Mall of America
Bloomington Travel Blog
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I'd been in touch with Irene (irenchen) for about a week and we arranged for me to pick her up at her youth hostel in Minneapolis. The hostel was a cute brick building that looked like any of the large homes on the street. Turns out it was only a couple of blocks from one of my work sites. I wanted to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory, but they aren't open for lunch, so I suggested the Mall of America and one of the many restaurants there. I thought maybe the Rainforest Cafe would be fun (see my review) because they have such a fun, jungle atmosphere and decor. The food isn't that great, but its still a neat experience.
After lunch we walked around the Mall for a while. It was my first time to the mall since Camp Snoopy re-opened as Nickelodean Universe (in March 2008). In case you aren't familiar with the Mall of America, it has 4 floors of shopping and dining and an indoor amusement park complete with 3 rollercoasters. They redisigned the park by adding some new rides and removing some. And of course, everything is Nickelodean character themed. There is a rollercoaster where the car you sit in actually rotated while it follows the tracks. It looked like fun! But I can never find anyone to ride the rides with me. They are a little expensive - up to $6 per ride if you buy single tickets, but cheaper if you buy a wristband for the day or evening. Its about half price after 5 pm. One of these days I'll spend a day on the rides (by myself). I only live 15 minutes away, afterall, you'd think I'd go there more often.
After exhausting ourselves by walking around the mall a couple times we decided to take in the outdoor beauty of Minneapolis.
