actually on time to pick me up). Mr. Pilot, appropriately named Brad, looked sad as he said bye... or was that guilt? :) Homewrecking is not for me, but I would like to think that we would have had a torrid affair if I had pursued it. Hey, I have a right to fantasize don't I?

Mmm... Brad.

God I love Minnesota :)