Just own the night like the fourth of July.

Wow, trips go by oh-so-quickly.  It's my last night in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and I've had a relaxing and fun-filled time here.  It's a totally fun and pretty city.  I wish that I had more time here to explore more of the outdoors and go for long bike rides and maybe a hike, but AlieMalie's gotta get back to work (we can't all be teachers!), and I gotta get back to Toronto to get ready for my friend from Vancouver who is visiting me in a few days.

Friday was our first full day in MSP.  We started the day by heading the Como Park Conservatory and Zoo in St. Paul.  The conservatory was filled with many extreme plants and even two species of extreme mammal (humans, and Chloe, the two-toed sloth).

Here are some pretty sunflowers:

Water lilies:

 Chloe, the two-toed sloth:

The zoo was rather sad though.  Many of the animals didn't seem to have enough space and seemed rather depressed.  It made me really think about my opinion of zoos.  I think they are great to teach people about biodiversity and for conservation purposes, but they need to give the animals as much space as they'd need in their natural habitat.  I don't want to criticize this zoo without being informed: perhaps a lot of research did go into the animals' enclosures.  It was a really hot day, so that could have contributed to the animals being so lethargic.  However, my gut feeling was that the animals did not seem happy, and I left the zoo feeling sad (hence I didn't take any pictures).

Anyway, on to happier things: i.e. the Mall of America!  It's a pretty big mall, so of course I wanted to go.  I was quite excited to go the Lego store.  I have friends who are in to Lego, and I have to admit I'm getting into it by proxy.  This store was insane! Check out the view from above:

I got some Lego gifts for friends, and I also got the Lego Architecture set of Big Ben.  It'll be fun to build when I eventually get time to do so... (maybe in September?)

After that we did a bit more typical shopping for handbags and jewelry.

Friday evening we booked ourselves a ghost tour.  AlieMalie knows that I'm into them: I've done them in Stratford, London, Charlottetown, Nova Scotia, and Salem MA.  Normally these involve walking around town and being told ghost stories about various buildings.  I always enjoy them because I love spooky ghost stories.  Also, it was Friday the 13th, so it seemed a perfect thing to do.

This one was a bit different.  Instead of being a ghost story walk, it was a ghost hunt.

It took place in one of Minneapolis' oldest building and we were given a set of ghost-hunting tools: an EMF reader, dowsing rods (don't ask), and a flashlight.  We were let lose in this building with our guides, and were supposed to use our tools (or even apps on our phones) to find the spirits that haunted the building.  It was a pretty funny experience that has spawned some good jokes between us, especially this great shot of an ORB!!! that AlieMalie got on her phone.  BOO!

On Saturday, we headed to the Guthrie Theatre to see Roman Holiday - it's a musical featuring Cole Porter songs based on the Audrey Hepburn movie, which neither of us had seen.  However, it seemed like a good thing to do since it took place in a rather awesome modern theatre overlooking the Mississippi.

We both really enjoyed the musical.  It was very cleverly done.  I wonder if this new musical will make it to New York, or even Stratford, one day.

Today was our last day, and we decided to go to a Twins game.  We got cheap skyline seats, which were great because they were cheap and offered a nice view of the skyline from Target Field.  The Twins lost bigtime to the Oakland A's, but I really enjoyed getting to a new ballpark.  And it was free hat day!  Bonus souvenir for my dad!

Here's the view of the skyline:

I LOVED this sign... It might be hard to see in the picture, but Minneapolis and St. Paul are shaking hands over the river.  Working together is the best!  I really wanted some sort of souvenir with this sign on it. I fall in love with the oddest things sometimes.  But all the gift shop had was overpriced shotglasses, a hideous nail-clipper/keychain, and... earrings(!).  My picture will be the souvenir.

Me in my free Twins hat!  I'll give it to my dad.  He won't mind that it's slightly used.

I loved the cup-holders in the seats in front.  Why doesn't the Skydome have this?  I'm always afraid of spilling my beer there.

 

Here I am with the statue of Kirby Puckett at the entrance to the park.  He was a famous Twins player in the 80s/90s and was a household name... at least in my household.  We were always into baseball, and I remember my dad making lots of jokes about Kirby Puckett.  I am seriously getting this picture of me almost getting attacked by his statue framed for my dad as a joke.

We had to make one last trip to the Mall of America after the game.  During the game, the hotel phoned AlieMalie to apologize because our housekeeper broke my bottle of foundation in our hotel room.  They told her that they'd deduct the cost of it from our hotel bill; all we'd have to do is a bring a receipt for it.  Anyway, there was a MAC store at the mall so I went to get a new bottle.  When we got back to the hotel, we were going to show them the receipt, but we didn't need to because they had researched the cost of the makeup on the internet, and had deducted $35 from our bill.  Minnesotans are really really nice!

Sidenote: as a result of a second trip to the mall, I bought additional makeup at MAC, found the awesome BAD ROMANCE nail polish that was painted on my toes in Winnipeg, and got a new pair of shoes.  I think in the end, Minnesota won this deal.

ANYWAY, so I sit at the end of my first summer trip feeling really great.  I've had some really great times over the past week and a half.  I had such a great time especially hanging out with AlieMalie in Chicago and Minnesota.  It's been over four years since we last saw each other (that's what living in different parts of the continent will do), and it's been great reconnecting.  She is an absolutely awesome friend, and a joy to travel with.  I do hope we make it to Europe together some day, or at the very least, she makes it to Toronto so I can take her to a Jays game, and to a great shoe store.

I'll leave this long post (MSP is fun, y'all!) with a couple more photos.  Here's an awesome giant cherry on a spoon sculpture:

Crazy moving pub on wheels - you gotta pedal for your beer!

Old flour mill:

Skyline at dusk:

See ya in Toronto!