Saturday, October 3, 2020

Staycation 2020

This weekend I spent 20 hours with my two favorite people...my adult children. 

My company gave us $250 to "do something fun with family or friends". Annelies and I spent (way too much) time researching cheap flights, navigating schedules (Annelies works every weekend) and thinking through what made sense. We landed on a staycation. 

So Friday afternoon we drove 15 minutes to the Mall of America. Annelies has always wanted to go to Sea Life (news to me!) so we did that first. We felt very safe despite being in an underwater tunnel (I had to go to "my happy place" to get through it). It was nice.

Sea Life at the MOA

Sea Life - Covid - Style

Tide Pool Fun


I hate shopping...literally HATE it...but we stopped for Anna's annual Ugg purchase. That kid has always owned only one pair of shoes at a time. She rotates between a pair of Uggs for winter and a pair of flip flops for summer. I guess since she started working she added a third pair. 

MOA Covid Style

We picked up Fawn (Paradis' dog) and checked in to a hotel 15 minutes from our home. It felt silly at the time but turned out to be a wonderful get away. We are planners and I can guarantee we spent more time planning this 20 hour adventure than some do for a full week in Europe. Our plan was to pick up junk food, order a pizza and watch movies. We were successful in following that plan. I failed to get a photo of the junk food but Annelies spent $83.70 on it...trust me - it was a lot. 

Junk Food Bag - That ENTIRE Bag!

Fawn and Annelies


This was my first hotel stay since Covid and it was weird. Wearing a mask throughout the building felt normal since I live in an apartment, but the pool and work out room was reservation only and the breakfast was a grab-and-go bunch of crappy food (I know what you are thinking "ah...does Rae Ann really care all the food was crap since she ate all that junk the night before?"). 

I woke early, walked Fawn and we pissed the morning away watching TV. It was a great weekend with my girls and we had many hours to just visit. 

Covid Staycation...I hate Covid.

Early Morning Hotel Walk

Hotel Covid Style


 Statistics:

  • Days: Two (2)
  • Countries: One (1)
  • States. One (1)
  • Miles: 16
  • Views in blog: 163, 425
  • Cost: $310.87. $152 for hotel (includes a $25 dog fee, my first), $53.97 for Sea Life admission, $83.70 for junk food (this is not a typo), $21.20 for pizza