Minneapolis Continued

We're staying withing walking distance of the Mall of America. Even so, there's a shuttle bus to and from our hotel. Given the choice of walking in the cold or standing in the cold waiting for a bus so we don't have to walk in the cold, we choose to keep moving.

I want to open a Grizzly Bear exhibit across the street from the Mall of America and call it Maul of America. Just imagine the looks on the faces of the little old ladies who are dropped off at the wrong establishment. There would be lots of "Oh dear" and "Oh my" and "Someone please help me. I'm being mauled." That's right, Grandma went to the Maul of America and all I got was this lousy death certificate.

The Mall of America is no ordinary mall. Along with the Auntie Anne's and Victoria's Secrets, there's an aquarium and a Nickelodeon-sponsored amusement park. But the main attraction is still shopping and the hotels surrounding this palace to retail are filled with out-of-towners who book hotel rooms just so they can take a shuttle to purchase goods. I suppose if you live in a rural area visiting a big mall is exciting if not necessary. I can't relate. As my husband says, "Where we live, we pass two malls on the way to the mall."

We mostly walk to the mall for the food court. On Thursday we had decent Greek and yesterday we had very mediocre Thai. Perhaps today, we'll go for crappy Italian. We'd love to eat some local Minneapolis cuisine but, besides their obsession with wild rice, we can't figure out what Minnesotans eat.

I suppose they like fish but, after visiting the aquarium yesterday, I'd feel a little guilty dining on our underwater friends. I once ate a ham dinner after watching the movie "Babe" and still can't look myself in the mirror.

We fly home Monday morning. The local weather genies are predicting six inches of snow. Shoveling snow in April is not my idea of a good time. It'll be nice to get back to New Jersey and spring-like temperatures.