Road Trip, part 2

Before I get into describing the rest of the road trip, I wanted to let you know that I posted the entire photo gallery online here.

When I left off at the end of the last recap, we were driving into Minnesota.



We stayed a week at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Cheryl's home in St. Paul, MN.  They were incredible hosts who made us feel so welcome.  I can't thank them enough.  We had a lot of fun and want to go back next year.



Uncle Ron gave us an awesome FIVE HOUR (!) tour of the Twin Cities. The photo above is from the viewing platform of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, overlooking the Mississippi River. In the background behind Dana is the new I-35W bridge (now called the Saint Anthony Falls Bridge) at the site of the previous I-35W Mississippi River Bridge that collapsed in 2007.


The new I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge.

Ron took us to downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota,  Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet (where we stopped for ice cream), MPR - where Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" is hosted, the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Cathedral of St. Paul.

We were lucky to get our personal tour from Ron, since he's a professional tour guide for the Twin Cities.  He knows a lot about the the history of the Twin Cities (for instance, when the city of St. Paul was coming into its own, it was known as "Pig's Eye".  A local Catholic priest changed the name.).



The next day was Saturday, July 3, and we had the privilege of going to the Twins game at their new ballpark, Target Field, with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Cheryl, as well as our cousin Robb and his daughter Olyvia. They each have season tickets to the Twins, and they are diehard fans.



The Twins blew a lead as the Tampa Bay Rays hit a grand slam in the 8th inning to win the game, but we did get to witness Jim Thome's record breaking day as he hit two home runs to move into 10th on the all-time MLB career home run list with 574 home runs.



That day happened to be Dana's birthday, so I took her out for some dinner and, based on several friends' recommendations, the Grand Ole Creamery for dessert. The ice cream was incredible.



Fourth of July was a blast (no pun intended)!  Our cousin Greg spent the day at the park reserving a space for the entire extended family, and we arrived at the park just as it got dark and had great seats for the fireworks.





On Monday, July 5th, we went to the Mall of America. It opened in 1992 and is still the largest mall in the U.S. To help explain the size of the mall, consider this: It has four floors packed with retail stores, dozens of large restaurants, and a theme park in the middle of it all.





On Tuesday, Cheryl took us to the Como Zoo. It's one of the few zoos in the country that is free to the public. It wasn't too big (the San Diego Zoo sky-bucket tram comes to mind), which led to it's charm. What I liked most about it was the selection of animals was the ones that I like to see most: gorillas, polar bears, lions, giraffes, etc. Don't get me wrong, moustached guenons (photo), axolotls, and Brazilian agoutis are fascinating, but more so for someone who has a full day to roam around a zoo. I prefer the "see as many cool animals as possible in the least amount of time" approach. So the Como Zoo works for me.





Oh, and the Como Zoo also has an amazing butterfly exhibit - a tent filled with thousands of butterflies that visitors can walk through.





We really found a way to cram a lot of sightseeing/touristy stuff into the week we had in Minnesota.  Dana and I had an amazing time there, and we can't wait to visit again.

We left the next day and drove across Minnesota to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

I took this photo because it seemed so odd to me that it the sun was still up after 9pm.  As a California kid, I wasn't used to that.




Coming soon: - Badlands, Black Hills, Bison, Bears,and Billboards.