Day 5 continued
Minnesota is very pretty. Minneapolis may be very pretty too but we never saw it. We saw the 3 miles between the Mall Of America and our hotel a lot but that was it. I wanted to actually go into Minneapolis but events conspired against us.
We found our hotel and checked in. After the last Best Western, I was really worried that it would be a dump that we would be stuck in for 2 nights. Now, you say, why, other than Janine's known prediliction for shopping, are you not going directly to Madison? Just check out the mall for an afternoon and still make it to Madison (4 1/2 hours away) that day. Well, that was the plan. Even I don't think I need two days at the mall. That would inevitably lead to having to declare things, talking to customs, gross things like that.
If you think about the cucumber incident, just imagine how much guilt would pile up over the clothes, jewelery, ornaments, household goods, books, etcetera that an extended stay at a mall would generate. Guilt over buying too much. Guilt over the exchange rate. Guilt over not buying Canadian. Guilt, guilt and more guilt! They would sense it and do a body cavity search immediately. I could handle it, having had doctors do everything imaginable to me, but John might find it disconcerting. So why tempt fate and collection agencies?
Because Madison is a happening place. In the week we planned to stay there, a football game, a soccer camp, a Rolling Stones concert and the World Dairy Expo all were taking place. Football is huge in Madison and getting a room when a game in on is next to impossible. I tried a wide range of hotels and could not get a room for the weekend. So we did the next best thing and changed our stay to begin on a Sunday night (at another Best Western, which worried me to no end after the Glendive incident), thus giving us a couple of extra days to kill along the way and the mall seemed to fit the bill. Ooops, I mean Minneapolis seemed to fit the bill.
So, we check into the hotel, the Best Western Drover's Inn & Conference Center, and surprisingly, it is very nice. It is actually a suite, with a king size bed, fridge and is really and truly a non-smoking room. This is all good and I worry a little less about Madison. We dump out stuff and head for the mall. I am very ready and John is still looking for a slushie.
The Mall of America is reputedly the largest Mall in the world. There is Nordstrom, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Camp Snoopy, theatres and a zillion other stores, including large size shops, which are so much better and more plentiful in the US than in Canada. For me, it is clothes I want. I also really like Macy's and Bloomingdale's. John is hoping for good bookstores. John is out of luck because there is like one bookstore, a chain one, and it sucked. Oh, well. He is always surprisingly great to shop with and very accommodating.
The Mall parking lot is absolutely huge, which is good. It is Friday afternoon but the mall is not too busy. We quickly find me a new suitcase (Macy's), sheets (Bloomingdale's), towels and pants (both Macy's), all of which are on the authorized, planned-to-look-for list. This is good, they are all nice and fairly cheap. I wind down a couple of notches and we set off to explore the mall.
It is gigantic, with 4 levels on 4 sides of a square, with Camp Snoopy in the middle. There a 2 food fairs, with no decent food in either and lots of little shops. For the most part crappy little shops, really. Same old mall stuff, seen everywhere. I sort of expected this. We wander around, go to a nice restaurant for dinner then decide to call it a day. This is a good thing because John gets sick as soon as we get back to the room and spends most of the evening feeling horrible. I attribute this to the Fargo slushie but who knows? We watch a movie and go to sleep.
Day 6
John feels better in the morning but still is not great. He actually wants to go back to the mall and wander slowly about. This is too weird, because I am sick of the mall and want to check out Minneapolis. But it is so out of character for John that I figure he is really sick so we eventually get going and head for the mall. Another one of those times on this trip that I wished I had my driver's license. The traffic was quite heavy and the mall is crawling with people. We hang around, continue to check out new places and have lunch. We decide to go to a movie later but by that time the travelling has caught up to me (no more soon-to-shop immunity holding me together) so we finish off the mall and go back to the room to rest, recuperate and prepare to head for Madison.
In the long run, I did like the mall. It had lots of junk but was sort of cool anyway. The department stores were very good, without a lot of the snob attitude that I found in the Bloomingdale's in New York and Chicago. People were really friendly and helpful. The large size stores were a washout but I really like the pants I got and I bought an amazing bra. The straps DO NOT FALL DOWN! Brenda got sick of hearing about this, I think, but I still love my Olga bra! The straps still haven't fallen down!!
Oh, John did find a 7-11. The slushie machine was turned off.
Upcoming highlights:
- Madison - the promised land
- Will the hotel suck?
- Will there be a 7-11 with a working slushie machine?
- What ABOUT Santa Fe?
Soon... Yes, this is where I stopped. 4 years later, I need to consult with he who writes a journal before I can proceed. I do remember the debacle of Santa Fe clearly but not the pivotal slushie situation.