Day 14 - The Last of the Minnesotans

Our final day in the great state of Minnesota. The kids have been asking to return to the Mall of America because our first visit was focused only on the amusement park aspect of this spectacle of american consumerism. They wanted to hunt for souvenirs and also sucker us into a few more rides in the park. So we picked up my Mom and headed back down for an afternoon at the big mall.

A mall this large quickly runs out of the typical mall chain stores (Gap, FYE, Lids, etc.) and you get into some quirky specialty stores. There was one that was laser focused on the ultra competitive Alpaca clothing market. Sadly the mall had removed one of my favorite destinations - the General Mills store. You could make your own customized cereal box and choose from a wide range of unhealthy options to fill your box.

After escaping the Mall we returned to my Dad's for dinner. We snuck in a few last rides on the motorcycle and a few last games of ping pong. One of the cool features of my Dad's is the custom ping pong table in the basement that is emblazoned with ASU on one end and the University of Minnesota on the other. The kids have really improved their ping pong skills over the past week.

My Dad and his wife Nancy took our kids up to Stillwater for ice cream and Karen and I went out to meet up with my sister Nan for a final goodbye. My brother-in-law, Dave, tends bar one night a week at Sweeneys - so we met up there...

Tomorrow it is off to Kansas City........