We stayed right next to the mall so once we got there it took a quick walk and we were in the biggest mall in the country. I knew it was gigantic, I knew there was an amusement park and aquarium and more stores then we would know what to do with, but to actually see it is really something else. The first thing we saw when we walked in was the Lego store, I think this was my favorite store in the whole place. They had some huge Lego creations on top of the store and some pictures made out of Legos hanging on the wall outside the store. I think I could have taken all the Star Wars sets home with me if I could have afforded it ... They had a monitor in the store and when you held a box in front of it the set would come to life on the screen. You could turn it and move it and it would move on the screen and the pieces would come to life and shoot and fly and jump around, it was really cool!
Day 2 on vacation we were going to figure out the bus system and do some sight seeing in Minneapolis. We did get the buses figured out thanks to google and the navigator app on our phones, but after a day of standing on the wrong corner and trying to run from one stop to the next, we decided a car was worth it in the end ...
But we did manage to get where we wanted to go and got to check out the Como Zoo and Conservatory. Considering it was a small zoo they had some pretty cool animals. The polar bears were a lot of fun to watch, they were really active. Then the gardens and flowers were beautiful.
We also checked out the Wabasha Caves. It was once a mushroom growing cave, and they hid liquor during prohibition, and it was a restaurant and a night club ... it was a pretty neat place. Come to find out, it's also one of the most haunted places in the country. There were a couple murders there, and rumored that some of the victims never left. Our guide for the tour was great, and he told us about some of his encounters, and he let people video tape where some of the victims were supposedly buried, you could see orbs of light shoot out of the spot, it was cool. He said sometimes things will show up in pictures, I didn't catch anything.Getting a card after that made getting around easier. We checked out St Mary's Basilica, St Paul's Cathedral, took a walk around the sculpture garden, toured the Hill House, dinned at 3 different restaurants from Guy Fieri's Dinners Drive In's and Dives (all were delicious), and we took a boat ride down the Mississippi River. Had to touch it just to say I had touched the Mississippi River ... it was cold.
So one of the really cool things we got to try was segways ... Yup, segways. It was cool. I almost wiped out the first time I tried to get on it, they're super sensitive and I wasn't expecting that. Got the hang of it quick and we took an almost 3 hour tour around St Paul and Minneapolis. It was nice being just the 3 of us and our guide was fantastic, very knowledgeable about everything we were seeing and riding past. Went my the old Pillsbury building (yup like the flour) and we stopped at what was the General Mills factory. Didn't know St Paul was the flour capital at one time. Also didn't know that flour was so flammable. Well, the dust, I guess. The old General Mills building, or more what's left of it, is the "Most Explosive Museum". We stopped on the segway tour, and got passes to go back and actually go through and check it all out afterwards.
Til the next great adventure!!
Cheers :)
