Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sightseeing in the Twin Cities
It absolutely poured down rain here last night. Beginning around midnight, the winds blew and the heavens opened up and it rained HARD all night. Elliot checked online and determined that we received two inches of rain. Fortunately, we stayed dry and safe in our little wheeled abode. We suppose this was technically a thunderstorm, but it was anemic by East Coast standards. The wind blew and the rains fell, but there was almost no lightning and thunder. We felt sorry for the Midwesterners. Two inches of rain was the last thing they needed.
Emily woke at 10 AM and we asked her if she heard the rain. “What rain? Did it rain last night?” Good to see our power sleeper hasn’t lost her knack for slumber. We swear she could sleep on a clothesline in a hurricane.
We cooked a hot breakfast and then headed to the Mall of America, which can only be described as retail Mecca, for a day of shopping and thrill rides. The mall was four stories tall. In each corner was a department store. Connecting the department stores were four sections, each lined with stores on each of the four levels. The entire center was an amusement park, four stories high and covered with a glass roof. It was nice that the kids were old enough that we didn’t have to accompany them on the rides. So…Elliot and Emily rode the rides, Sessy shopped and Frank surfed the web and read magazines. The only bummer was that Frank couldn’t find a TV to watch the World Cup final and the Wi-Fi didn’t have enough bandwidth to support live streaming. Nonetheless, everyone was happy! We thought that this would be a cool place to spend a day during a snowstorm!
We left the Mall of America with our credit cards smoking and unparalleled bounty. It was all Frank could do to carry the shopping bags to the Odyssey. They really should have rickshaws here! The added 300 pounds of cargo will probably cost us $50 extra in fuel by the time we get it to Maryland. We might need a second trailer. Frank has a CDL with a doubles endorsement, so it could work.
After the Mall, we returned briefly to our campsite so the kids could change into their swimsuits and then drove a short distance to the Apple Valley Aquatic Center. We discovered this outdoor pool four years ago and Emily (more than Elliot) insisted that we revisit it. We arrived at 6 PM and it was due to close at 7, but they made the most of the hour they had. We used to say that this pool was one of the nicest pools we’ve been to anywhere (including some very nice ones in Iceland). When we arrived today, we discovered that the City of Apple Valley had added two new slides and a lazy river, making it the best pool anywhere in our opinion!
With only 7 minutes to go before 7 PM, a brief spring shower brought 5 minutes’ worth of gentle rain. It was just enough to wet the pavement. Then, almost as if on cue, with only 2 minutes to go, the sun shone brightly, producing a “farewell” rainbow. The Chamber of Commerce could not have scripted it any better!
Frank put Apple Valley's weather on his iGoogle desktop for a year after our last trip here just to see what it might be like weatherwise to live here. There was a 2-week period when it didn't get above zero. At all. For TWO WEEKS the daytime HIGHS were subzero. Fahrenheit. Scratch it off the places where we might live someday. Too bad.
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