Greetings Family and Friends,
Yes. I admit it. I did it. Not sure why. Probably a case of it was there so I had to do it. That would be the Mall of America. Reputedly the largest mall in America. And that would put me in Bloomington, Minnesota, part of the metro area of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul). To balance out the yin of that pinnacle of retail, I sought the yang of the Minnehaha Regional Park in Minneapolis the following day.
But first, a little bit more about that yin. Four levels of retail and a whole lot of square footage on each level. And I walked pretty much all of it – in a window shopping mode so to speak. I would characterize it as the Incredible Hulk of malls. Every retail outlet you have ever seen in various malls is here as well as some others you may not have imagined. Unlike your standard mall however, the Mall of America has an amusement park at its center. While I walked the mall, I didn’t feel the urge to take photos of it, but the amusement park did warrant several pictures. I thought some of the rides were quite ingenious in terms of how they moved riders often in more than one way. Or maybe I’m no longer up to speed on the latest methods for making people queasy via such rides. See the photo gallery below for that latest tech.
Now onto that yang. The Minnehaha Regional Park is an absolutely gorgeous urban park. Simply exudes peacefulness. In addition, it sports a couple of popular eateries in the park with one featuring seafood. The centerpiece of the park is Minnehaha Creek and its spectacular waterfall. The creek enters the park in a quite pastoral setting with the park surrounding its meandering path. But relatively quickly, it plunges down its waterfall and becomes a less urban more natural riverine setting albeit with some stone bridges crossing over the creek at various points. One has to descend (and of course later ascend) many stairs to access the paths along the creek after the falls. I took the stroll of about a mile and quarter until the creek reaches its terminus – the Mississippi River. It was my introduction to the “Mighty Mississippi”. See the photo gallery below for photos of the Minnehaha Creek in order from entry into the park to meet up with the Mississippi River.
On the drive out of town, made a stop in St. Paul to grab a few pics of the state capitol building. A traditional looking capitol building but still quite imposing. Down a main boulevard from it is the magnificent Cathedral of St. Paul. Imposing also.
That’s it for now. As always, feel free to share this link with anyone who expresses an interest. Next stop is on the shore of the greatest of the Great Lakes.
Until later,
Papi