Our "mini" trip to Minneapolis & Mall of America

We saw lotsa Legos, shops, restaurants and fish at the underground aquarium.

Fun!!! Take a peek.

This week my friend, Deanna and I went to Minneapolis, which is about a 5 hour drive from where we live. Our main reason for going there was to scope out some potential apartments for her sister who's moving to Minneapolis for her new job. Currently she's living in Wyoming, so it would be hard for her to look at apartments herself. Since we had a long drive we were planning on staying one night at a hotel in Minneapolis. And the hotel we stayed at happened to be conveniently located about 5 minutes from the Mall of America.

We left at 7am on Tuesday morning and arrived in Minnesota around 11:30am, just outside Minneapolis. Deanna's sister had about 10 apartments selected for us to look at. After calling for more info and appointments for tours, we ended up seeing 6 apartments on Tuesday. Then we had 2 more to see on Wednesday since the last 2 we weren't able to see. So in total we saw 8 different apartments in two days including 10 hours travel time and a visit to the Mall of America. We got a lot covered in two days.

We didn't do any power shopping while at the mall, mostly window shopping. We did visit the underground aquarium at the mall, which was pretty cool. They had a nice seahorse exhibit while we were there. I love seahorses. I took an ample amount of pics of the seahorses, which I plan on posting in my next blog post. In addition to the aquarium photos, I took some photos of "Lego-land" at the mall. I love Legos. I was a big lego fan when I was a kid. I could spend hours building Lego houses and buildings. It was so much fun. Somewhere in storage, my Legos are sitting. One of these days I should get them out and start building again. The lego displays at the Lego store are amazing and massive. The entire Lego Display reaches into the upper levels of the mall. At one part of the exhibit there is a huge Lego grandfather clock. For some reason I never got a picture of the clock. There is so much to capture and take in at the Lego Exhibit. It's awesome.

The photo above shows the view of the theme park from the second level at the mall near Lego-land. I wanted to go on a ride or two, but Deanna doesn't like theme park rides. And I didn't want to go by myself. It's just not as fun if you don't have someone to scream with on a ride. Years ago I went on a roller coaster ride at the Mall of America. That was when the theme park was named, "Camp Snoopy." Now it's "Nickelodeon Universe."

Deanna at Kokomo's Island Cafe ~ May 27, 2009

We stopped for a bite to eat at the mall at Kokomo's Island Cafe. It's a brightly decorated tiki-themed restaurant. It's a fun place to eat. And we each ordered a delicious salad with Coconut Crusted Chicken, freshly slice mangoes, strawberries, oranges, and pineapples with greens and a pineapple-mango vinaigrette. Yummy! :-)

The photo above is the Tiki bar at Kokomo's

Even the bathroom is decorated in the fun Caribbean theme. I loved the mirror above the sinks. The entire frame of the mirror is made with shells. I also liked the pineapple light fixtures on the mirror. And of course, I loved all of the brightly colored decor displayed all over the place.

And here's the inside of the bathroom door to the bathroom. Lookin' Good!

Deanna by her car at the Mall of America parking lot.

And this is how close of a parking spot we got to the mall. It pays to get there at 10am right when the mall opens. We had a nice "mini" trip to Minneapolis. If you've never been to the Mall of America I suggest you come and see it sometime. Stay tuned for my next blog post when I write about our visit to the underground aquarium at the Mall of America.