Julie was keeping the journal day-to-day, so it's told from her perspective. Pictures from this part of the trip can be found in the gallery.

Thursday, June 22

Ken finally managed to connect with Brandon from Target, via texting him. It turned out that Brandon was in the middle of relocating to the Twin Cities and had temporary lost his phone. After some back and forth, they set up a time to talk on Friday morning.

Marilyn, Mark, and I ate the (small) hotel breakfast while Ken had Larabars because there were no gluten free options at the hotel breakfast. We left the hotel about 9am, drove through Kincaid Park and walked for a bit. Then, we dropped Mark & Marilyn at the airport and went back to the downtown car rental location to return the car. Once again, they "forgot" to add the $25 credit for the cab ride back, but they added it when I asked.

Back at the airport, we were through security in just a few minutes and then went to meet Mark and Marilyn for lunch. We had good halibut tacos and burgers at Humpy's Alehouse in the airport, then an uneventful plane ride back to Minneapolis. Mark, Marilyn, and I got the luggage while Ken took the Delta shuttle to his car. Unfortunately, they had moved the shuttle pick-up location due to construction, so it took him some time (and some running) to find it again and make the 9:15pm shuttle. We wanted to get dinner, but quickly realized our options were limited since it was after 9:30pm. We went to Wendy's near Southdale and ate in the car since their dining room closed at 10pm.

Friday, June 23

Marilyn & Mark spent the day hanging out with us in Minneapolis. We gave them a grand tour of the area. We started out along Wirth Parkway, where we hiked in the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary and nearby bog. (Actually, everyone else hiked, and Ken played phone tag with Brandon, eventually finding him and having a 20-minute conversation that wasn't particularly satisfying.) After that, we drove to Lake Harriet, and then Wayzata waterfront on Lake Minnetonka, where we got some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. We ended our tour in the area around the Guthrie Theater and Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. The weather was beautiful, and it felt great to not wear a jacket or long sleeves! We cooked dinner and played canasta in the evening to end our vacation.

Postlude

After a lot soul-searching and various other conversations with Target, Ken did eventually decide to accept their job offer. He resigned from Delta on Wednesday, June 28 and started at Target about a month later. Even though everything worked out ok in the end, for Ken this Alaska vacation will always be somewhat tainted by the stress of the interview and negotiation process. Lesson learned.