Day Thirty-One: The Mall of America

Hey! Guess what? We have been traveling for a whole month now! Unless you consider 30 days a month, but we don't, so there.

I have a lot to update you all on! First off, yesterday Tim and I drove from Sturgis to Mt. Rushmore. It was amazing! We walked through the exhibit and learned how it was carved and we learned all about the sculptor and workers who carved it. We didn't stay long because it was looking like it would storm, which it did. On our way to Minneapolis, we stopped by a big strip mall in Wall, SD called Wall Drug Store. They had many different little shops with Western clothes and food. They also had a big animatronic T-Rex! Once we left there, we passed through the storm and saw 2 complete rainbows! Tim decided it would be easier to drive all the way through to Minneapolis. He ended up driving until 4 am and we slept in the car on the side of the road. So needless to say we are quite tired right now. Therefore, if this post seems poorly written, I blame it on my extreme lack of restful sleep. It did save us from having to drive 3 to 4 hours this morning to the Mall of America, and of course it saved us money, so that's all good.

We got to the Mall around 8 am and basically sat around until almost 9:30... well, Tim slept, I just sat around. The parking garage had each level named after a state. We took pictures. Then it was time to go in... finally. Nothing really opened until after 10, but we got our tickets to the amusement park and the aquarium. Yeah, by the way, did you know there is a whole amusement park and aquarium inside this Mall? I did... that's why I wanted to go! It was really fun! The park had some really awesome rides, considering it was themed after Nickalodian, and had things like "Dora the Explorer", "Blue's Clues", and "The Fairly Odd Parents" plastered all over the place. Despite this childish theme, there were plenty of rides meant for the older crowds, like Tim and me. The aquarium was also really fun, if not a bit small. They had a really cool sea-horse exhibit, but the jellyfish were quite the show stoppers. They were displayed in large cylinders that ran from the floor to the ceiling, and the whole room was lit only by neon colored lights in the tanks. These lights were on a cycle to change every few seconds, so you could see each tank lit by all the colors at various times. Anyway, it was neat. My favorite part was probably the area where you got to touch the creatures... as those who know me might have guessed, I'm very curious and I really enjoy things that are hands-on like that. I basically got to pet several sea stars, some sea anemones, sea urchins, and chased a horse-shoe crab around with my hand. He wasn't very interested in me petting him.

After doing all of this, plus walking around and exploring the 3 huge levels of the Mall itself, we were beat. We decided we would stop at the next town that presented a good opportunity for rest. Then, we saw Afton. No, I'm not talking about another person named Afton... I'm talking about the town in Minnesota. We were amused, but didn't really plan on making anything of the town. Then we saw a sign for lodging advertising a place called Afton House Inn. What would you have done, really? We stopped, got the price (which was a bit steep, but not unreasonable) and decided that we wanted to stay in Afton at the Afton House Inn. It was just too funny to pass up. Unfortunately, the only standard room they had was not cleaned as the lady behind the counter was expecting. Actually, it wasn't that unfortunate, because she then decided to give us another room with a jacuzzi tub... a considerable upgrade... for the same price. I am inclined to think that my link to this town and inn through our common name played a hand in our good fortune. Wouldn't you agree?

Well, we may be at Grandma and Grandpa's by tomorrow if we feel like driving a lot... which at the moment we don't. We missed the fireworks, so I'm going to go enjoy our basically free jacuzzi tub. Night!

Love from Afton, MN!