There's a Place for Fun in Your Life......

Mall of America!

We're back, LOL.

We picked Diva up at school on Thursday, hit the road, and made excellent time to Minneapolis.  The scenery was absolutely stunning.  Our drive takes us through a bit of the Mississippi River Valley, with the river on one side and tall bluffs on the other.  The bluffs are covered in trees, all decked out in fall colors, and the river takes on a deep teal color this time of year.  Cover all that with a turquoise sky.  I would have LOVED to stop for a few photo ops, but there is nowhere to pull over, legally, along that part of the road.  It is very twisty and rolls up and down so it's really not safe to stop, even for a minute.  You just can't see what's coming.  The shoulder is narrow, too.  I tried to talk Walker into giving it a go out the car window but he doesn't know how to work my camera.  It looks a lot more intimidating than it is.  Anyway:  the drive was beautiful, and we arrived at the Mall before dark.

We had our planned dinner at Johnny Rocket's, then wandered around a bit until we arrived at the mini golf course on the third floor.  Walker and Diva played a round while my mom rested in a seating area that had tables and chairs set up.  I wandered a bit more, mentally planning our list of "must- see's".  On my way back to my mom, I found a little hidey hole that overlooked part of the mini golf course and I waited, paparazzi style, for Walker and Diva to arrive.  When they came around the corner I was ready with the camera set to "continuous shoot".  They were startled and stood there for a minute til they realized it was me, then Diva started hamming for the camera.

Walker's paparazzi shot

Diva didn't quite know what to do

She figured it out, though!

 We had rooms across the street from the Mall at Country Inn and Suites.  I have to say, I love this place.  Everyone who works there is friendly and helpful.  The beds are comfy, and I appreciate having a suite when we take Diva out of town.  It's nice to be able to put her to bed, shut the door, and talk or watch TV in another room.  We have a mini fridge and a microwave, and they have coffee and cookies in the lobby all the time. Country Inn has hot breakfast included in the stay, too, plus at this location there's a 24 hour IHOP attached to the hotel.  After we checked in we went swimming, then we got dressed again and went to IHOP for ice cream.  Well, the adults got dressed.  We let Diva go in her pj's. Hey, we were on vacation!