“He chose…poorly.”

I heard those words spoken in my head several times in the past week or two. They are said ominously, with a pause between the words “chose” and “poorly” for dramatic effect.

Perhaps you have heard those words before. They were spoken by one of the Knights of the Holy Grail in the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” The Grail Knight, who has been guarding the Holy Grail for centuries, says those words after the movie character Walter Donavan drank from a grail he chose among many, and which was not the Holy Grail. He dies a horrible death in the movie. Then Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, chooses an old battered cup and drinks from it. The Grail Knight says, “You have chosen wisely.”

I know. It is a strange movie and is a weird scene from that movie. But I often hear the Grail Knight chastise me when I make a wrong choice.

My wife, Pam, and I chose poorly when we decided to go to Florida the week before last. We left Feb. 21 and returned March 2, to give you some perspective.

It had been bitterly cold the week before and we were certainly ready to escape a Minnesota that was seeing record breaking below zero temps and get some warm and sunny weather. It seemed like we had chosen wisely.

But, the weather in Minnesota turned nice the week we were gone, and the weather in Florida was OK, but it was cloudy a lot, quite cool in the mornings, barely reached the upper 70s for about an hour in the afternoon, and we had two rain storms. One of them was flooding the Florida Keys, which, of course, was where we were headed the next day. (The flooded streets were dry when we got there, thank goodness.)

The week before we were there it was in the 80s every day and bright sunshine. This week same thing. Really nice.

And then there is Minnesota. The day after we got back here comes the first blizzard we have seen in a long, long time. It was so thick my snowblower could barely get through it. And of course, we kind of lost a day at work, although, the staff here at the Register did what they could from home. Of course, we spent much of this unexpected day off just trying to shovel and blow a bunch of snow. Both my front door and back door had drifts across them, so the first effort was to get the doors open. It was the same at the Register when I finally got to work in the mid-afternoon on Wednesday. Drifts across both doors.

So, my choice for a winter vacation could have been a bit wiser. Either the week before we went, when the temps in Minnesota were way below zero and hitting 80s in Florida, or the week after we went (this week) when a massive blizzard was hitting Minnesota and Florida was back up to the 80s.

And then that haunting voice of the Grail Knight would have been saying “You have chosen…wisely.”

Now don’t get the wrong idea. We had a great time in Florida. We always do. Our main activity is to meet up with old friends and visit with them. We were successful in that goal once again, seeing friends from college days, friends from when we lived in North Dakota and from when we lived in Tyler, Minnesota. And sometimes even with friends of our friends, if you know what I mean.

We even met up with a couple of relatives – Pam’s sister Denise, who once was the Blue Earth Campground host, and Pam’s brother Jim. The four of us made the drive down to the Florida Keys for the first time.

We did a lot there in just three days.

So the trip was pretty great despite the weather. I guess maybe it was a wise choice after all.