My husband picked me up from work at 12:34 p.m. to start our long weekend trip to the Twin Cities. We stopped in Eau Claire to say hi to a friend and made it to Eagan in time to have dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Loro. We pulled into the hotel at 6:52 p.m. Our hotel is the Quality Inn & Suites in Eagan.
We traveled 350.9 miles, filled up with 14.7 gallons, for a calculated mpg of 23.9. We drove the 2016 Mustang GT convertible with a Roush 670 hp supercharged V8, traveling about 74 mph on cruise control with the air conditioner on.
Showing posts with label Twin Cities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twin Cities. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Saturday, September 2, 2017 - Twin Cities - Mall of America
After breakfast at the hotel which wasn't bad (my husband really enjoyed the eggs), we washed the car and stopped by BitterSweet, a gluten free bakery. Unfortunately, they had a sign up indicating they were closed for the holiday weekend.
From there, we headed to the Mall of America and found our favorite spot on the fifth level near Macy's. It is an end spot with a walkway on the other side (so no chance of door dings).
Since we didn't spend any time at the bakery, we were a bit early (about 9:15 a.m.) A few stores opened at 9:30 a.m. but most didn't open until 10:00 a.m. so we just wandered the mall for a while. It was nice to be in the mall when it was so quiet.
The mall now has electric go carts on the 4th level so at 10:00 a.m. we were one of the first in line for Sky Karting at SMAAASH and actually the only one in his heat. He had a blast and one of his best laps was 44.689 seconds. When he got out one of the workers asked him if he had done it before and when he said he had not, the worker said it was a really good first time. Here is a video of the lower level (the track was a multilevel track).
Before we left home, we stumbled upon a Groupon for the Amazing Mirror Maze on the third floor of the mall. We really enjoyed it!
Then we spent some time wandering the mall and starting our Christmas shopping before we had lunch at the south food court at Maki of Japan. We spent some more time shopping in the afternoon and spent some time people watching.
Nickelodeon Universe seems even more packed with rides and has a few new additions including a zip line and high ropes course.
Before finding dinner, we did FlyOver Canada (part of FlyOver America) which was an amazing experience. My only complaint is that I felt a bit of motion sickness but it was worth it for the views and camera work.
Then we ate at Freshii for an excellent dinner with fresh ingredients. My husband had a brown rice bowl with avocado, corn, black beans, chicken, cilantro, spicy bbq sauce and aged cheddar cheese. I had their Zen salad with chicken and a bottle of Perrier (in a glass bottle!). Then I noticed that BitterSweet sold some of their cookies, muffins, and pumpkin bars there so we picked up a couple of cookies, a pumpkin bar, and another bottle of Perrier for dessert in the hotel room. We left the mall about 6:30 p.m. after over 9 hours at the mall!
From there, we headed to the Mall of America and found our favorite spot on the fifth level near Macy's. It is an end spot with a walkway on the other side (so no chance of door dings).
Since we didn't spend any time at the bakery, we were a bit early (about 9:15 a.m.) A few stores opened at 9:30 a.m. but most didn't open until 10:00 a.m. so we just wandered the mall for a while. It was nice to be in the mall when it was so quiet.
The mall now has electric go carts on the 4th level so at 10:00 a.m. we were one of the first in line for Sky Karting at SMAAASH and actually the only one in his heat. He had a blast and one of his best laps was 44.689 seconds. When he got out one of the workers asked him if he had done it before and when he said he had not, the worker said it was a really good first time. Here is a video of the lower level (the track was a multilevel track).
Before we left home, we stumbled upon a Groupon for the Amazing Mirror Maze on the third floor of the mall. We really enjoyed it!
Then we spent some time wandering the mall and starting our Christmas shopping before we had lunch at the south food court at Maki of Japan. We spent some more time shopping in the afternoon and spent some time people watching.
Nickelodeon Universe seems even more packed with rides and has a few new additions including a zip line and high ropes course.
Before finding dinner, we did FlyOver Canada (part of FlyOver America) which was an amazing experience. My only complaint is that I felt a bit of motion sickness but it was worth it for the views and camera work.
Then we ate at Freshii for an excellent dinner with fresh ingredients. My husband had a brown rice bowl with avocado, corn, black beans, chicken, cilantro, spicy bbq sauce and aged cheddar cheese. I had their Zen salad with chicken and a bottle of Perrier (in a glass bottle!). Then I noticed that BitterSweet sold some of their cookies, muffins, and pumpkin bars there so we picked up a couple of cookies, a pumpkin bar, and another bottle of Perrier for dessert in the hotel room. We left the mall about 6:30 p.m. after over 9 hours at the mall!
Sunday, September 3, 2017 - Twin Cities - Minnehaha Falls and Minnesota Zoo
We set the alarm for 5:30a.m. this morning with the goal of seeing the sun rise over Minnehaha Falls. The trees didn't let us see a traditional sunrise, but seeing the colors from the first lights of the day on the falls was beautiful.
Afterwards, we came back to the hotel for breakfast and to get ready for the day and made it to the Minnesota Zoo right around opening time at 9:00 a.m. This is our favorite zoo of all time and so we loved seeing all of our favorite exhibits like the grizzly coast, the Tiger Lair (with a baby tiger), and the Minnesota Trail. Plus they added a temporary exhibit, Kangaroo Crossing and added black bears to the Minnesota trail.
As we walked down the path along the river below the falls, we came across someone sleeping in a hammock on an island. I would imagine it would be nice fall asleep to the sound of the waterfall.
Grizzly Coast
Northern Trail
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| What did this squirrel do to all the prairie dogs in this exhibit? |
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| Are the people watching the tigers or are the tigers watching the people? |
Minnesota Trail
Tropics Trail
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| One hungry spider, One unfortunate butterfly |
We had lunch at the Zoo. They seem to have expanded their food court and even brought in Erbert's and Gerbert's which was quite tasty.
And then we hoped to ride the monorail, something we hadn't done in years, only to find that although the tracks are still up, it doesn't appear to be running anymore. An article in the Star Tribune from 2013 indicates it stopped running around Labor Day of that year due to low ridership and financial shortfalls. I always thought it was a great way to see the expansive exhibits of the northern trail and to get a great vantage point of all the turtles in the ponds on a sunny, warm day.
We then had some time to relax at the hotel before walking over to the Green Mill for dinner (which shares a parking lot with the hotel).
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