We had been in Minnesota for nearly 48 hours without visiting the Mall of America. We fixed that oversight today.
Mall of AMERICA!
Steph, Miles, Marissa and I arrived at the mall at 10:30, while KK & PK would join us later. Marissa was ready for some rides, and Stephanie was her enthusiastic sidekick.
Ready to Ride
Can you spot the King women?
Why does God allow spinny rides?
I even got to sneak in and ride a roller coaster with Marissa. It really was quite good. There was a boy about 10 years old riding with us and he was yelling “I never knew a mall could be so fun!” during the ride.
Fairly Odd Coaster
By this time it was lunch and we found the food court on the third level and asked Miles to meet us there. (Miles had passed on the rides and got a head start on shopping.) Unfortunately, there were two food courts on the third level so his arrival was delayed.
While this food court has your standard options that you can find anywhere in the country, Stephanie and I bought lunch at Disco Fries. Dressed up fries served several different ways. I enjoyed an American-style fry with ground beef, special sauce and pickles, and Stephanie got one with fried chicken and cheese curds. They were different and tasty.
Disco Fries for the win!
Yes they had a disco ball in their seating area. No it did not spin.
When Miles eventually joined us, he grabbed his lunch at the Melt Shop (grilled cheese with bacon), a place that marketed itself as having artisanal sandwiches. Only Marissa got “comfort food” and ordered her lunch from Qdoba (boring!), but she was not feeling 100% after the rides, so we will cut her some slack. (Miles and I know that our systems cannot handle the spinny rides, and we refrain from those. Marissa may need to come to that same realization.)
The next 4 hours were spent walking the massive mall and shopping. Marissa got a dress for the wedding on Saturday, which was a high priority for us. Everybody walked out of the mall with a bag or two or five.
While we had been in the mall, it had been raining in the Twin Cities area. KK had been trapped inside a Cabela’s during a downpour. When he got in his truck, the outside temp was 67 degrees. Welcome to Minnesota!
We were very excited about our dinner plans, as KK had arranged for the wedding couple, Paul and Allison, to come out to our house and eat with us. My cousin Matthew, Allison’s brother’, was also able to make it, as he had arrived in town earlier today along with his nephew (Isaiah), sister (Kelly), and sister’s mother-in-law (Diana).
Steaks were grilled, stories were swapped, world problems got resolved, and we got to know Paul a little better before the big day.
Family time.
Paul is a funny guy and we’re looking forward to more run-ins with him over the years. Paul is from Wisconsin and naturally we asked about his love for the Packers and how that fit in with being in Viking country.
“I don’t taunt a homeless man when I am standing in my house.” This is how Paul explained being a Green Bay Packer fan in Minnesota. I like that line. It will be repeated back home.
Paul & Allison are going to the Canadian Rockies for their honeymoon and will be staying in the same towns that KK and PK stayed last year – Jasper and Canmore, Alberta. KK shared lots of pictures with them and provided plenty of touristing information (much of it food-focused).
Allison and Paul
Thanks for coming to eat with us, Paul & Allison! See you at the Hitchin’.