Another day of contradictions

We started off in Red Wing. (I know why J. wants to come back there - it’s charming, people are friendly, it’s pretty.) We had THE BEST pastry at Lind Bakery for breakfast. Went on to the pottery. I hadn’t realized some of the patterns I’ve seen were red wing pottery. One very cool feature was in the sales area they showed a sample of every pattern and it’s year. (And they ship, which was also a cool feature.)

After pottery we headed out to Hobgoblin Music (thank you J.!) where they make harps. Clearly a family business in an old bar. The Senior Male was making the harps in the lower area, and we watched for a while. We learned later from his wife, upstairs in the music store, that he is working on a new design that she’ll be taking to the harp convention in Jersey next week. We saw the prototype. She also explained how harps work. (I had the eureka moment as she explained it in terms of a piano key board and actually think I could play.) I want one of course. But among other things, getting it on the plane or shipping it home has issues. M. says he’s seen kits, and I really like the idea of a harp made by M. (After the boat, I am now convinced he can make anything.)

So after our shopping and music, we headed out of town over hill and dale to meet up with the interstate and head to Minneapolis. (We passed some of the plastic mold company’s work along the way. Quite odd to travel over this beautiful country side, thru small towns that look like they are right out of a movie, with roller skating drive ins, and grain silos and round the corner to see a 12 foot Viking advertising trucking.
So, in not much time, we arrived south of Minneapolis and the Mall of America. First stop was to get a room for the night. We turned down the $190.00 room with one king bed at the Hampton Suites. The nice desk clerk told us we could do better. We did. We found a lace almost literally across from the mall and once the bags were in the room we went over for the adventure.

The mall of America. It is big. It is an experience. If I were 17, I think I would’ve loved it. (Sam would love it.) But… since I’m not 17.

We didn’t actually wall all four sides of all four floors. (We did walk a lot though. And I mean A LOT.) The thing of it is, imagine every retail store you’ve ever seen. It’s here. But that’s the sad part - its all things you’ve seen. Not necessarily things you cared about seeing (do we need a store for sunglasses only? Flip flops?) I was reminded why I don’t like shopping. After yesterday’s Magic Quest experience, I felt no need to go there. The amusement park was cool. I did enjoy being able to sit down have a drink and watch a roller coaster. But even I got tired of that after a while.

We didn’t ride anything because you had to buy the package tickets and while M. said he would ride whatever I wanted… it just isn’t worth it. I did think if there was ever a loop coaster I might ride it was the one here. And I did stand and watch it for a while… but no. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. (Ml. standing next to me and matter of factly saying, ‘you won’t like this’ also held sway. All those rides I’ve stood in line in, got to the point where I was supposed to actually board the ride and then bailed. He has ridden. All of them without exception, he has come off of saying, ‘you wouldn’t have liked it’. Since he’s been with me on all of the ones I did like AND all of the ones that I got on, got half way through and said I don’t like this… I trust his opinion.)

The Lego area was really disappointing. It’s pretty small. What they let you play with is pretty minimal. Disney World has better Lego displays, more of them and more complex ones.

I was surprised by two things though. Well three. One is that all the stores were familiar. Second, I thought the inside was all open to the amusements - it’s not. Most of it has stores on both sides of the walk and just spaces where you can see out at the middle. Third, the amusements seemed a lot smaller than I thought. Now granted they are in the middle of a mall! I guess I thought that the rollercoaster would go through the whole place or something. I don’t know.

At any rate - since I first heard of the place, I’ve wanted to see it. Now I have. I don’t have to do it again.
Since we weren’t terribly hungry but did have to eat something, we ate at a very she-she restaurant in the mall and I got to try another dish I’ve wondered about for years. Watermelon gazpacho. It was spicy and another thing I wouldn’t recommend.

Tomorrow we’ll look around Minneapolis and St. Paul. I think it will be saner.