What Was I Thinking???

Off to the Mall of America! Don't ask me why, everyone told us we had to see it. We were told it was an hours drive...well... try two hours with heavy traffic and construction. Finally we got there and guess what - it is a huge Mall! I guess if you are a shopper it would take 2-3 days to cover all the nooks and crannies in the 3 stories. Of course for the shopper it is a "Mecca". For us the attraction was the indoor amusement park and the novelty of it. The park takes up all 3 stories and is Six Flags squished into one small space. It does have floor to roof rollercoasters and lots of rides for the kids. There are other attractions like the Underwater Adventures Aquarium, LEGO, and theatres. Think of this as a day park and the admission to the various venues are about the same! There are some good restaurants sprinkled around the mall, so we grabbed lunch sitting on the balcony watching the kids ride water coaster. Oh yes, across the street there is an indoor waterpark (we didn't go).

Time for us to move on. Back in the car we left for the city of St Paul (more traffic) and a river boat ride on the Mississippi. Naturally it is very cold and windy today but we had to do it! The boat takes you through part of the Great River National Park, which has a great habitat for blue herons, hawks, peregrine falcons, and bald eagles. The captain gave us some history of the area and how river boats played a big part in the development of the towns along the river. We sat up on the top of the paddlewheeler (outside) by ourselves. Everyone else was inside, so they missed the bald eagle that was sitting up in the branches of a dead tree along the shore. (Look at the third dead branch on the right side of the tree near the V and you can just barely see him. ) It was a nice ride.

We arrived back at camp to find it full. We went to sit outside and there were people walking back and forth through our site. All of a sudden there were announcements coming out of a loud speaker explaining the rules for the weekend! So much for relaxing. Thank goodness we are heading back to the wilderness tomorrow!