If you don't know it, the Mall of America was the second largest shopping mall in the world when it opened (trailing only the West Edmonton Mall in Canada). Don't know where it ranks now, but Wikipedia says it is the most visited mall in the world with 40 million visitors annually. That's eight times the entire population of Minnesota.
It also has an aquarium, and that was our first stop: Underwater Adventures. I was a little put off by it at first--it seemed overly oriented to little kids, with a big, smiling shark mascot walking around. But as it turned out, there was a lot for big peoples to enjoy, too.
Here's the idea of it. This scale model of the layout was stationed near where we got the tickets ...
We human beings walk the length of it (or else ride a moving walkway) in this acrylic tunnel, water on all sides of us.
But it was the ocean area that really blew me away. Lots of sharks and rays and many other species. My camera was clicking away as the underwater denizens swam up and around all of us. Like this ray ...
And his occasional swimming partner, the green sawfish ...
Sort of like you're scuba diving, except you're breathing normally. It was really awesome, especially since you were right in there with them (so to speak). I'll admit it: I was blown away. Here are my wife and David checking things out, with a pair of sharks and a ray on the other side ...
They also had a smaller coral reef area, with the corals wiggling around. Don't know the right term--coral are living animals. I did my best with the camera, but my shots just don't do their beauty justice ...
Oh, it was a lovely place. I would have liked to spend more time there. But it was time to look over the Mall itself.
David had a whole list of shops at the mall he wanted to visit. We agreed on a time and place to meet--2 1/2 hours later--and set him loose. I stayed with my wife, for the most part.
But you know what? Basically, we were killing time. The place is just so enormous. We walked around one level and looked at the amusement park in the middle ...
But we weren't really into shopping, and after a while we got tired of the window shopping, too. We headed off to our designated rendezvous point--the Arby's restaurant in one of the food courts. We got our meals, ate them, sat and talked and people-watched.
By and by, David returned, his arms loaded with all the stuff he had bought. He dropped all his bags off at our table and went off briefly to another stop. Then, it was time to head off to the car.
My wife had bought two quilting related books at the Barnes & Noble. I was looking for a book at the B&N but didn't see it. I briefly considered investing in a Minnesota Wild baseball cap (mainly because I love the Wild's logo; yeah, a baseball cap for a hockey team) but opted not to. Hey, I'm enriching Minnesota's economy enough the way it is. So I walked away from the Mall of America having bought nothing (outside of the Underwater Adventure tickets and lunch at Arby's).
So now what? It was nearly 3 p.m. The next item on the list, I thought, was the Science Museum of Minnesota, in downtown St. Paul. But David really didn't seem terribly interested in that, and I was wary of fighting rush hour traffic to get there.
My wife had another idea: the Mill City Museum, which isn't in downtown St. Paul; it's in downtown Minneapolis. I read over the description. It did look interesting--it's a historic stop, about the many flour mills along the Mississippi River that helped Minneapolis develop into a major city.
I was hesitant. First of all, it was downtown. Secondly, I had never driven in downtown Minneapolis before--didn't know the streets, didn't know the layout, didn't know nothing. But I studied the map for about 10 minutes and tried to imprint the route on my brain.
Then we hit the road--and I drove right to the neighborhood, straight as an arrow. Found the right exit, navigated some freeway congestion (fortunately, most of the traffic was going the other way). Soon we were at the riverfront, looking at an old stone arch bridge that used to carry train traffic ...
And nearby (if you pan right), the remains of the mills that powered Minneapolis' economy for many years ...
By the way, most of these buildings are now trendy, upscale condos.
One of those buildings houses the Mill City Museum. After studying the riverfront area, we walked over there to check it out.
Inside, it was about the wheat and grain markets and what the mills made of it. We saw scale models of the mills, some of the tools of the trade--the old millstones and the other other tools used to mill the grain. A model of a kernel of grain and a flour mill ...
A giant box of Bisquick ...
An old threshing machine (steam-powered) used by farmers in the 1890s to harvest the grain ...
A wood stove, every bit as old as the threshing machine. Both sets of my grandparents had wood stoves similar to this ...
The highlight was a tour of the building aboard an old freight elevator, with audio-visual features depicting the history of the mill businesses.
At the end, we got out at the very top of the building to look around ...
Quite a sight.
As usual, we visited the gift shop. We rarely get souvenirs at places like this, but this time I saw something so bizarre, so totally off the wall that my resistance quickly crumbled. It was right in keeping with all the 1940s/1950s era homemaker magazines and Betty Crocker ads displayed around the museum. Would you believe "The Housewives Tarot"?
It's published by Quirk Books. Here is what it said on one end of the box:
| Within this box lie the secrets of domestic empowerment Begin your journey by lifting the lid, dealing out your fate and understanding the hidden messages of The Housewives Tarot. Through images of dinnerware (Pentacles), martini glasses (Cups), mops and brooms (Wands) and much more, these tarot cards can answer all of life's most challenging questions. The enclosed instruction book will show you how to interpret all 78 cards and provides useful advice on giving a reading." |
At the bottom is a seal that looks like a twin to the Good Housekeeping seal: Guaranteed by the Housewife Occultists of America.
I mean, how could I pass up something like that? I couldn't. And didn't.
After discovering something like that, the day's activities came to an end. We drove back to the motel, had supper and headed for bed a little early. Except that my wife wanted to play first. And not with the tarot cards. We finally went to sleep, to rest up for Day 3 ... and our trip to the Minnesota Zoo.
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Before closing the curtain on the day's activities, one last thing to mention. On Wednesday, I made two wrong turns on the freeways, leading to lots of unneeded aggravation. On Thursday, I was back on my game--made the correct exit and turn every time.
(to be continued)
