Shop Till You Drop

So today was the much anticipated trip to the Mall of America, the biggest mall in the country, inexplicably set in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota. Being the, shall we say enthusiastic, shopper that I am, and not being content with the ginormous in its own right Palisades mall right in my backyard, I've pretty much wanted to go to the Mall of America since it first opened in 1992, but not even I could justify a trip for the sole purpose of visiting a mall. So what better time to go than when we practically have to drive right past it anyway?!

For those of you like me who want to come to Minneapolis for the sole purpose of going to the mall, I will tell you right now not to do that. Although of course if you happen to be in or around the area, it would be silly not to go, I mean it is the biggest mall in the country after all. But despite that, it's pretty much just a mall like any other mall, except it has an amusement park right smack dab in the middle of it making it much harder to get from one side of the mall to the other. See the mall is laid out pretty much like a square, with one anchor store in each corner (I didn't know anybody in Minnesota could afford Nordstrom or Bloomingdales!), stores around the perimeter, and the theme park in the middle. So if you want to get from one side of the square to the other, you can't just walk straight across but rather have to walk halfway around the perimeter of the square.

But other than this amusement park and an indoor miniature golf course, there's really nothing super special about it. And since we weren't there to do any serious shopping, I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed. Especially because, after looking at the store directory online, I was expecting there to be a store solely devoted to jigsaw puzzles, but which had closed unbeknownst to me. There were several other game type stores though (which made both Mike and I pretty happy), including one that introduced me to the largest commercially marketed jigsaw puzzle. That's right people, there is a puzzle larger than the 13,000 piece one I have already completed, and larger than the 18,000 piece one that's in progress right now. Yes, this puzzle is 24,000 pieces. Sadly, I couldn't buy it because 24,000 puzzle pieces take up a hell of a lot of space and Daphne is already overflowing. But rest assured, it will soon be ordered from the internet, ready to offer hours and hours of puzzling over where to find the space both to assemble and then hang a 14 foot monstrosity.

But I digress. Despite my disappointment, I'm glad I got to see the Mall of America, if for no other reason than that it no longer holds that allure over me. Even if they ever finish what they call a phase II expansion (which includes a theater, an ice rink, a water park, three hotels and a connecting bridge to the already existing Ikea across the street), I'll still know that a mall is just a mall, and I won't ever have to wonder just how big it is again.

states driven through: 26

states visited: 17