So the vacation home started all swell, an easy plane ride after seeing The Bourne Ultimatum, and a quick trip to our lake home. Met up with the rest of my family and spent the next day having fun enjoying the jetski, swimming, hottub, and playing with my little nephew. A few days later my mom, sister, and I headed out on our trip to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN) after packing the minivan full of who knows what. It was to be a trip of fun and shopping.
Shopped Til We Dropped
The first day we shopped for most of it rising early at 9:00 to get started, and I read Harry Potter #3 when I could instead of shopping, or took care of the little nephew carting him around in the stroller and trying to keep him entertained. One of the interesting stores we went to at the end of the spree, IKEA, it is a crazy huge store laid out with Swedish efficiency guiding you along a single one-way path through the displays of the items laid out as they’d be in your home, then to the next level where there were all the smaller items you might buy (I bought a coupld CD boxes that seemed light but strong.) and finally to the last level where you get the heavy items like desks or whatever and they give you different carts for each of these levels.
Mega Mall Entertainment
After this great adventure, we went to none other than America’s largest mall (or used to be, not sure) we like to call the Mega Mall, but its scientific name is The Mall of America. It’s a huge 4 story mall with an indoor amusement park inside the center. We basically just ate there for supper, and took the little guy on some rides. He had a blast, smiles across the board and giggles to each successive trip around the schools bus that takes you around like a ferris wheel but much faster.
The Lucky Night
After we ended the excitement of the mall my brother and I went to the Cantabury race track. It was dollar night so we entered, and each got a hotdog and soda for just over $5, what a great deal. My mom had given us some money, and more than we needed, so we gladly used it to bet on each of the races. We watched 5 races and my brother had success on all but the first race betting on the winning horse and banking a winnings of around 40 bucks! I wasn’t doing so hot, I missed on the first two races, and then won a small amount on a high odds horse getting 2nd, missed again on the fourth race, but the last and final race for our night there I bet an exacta box on horses 1 and 6, which meant that I need both of those horses to come in 1st and 2nd, in either order, and sure enough after a photo-finish replay by the judges, horse 1a (there were two horses “1” and “1a” for the price of one) came in second to horse 6. I banked a solid $33 on that bet of $4, not bad eh!
The Water Park of America
The next day brought with it a little bit of extra sleep, then a trip down to some lake in MN which had a bike and running path around it. My brother and I set off to run the loop, about 2 miles, while my mom and sister took the nephew to get some food. After we finished our little workout we ventured over to the Waterpark of America where we got to have a blast …
The unluckiest night of my life (really) !
After having so much fun shopping, going on rides, winning money, and splashing down waterslides I was treated with something nobody would ever dream to ask for. I’m talking of course about full projectile vomiting and diareha for 5 to 6 hours during the night while trying to get some sleep. If that were not enough the hotel we were staying in decided to loose power twice, both at times of terrible inconvenience.
Finally we drove back up to the lakes where I could relax, get some good rest, and get some of my strength back ;P