"" Writer's Wanderings: Road Trip 2015 - Mall Of America

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Road Trip 2015 - Mall Of America

From Wisconsin we crossed over into Minnesota through the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Actually to Bloomington which is where the Minneapolis Airport is and the Mall Of America. Bob had chosen a Best Western Plus which was very nice and, like most of the hotels in the area, offered a free shuttle to the MOA.

We dropped our bags in our room and hustled out to the lobby to catch the 3:30 shuttle. It had to drive clear around and past the airport in order to get across the highway to the mall entrance where the shuttles dropped off passengers. (The ride back wasn't nearly as long.) We entered and took some escalators up to the main floor and were immediately awed at the size of the mall as we faced the center amusement area.

I started my Map My Walk app just out of curiosity to see how far we would walk to cover the whole mall. We started by walking all around the center which featured themed rides from Nickelodeon. It wasn't very busy but all the rides were manned and ready for riders. The roller coasters were amazing--to watch. We don't ride any more. The whole center of the mall opened up through four stories and maybe beyond and was a maze of tracks and zip lines and flying rides. There was also an Aquarium you could pay to see.

Once we had covered all there was to see there--including a huge American Doll store, we started our trek to walk the whole mall. The mall actually radiates out and around the center amusement area so it was very easy to get around without getting lost. We just followed around in a circle and each time we came to where we could see the American Girl store, we took another escalator up.

There were some very unusual stores and many of the familiar ones. We stopped in one that had the little robot from the new Star Wars movie and got a demonstration. On one time around, we spotted a Bubba Gump Restaurant and immediately decided that was where we would stop for dinner. By the time we made it around to the third floor where the restaurant was, I was tired, thirsty and really hungry. We were led to a table and once I sat down, I stopped my app. We had walked almost four miles in an hour and a half! And we still hadn't done the fourth floor which had a couple more restaurants but didn't go all the way around like the other three floors.

Shopping and exercise. All in one place.







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