Minnesota...in December...alone...with a toddler...for "vacation"?

Some might question my sanity...In a slightly hasty decision a little while ago I booked a trip to take Eli to Minnesota with me to visit both my college roommate and high school best friend (and her parents) in Minnesota for a week... I had enough frequent flyer miles to get a free ticket and booked it with Eli as a lap passenger (i.e. no guaranteed seat).
The first flight wasn't so great. I had an empty seat next to me so Eli could ride in his carseat, but he wasn't happy about it, until he finally fell asleep literally the moment we landed (great timing). Changing terminals in Atlanta with a carry-on shoulder bag full of Eli's toys and books and snacks and dragging our carseat in a bag, with Eli riding on my back was a little exhausting (although if the seat bag had wheels it would have been ok). The second flight went much better, as good as could be expected with Eli awake.
We've tried to stick to Eli's routines as much as possible, but it's been a little hard on him and tiring for me. I'm also not used to being in full Eli-mode 24/7 for a whole week, so not being able to swap off has been a little intense, especially when he starts acting out. It's also been hard to get him daily excercise to prevent cabin fever squirminess since it has been so cold.
But it's also been nice to get lots of Eli time and make up for my crazy travel away from him. He's gotten so cuddly and affectionate. In the mornings he wakes up early as usual, but will stay in bed with me cuddling for an hour or so (although the fact that the apartment heat rarely turns on might encourage that too).
We've had some fun adventures. We visited the St. Paul Childrens' Museum, which was really cool, although some of it was geared toward older kids, but Eli had a blast. They had a whole room that was winter-themed, complete with plush snowballs, a snowskating path, and an ice house replica (the little shacks on frozen lakes for ice fishing) with a magnetic fishing game, which was quite the Minnesota cultural experience. They also had a room-sized ant hill to crawl through in "EcoWorld" which was fun.
We drove 4 hours north over the weekend to Bemidji to visit my friend's parents, where Eli had a blast playing with their 2 friendly dogs and real snow. But, it was even colder up there. One day the thermometer read 3.7 deg F. Yes, three POINT seven...and the wind was blowing...and it was snowing. At least in the Twin Cities the afternoon highs have made it up into the double digits.
Tomorrow we're planning to check out the Mall of America, which apparently is displaying the world's largest gingerbread house.