...and we're off! Slowly.

Travel day today.  For some reason, flights heading south from Minneapolis are always early.  That meant we had a 4 am alarm set so that we could take the dogs out for a quick walk and be ready before the car came to collect us at 6 am.  Oh, did I mention our 4 am walk with the dogs was in -11F/-24C.  Not including windchill.  Nice.

We made it to the airport about 6:30 am and were through security in no time.  Thank you Pre-check!  With two hours to spare before boarding, we headed to Ike's for our customary pre-flight "Weekender".  

Once settled at the gate with a coffee, a series of unusual events unfolded.  First, a cowboy traveling with two young boys and a "service dog" appeared.  The dog's name was Candice, and if she was a real service dog, I'm a monkey's uncle.  For starters, she had pooped in the jetway getting off the flight.  More importantly, she was bouncing around like Tigger and had her nose in every nook, cranny and carry-on in the vicinity.   

After the cowboy (and about a half-dozen Delta staff) had cleaned up the poop, there was a fire alarm in the gate area.  Full strobes, bells and loud announcements asking passengers to "be prepared to evacuate".  Luckily, no fire was readily apparent.  The alarm, however, caused the overhead paging system used by the gate agents to stop working.  Along with the heat.  Did I mention that it was -11F in Minneapolis this morning?  While hoping for an actual fire to materialize and warm things up, we got an email from Delta notifying us that our flight was delayed from a 9 am to an 11 am departure time.  Once the paging system began working again, one of the pilots came to the gate to announce that there was a mechanical issue with the plane.  Something about a fuel belt and very cold mechanics.A few more announcements later, pizza delivery showed up for all the waiting passengers.  About 30 minutes after that we began to board and we were taxiing down the runway by 12:30 pm.  

Fortunately, the flight was direct and we landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico about 5 hours later.  We hailed a taxi and were at our AirBNB apartment in about 20 minutes.  Juan, the owner, was waiting for us (Andrew had texted earlier to say we'd be late) and he gave us the lay of the land on our gorgeous home-away-from-home for the next four nights.  I'll post pictures in the morning when there's better light!

We made a quick trip to a local grocery store for some cheese, crackers and apples (dinner!), and coffee for the morning.  We'll get the lay of the land tomorrow - tonight we're beat!