We saw a lot of wildlife yesterday. Wanna know where we went? Not sure? I'll give you a clue: there were lots of critters everywhere. See?
We went to Minneapolis for meetings and stopped in Owatonna at Cabela's on the way home. The store is being remodeled, however the mountain in the middle was still there so we walked around and enjoyed all the animals on display.
The view from high above the stairs was really neat too.
After a few minutes of exploring, we went back outside and waved goodbye.
And I hunkered down to enjoy a nice fresh bag of Cabela's best Circus Peanuts. They sure made the rest of the drive go by more quickly.
Oh yeah. It was a very good trip.
...do you see people actually wearing these hats out in public and not as a joke...
...when you ride roller coasters and a giant ferris wheel in the middle of winter...
...and stand over the old home plate of Metropolitan Stadium...
...before hanging out with Woody...
...then visit "Fallingwater," Frank Llyod Wright's house at Mill Run in Pennsylvania...
...and take in the Circus...
...while you gaze in wonder at the LEGO wall and life-size sculptures made entirely of LEGOs...
...and see Bob Harper (Biggest Loser trainer) draw a huge crowd of fans in the Microsoft Store...
...and ride a log through the woods past Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe...
...all before enjoying zesty mouthwatering barbeque with your sweetheart on a fun weekend escape...
Yep. Saturday was a fun-filled day spent exploring the Mall of America with my favorite husband. And ya wanna know sumthin'? He's gets even more fun to date the longer we're married. Thank God for Saturday escapes and carefree dates.
Besides the Minnesota State Fair, we have several favorite places in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Sunday we decided to take a little drive up there and visit some of them. So we went.
We left early so we could beat the crowd and get a good parking spot at the Mall of America. The weekend before Christmas can get a bit crowded, so we wanted to be sure we didn't have to park out in the boonies.
Inside Bloomingdale's we browsed through all the Christmas ornaments. This cute table display caught my eye. I love how the centerpieces fit on top of a cake pedestal.
Throughout the store, Christmas lights were strung, adding to the festivity.
Harry and David's was filled to overflowing with shoppers by the time we entered so I waited for Jamie outside.
Now maybe I'm just not very observant, however, I don't remember seeing these crystals hanging in the walkways before. They were gorgeous!
The newly renovated LEGO store was open for business. We stood on the floor above and admired the life size LEGO displays without having to face the crowds spilling out of the store below. So how do you become a LEGO artist? We'd like to know. Getting paid to play with LEGOs sounds super cool!
Jamie couldn't wait to show me the Christmas store on the third floor where Dept. 57 used to be. Inside we spent quite awhile looking through all the ornaments. There were several we would have liked to get. Maybe next time.
After the MOA, we hurried over to IKEA.Last time we didn't allow for enough time to fully explore all of the store so this time we were prepared. Once inside, we grabbed a map and plotted our path through the store so we wouldn't miss any of the highlights we really wanted to see. The Swedish groceries were a must-stop for several Christmas gifts.
Bachman's was the last stop of the day. It's an upscale greenhouse/floral/garden center under several greenhouse roofs. If they don't have it - good luck finding it (whatever "it" is...).
So with that fun day trip, we ended our Christmas shopping for the season and headed home to begin wrapping.
