CROSS COUNTRY TRIP 2010 - MINNESOTA

We arrived at the State of 10,000 lakes and were back in an urban setting after traveling through rural areas for the last week.  We settled in Shakopee, near Bloomington, which is home of the Mall of America. Our Campground offers teepee sites to rent out - the kids would enjoy them:

The Campground is affiliated with a casino, so TZ made a beeline there the first night!

We visited the Mall of America, which was completed in 1992, and it the country's largest retail and entertainment complex, with over 520 stores and 50 restaurants on over 4 million square feet.

The interior could hold 32 Boeing 747's or 7 Yankee Stadiums!  It has forty million visitors annually - more than the populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Canada.......combined!!!  It is a city within a city, and because of the many musical events, is called the "Hollywood of the Midwest".  The center of the mall holds Nickelodeon Universe - an amusement park, complete with roller coasters and rides!

There is a 1.2 million gallon Aquarium, Dinosaur Walk Museum, and a Flight Simulator, where kids of all ages can enter one of these and "fly" the aircraft as if they're in the cockpit:

As if this complex is not enough, there are expansion plans in process for another 5 million SF, for hotels, spas, a dinner theater and a water park!  We were there for 4 hours, and we walked so much we needed to take Ibuprofen when we got home! You KNOW it was interesting if Tony stayed in a mall for 4 hours!
Tomorrow we'll leave for Wisconsin.