Mall of America: Largest Mall in the USA

I decided to travel to Minnesota for the following reasons: I recently read a blog about Minnesota and Mall of America, my old college currently lives there, and I had a 3 day weekend.

What I failed to take into account was the COLD WEATHER. Weather app predicted -1 degree with the possibility of snow. As I prepared for the trip, I couldn’t find proper attire. I looked in stores like Burlington Coat Factory, Sears, Big 5 and Forever 21. The clothing stores didn’t have my size or were completely out of stock for winter clothing. I decided that I would wear a coat from my closet.

As the weekend approach, I unenthusiastically packed my suitcase. I was not looking forward the possibility of snow or leaving my sunny 70 degrees California weather.

I then remembered that I had the perfect coat: a pleather jacket lined with faux fur. After picking up the coat, I realized that the pleather was cracking and peeling. I decided to wear it on the plan anyway.After getting off the plane, I noticed that jacket continued to shed on the airplane floor.

At last, I had arrived in Minnesota and first stop was Mall Of America.

Mall of America Facts:

Biggest Mall in the USA 4.87 Million Square Feet
There is a light rail that can take you from the Minneapolis/St. Paul to the Mall of America
It has over 520 stores
You can get Married a the Chapel Of Love
No sales tax on clothing in Minnesota
Mall of America used to be Metropolitan Stadium, home of the Vikings and the Twins
1/3 visitors are tourist from another state or country

I’m not much of a shopper, so I was only interested in the amusement park: Nickelodeon Universe and other attractions. You can purchase an all day wristband for 34.99 which includes unlimited rides. They had rides such as Log Chute Ride, Bumper Cars, Zip Lining, Ropes Course Carousel, Character pictures, Ninja Turtle ride etc. You may be lucky, while standing at the kiosk, at least 2 different people offered a wristband for only $20. Although the rides looked fun we decided to go to the Sea Life Aquarium and Fly Over America for $35.

I really enjoyed the aquarium because we were able to interact with some of the animals, saw interesting exhibits and there was a really cool fish tank.

Star Fish & Sea Urchins

Don’t throw trash in the ocean, many animals die because they think plastic is Jelly Fish

Male Sea Horses Reproduce. Women insert 1500 eggs into the Male pouch

How many frogs do you see? What different colors do you see?

Turtle Turtle

Fly over America can be best described as virtual reality ride. You watch a safety video and then are taken to your seat. While seating in the chair, you watch a screen that is filled with images from around the world. Several senses such as sight, touch and smell are awakened. I felt gushes of wind as we flew over mountains and felt the breeze while flying over beaches.

After our activities we decided to eat at the food court, I ate at Thai restaurant which was tasty and brought back memories of my Thailand trip. As my friend and I were talking in the food court, I heard someone calling my name. I looked up and it’s my cousin’s friend whom I had not seen in years. This was coincidence as she didn’t know I was visiting Minnesota and the Mall is huge. What are the odds that we run into each other? I was happy to see her and glad we ran into each other.

Jessica and I

If you are wondering what I did with the jacket, I decided that this was no longer a functioning jacket and I left it in Minnesota. LOL