Land of 1,000 Lakes
“L’Etoile du Nord” which stands for “The Star of the North,” seems very fitting for this extreme Northern state. First off we work up to a frigid 2 degree temperatures. With the wind chill you could feel every single degree of the icy fridge state. Trying to stay optomistic we began our day in Minnesota.
First stop, Bloomington! That’s right the Mall of America. It is HUGE! It’s the biggest mall in America with over 500 stores. The mall actually has it’s own zip code! You can get married there AND it used to be a stadium where the Beatles once played. All in all it’s incredible and it literally has everything.
When you enter the mall there are signs up for different 10K and 5K trails. You almost have to get a map because there are so many floors and stores it is super easy to get lost. In the middle of the mall there is a huge Nickelodeon Theme Park!
There are many many roller coasters and even a huge Ferris Wheel. They have created a kids dreamland, and potentially the most fun mall of all time. It is no wonder they have an indoor theme park with the freezing temperatures outside. People can buy single ride tickets, or a pass to ride for the whole day. FUN!
Once you get through the theme park, you are welcome with another nostalgic memory: LEGOS!
That’s right they also have a Lego Land, with tons of giant Lego figurines. It is a two story experience that even has a helicopter with Lego men repelling from it. If you ever played with Legos as a kid, (or stepped on one) this is an experience you shouldn’t miss.
The mall has an Aquarium, IMAX movie theater, and mini golf courses. There is any store you have ever imagined and it truly is a shoppers paradise. They also have a Crayola World. It has a huge play area and creation center for the kids, as well as a gift shop for the adults. They have ever years exclusive released color since 1935. It’s a colorful experience, once you get past the waxy smell. 🙂
You could seriously spend all day here, and people use it as an indoor track and park for their children. After exploring for over 3 hours, we still didn’t feel like we had seen everything. BUT, we were just about all shopped out and decided to head to: Minneapolis.
One of the main highlights of Minneapolis is The Minneapolis Sculpture Park. So we bundled up and decided it was time to face the cold for the love of art!
Throughout the park you can find a variety of really interesting and even interactive pieces.
Perhaps the piece that gets the most hype is the Spoon and Cherry Bridge. It is the only bridge probably in the world that is actually made up of a giant spoon. Sure enough it has a little pond below it, and it pretty huge.
The sculpture park was worth venturing out into the chilly weather and we were pretty impressed with some of the pieces. We appreciated the time it must have taken the artist to create this large sculptures. Good job MN!
After chilling our butts off, we decided we should get a little snack. We read that Minnesota is known for this Hot Dish so we set out in hunt of this little treat.
After some searching we found some Hot Dish at a cute little place called The Mason Jar. We got some to go due to them closing soon and enjoyed this warm casserole like dish. Basically it is like a tater tot casserole, with sausage meat and lost of cheese. Delish!
With our bellies warm and happy, we spent the night in Minneapolis. In the morning we were South Dakota bound! Sioux Falls, here we come! But along the way we found an unexpected treasure. Minneapolis’s Largest Candy Shop!
This Candy shop is really impressive. They have homemade candies, European imported goodies, and all the American Classics.
They even had vintage candies I hadn’t seen since I was a little kid. Not only was there an impressive amount of sweets, the whole store was decorated with giant super heros everywhere and brightly decorated ceilings.
Each section is divided into specific candy goodness. There’s a gummy section, sour part, and aisles and aisles of chocolate. There is even a soda section with some FUNKY flavors.
But we decided the weird butter soda we did decided would pair nicely with the giant popcorn display. The whole store was like a carnival sugar wonderland.
Not only was this store home to Minnesota’s largest candy shop it also housed the Minnesota’ss Largest Porta Potties. It’s actually kind of funny. They designed their bathrooms with these porta pottie doors, so its just a giant bathroom “porta potty.”
The back room of the store is a circular building and the ceiling is decorated in all kinds of Spaceships. Each object actually moved up and down, and spun around the room. This added for a really cool effect to the personality of this travel stop.
After exploring this unique store, we decided that it was the perfect way to end Minnesota on a good note. Well, that’s about it for our adventures in the Frozen Tundra of the Northern Star, Minnesota.
Until Next time, GOD BLESS!
-McKayla