my second vacation
Minnesota was pretty bland and unwonderful compared to Banff, but I guess I should have expected that. Most of the places we went were either indoors or artificial (like the zoo), so there was none of the majestic beauty of Sulphur Mountain or Lake Louise.
Instead, we saw another huge mall. Patty may think they're majestic, but I've always thought they're just a lot more walking than a normal mall, and a lot more stupid stores to go to. As she was quick to point out, I actually bought more stuff than she did. We went to a shoe store full of advertisements that showed models from the waist up, which I thought was hilarious. Patty didn't care, though.
We went to a zoo, where most of the exhibits were closed, and it was raining just a little bit. I had a staring contest with a monkey, and saw some animals fighting one another. We also watched a dolphin show (which Patty would refer to as "the highlight of the trip" when I asked her).
Funny as it may sound, I think the thing I liked most about the zoo was that it was full of elementary-school-aged children, who were there on a field trip of some kind. Patty was annoyed at this, because they were so clearly ruining our good time, but to me it made me feel nostalgic of a time when I would have enjoyed something like a zoo a lot more than I really was. It made Patty nostalgic too, I could tell, but she didn't say anything outright. One thing she did say was that we should buy some candy (which we did) and show off to all the little kids how we have money and we can buy things at the zoo (obviously something she remembers not being able to do as a child). The fact that we're adults, and have our own money---something that caused us so much frustration as children---really brightened me up a lot.
So that was our trip to the Twin Cities. I wouldn't go there a second time.
Instead, we saw another huge mall. Patty may think they're majestic, but I've always thought they're just a lot more walking than a normal mall, and a lot more stupid stores to go to. As she was quick to point out, I actually bought more stuff than she did. We went to a shoe store full of advertisements that showed models from the waist up, which I thought was hilarious. Patty didn't care, though.
We went to a zoo, where most of the exhibits were closed, and it was raining just a little bit. I had a staring contest with a monkey, and saw some animals fighting one another. We also watched a dolphin show (which Patty would refer to as "the highlight of the trip" when I asked her).
Funny as it may sound, I think the thing I liked most about the zoo was that it was full of elementary-school-aged children, who were there on a field trip of some kind. Patty was annoyed at this, because they were so clearly ruining our good time, but to me it made me feel nostalgic of a time when I would have enjoyed something like a zoo a lot more than I really was. It made Patty nostalgic too, I could tell, but she didn't say anything outright. One thing she did say was that we should buy some candy (which we did) and show off to all the little kids how we have money and we can buy things at the zoo (obviously something she remembers not being able to do as a child). The fact that we're adults, and have our own money---something that caused us so much frustration as children---really brightened me up a lot.
So that was our trip to the Twin Cities. I wouldn't go there a second time.