Explorer In The Snow
When we landed at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on a snowy night in late December, we gathered our bags and headed for the Hertz Rental facility, which was located in one of the terminal's three-story parking ramps. It was windy and 18 degrees. My husband, who is a Hertz #1 Club Gold member, reserved a Ford 4WD Explorer for our week in Minneosta's winter wonderland. A gold XLT model was waiting in the garage spot with our name above on an electric sign. A Hertz perk.
We easily fit six bags and an electric guitar case in the rear cargo area with a fold-down third-row seat. Our two teenage sons (the younger one is over 6 ft. 2 in.) had plenty of room in the second-row seats.
As we exited the airport parking ramp and headed into Midwestern snow country, we weren't sure about driving conditions, especially since we now live in Southern California. The online weather report had projected flurries. Instead we were welcomed by about six inches of powder. Snow continued falling and though it was difficult to see more than a few feet ahead, we noticed two taxicabs and a minivan at angles on the side of the road. Evidently they'd been traveling too fast for the icy road conditions.
My husband had put the truck into automatic 4WD, which helped us steer through the snow on the unplowed entry to the Crosstown Highway from the suburb of Bloomington. Other cars in front of us were slipping and sliding. Since the road was ice under a coat of snow, my husband drove at a slower-than-usual freeway speed of 40 mph and braked very slowly. He also left ample distance between the SUV and the vehicle ahead, which kept us from landing in a ditch or having an accident. When we merged onto Highway 35W, we ended up in a line of "Lookie Lous." On the opposite side of the freeway, several cars had spun out and a tow truck was pulling them out of the median ditch area, which was filled with piles of plowed snow.
After exiting the freeway at Minneapolis' 35th Street, we crept along the unplowed streets until we came to a major conduit: Hennepin Avenue. The snow kept falling as we turned right onto Irving Avenue South, which is one block off of Lake Calhoun—one of the Twin Cities' best sailing lakes. Holiday lights glimmered and the trees were weighed down by the heft of snow and ice crystals. The Explorer continued to ease through the snow as we turned into the driveway of my mother's home—a driveway that was filled with more unplowed snow. We parked easily in the back yard, and the boys leapt out of the vehicle, ready to pull off two-foot icicles from the second-floor landing of the outside back steps.
During the next few days, we were able to walk and drive through more snow in the Twin Cities with the help of the 4WD utility. Instead of being snowbound, thanks to the Explorer we could go shopping at Rosedale in St. Paul—and Southdale, the first enclosed mall in America. We also visited Best Buy, which has headquarters in South Minneapolis. During one of the daily storms, we parked the Explorer outside on the street during a local rock-and-roll and blues show at Famous Dave's in Calhoun Square and were able to sweep off the windows and roof after midnight and shuttle back to the house and the hotel. The Explorer also ferried us back to the airport the following Sunday with only one stop for a tank of gas. I've decided that renting a 4WD midsize utility is the way to go when you want to have a wonderful time in a winter wonderland.
