Back from the wilds of Minnesota!

We're back from our big trip to Minneapolis! We had a lovely vacation! And here's the play by play of what we did....

The weather was perfect the whole time being 20deg C or higher every day! We left on Thursday morning around 8:30 and had a relatively uneventful trip. The border went smoothly. The US customs guy asked if we were bringing more than $10,000 in cash down and I snorted and laughed and then said no. He also congratulated us on being married, which seemed like a strange thing to say, but the sentiment was nice so I said thanks. I thought it would be wisest not to correct or question the guy who personally guards his country with a gun!

The rest of the drive was nice, it only took 7 hours (we expected 8) and was like driving into spring. Our hotel was nice; we stayed at the Hampton Inn in Maple Grove. It was a nice little hotel. Comfy beds, nice pool/hot tub, no satellite (which was sad for me), and really close to a pretty outdoor mall to go for walks in the evening. Driving on the freeways was a bit overwhelming at the start but fine once you get used to it.

On Friday we went to IKEA! Totally fun! I wish we had one here! Lots to look at. We actually didn't buy very much because most of the stuff that we're looking at is big and so we don't really want to drive back to Canada with stuff like that on our roof. Not so good for gas mileage. Which, by the way, is SPECTACULAR in the golf! We got 998.8km from one tank! We probably could have gotten to 1000 but I was getting very stressed out (sweaty palms, quick breathing, elevated heartrate, the whole deal) that we'd run out on the middle of the freeway, so we filled up.

We noticed (and laughed at) the sign at the entrance to Ikea that let customers know that according to Minnesota state laws, they weren't allowed to bring their guns into the store. Rats, we'll have to leave our guns in the car then! We thought that was kind of a strange sign to have at the entrance to a store, but whatever, maybe Ikea is paranoid. Then we started noticing it everywhere! Apparently, bringing your firearm with you when you shop is such a problem in Minnesota that they had to make a law and have ALL the stores post it. Well, if I can't bring my gun into stores, where can I bring it? Yeesh. Strange 'mericans!

After Ikea we went to Underwater Adventures! This is a HUGE underground aquarium with a LONG underwater tunnel. It was so NEAT! The fishes are swimming around and over you and checking you out and all. AND THEN they have a SHARK tank! So, the sharks are swimming around you and checking you out! There were some stingrays and other fish as well. Some pretty tropical fish, the obligatory Nemo tank, stuff like that. Vince got to touch a stingray!!! He said his hands were surprisingly sticky afterwards.

On Saturday we went to the Albertville Outlet mall. Ok, so that place is HUGE!!! More than 100 stores of outlet priced goodness! And I got......nothing. The clothing styles in the US right now just aren't my cup of tea I guess. Vince however did very well and got almost everything that he was looking for. All and all we spent 8 hours wandering around there! Our feet were sore!!! For supper we decided to be responsible adults and have a well-rounded meal of ice cream. We went to Maggie Moo's which is by far the BEST ICE CREAM PLACE ON EARTH!!! You choose a flavor of ice cream (which was delicious on it's own) and some mix ins and then they hand mix it on a slab of frozen marble into a delicious ice cream wonder! Yum! And I'm not even a huge ice cream fan!

On Sunday we thought we'd go see some sights of the city via the light rail system. That was a total dud! I guess we aren't seasoned public transit users because we thought when the schedule said that it stopped at the place we wanted to go to, that it would actually stop at the place we wanted to go to. In reality, it would drop us within 20 or so city blocks of where we wanted to go, and since we didn't bring our map we got out and had no idea which way to go. So, we tried to go to the Fort Snelling Historic site and couldn't find it. We tried to go to the Midtown global market and couldn't find it. And we tried to go to the downtown Nicollet mall and couldn't find it. We might have found that last one, but we're not sure because everything was closed. And then it started to rain. So, we got back on the train and went to Mall of America (where we were parked) and wandered around there for a while. So at least we could say we got to see something that day. On the good side, we discovered that we much prefer exploring cities in our own car than by transit. Valuable life lesson, that's for certain.

On Monday we went to the Science Museum of Minneapolis which was very fun! We played with the exhibits when the kids would let us (there were a lot of schools there) and read the signs and generally learned stuff. Good times. Also, we went to see a show the Omnitheatre which is an Imax that wraps around and over you. Very neat experience. I'm looking forward to doing that again. I think we could have spent a bit more time there to look at everything but we had to get back on the road to come home.

So, then we got back in the car to start the drive home and got lost downtown in rush-hour. That wasn't so much fun. But we got through the construction, detours, and strange routes and back on the freeway and headed home.

And I think that's it. Vince will add anything I missed. All things considered, it was a fun, relaxing, and interesting vacation. We're looking forward to going again because there's so many interesting things to do that we didn't even touch on. Yay! That's all for now!