Minnesota

Finally!!  I realize vacation was a month ago, but life has been a bit hectic and a mess since I've been back, trying to catch up on things.  Looking beyond all that, Minnesota was a good trip.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  I knew we'd be checking out the Mall of America, wasn't sure what else there was to do, or what was on the agenda.  Kind of like going to South Dakota 2 years ago, didn't know what to expect but there's a big world out there that I'd like to see, so take advantage of opportunities when they're presented to me.
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!

The night we go out there was the lunar eclipse, the blood moon.  I spent a while out on the sidewalk of the hotel watching it and taking pictures.  I'm all over that sort of fun astronomy stuff, so I was loving it!

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.

 Highly recommend checking it out to anyone who goes out that way!!
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.

Hoped we could have taken one of the wheel boats ... just seemed necessary being on the Mississippi and all ...

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.

So the last day of the trip we spent the entire day at the mall.  We were only a 5 minute walk from it so we would stop by throughout the week, but we spent the last day checking out all the fun little extra things the mall had to offer. We played mini golf, Mom and I got passes to do the zip line and ropes course, and rode all the rides in the amusement park. It was amazing how much they were able to pack into the middle of a mall ... 3 roller coasters, Ferris wheel, an Airbender rider (a big U with like a big skateboard on it, you sat in a circle on each end and you'd spin as it goes back and forth), a cool Ninja Turtles ride (though, despite my best efforts, I couldn't figure out how to flip myself over on it :P ), a flume ride, and plenty of little kids rides too but we skipped those.

Now one of the things I was looking forward to the most was going down to the aquarium (yes they have a full aquarium in the basement) and going snorkeling with the sharks.  Everyone told me I was crazy when I talked about it, but I was so excited!!  And we weren't snorkeling with the huge sharks, we were with little 3 foot long ones.  It was such a fun experience.  They gave us a little run down of some of the different fish in the tank and suited us up and we spent about a half hour in the tank.  What was neat was that there was a tunnel that went through the tank for people to walk through, so while mom and I were swimming we could wave to dad down in the tunnel.  It was so fun, such a cool experience that I never expected I'd ever do!

 We had a good time!  Saw a lot, experienced a lot, made a lot of memories :)
Til the next great adventure!!
Cheers :)