Day Twelve: Big Stuff

We hit the highway early this morning trying to make up some of the time lost in Glacier National Park. Sadly, our usual unusual roadside attractions were few and far between as we made tracks through North Dakota. However, we did manage to spot the first metal sculpture that marks a detour route known as the “Enchanted Highway.” Apparently the road is littered with various huge metal sculptures, but we didn’t take time for the detour so I just had to be happy with the first one we spotted.

We noticed some other “big” stuff as well. While Carl was taking a nap, I looked up from the road and noticed a HUGE cow up on the hillside. Later on we also spotted the “World’s Largest Buffalo.” Apparently North Dakota has a lot of big stuff, but not much else. (We were unable to get any photos of our own from the highway, these are compliments of http://www.roadsideamerica.com )

The winds in North Dakota were brutal and really did a number on our gas mileage.At lunchtime we had to not only stop for food and fuel, but we had also put enough miles on the truck to warrant an oil change. Sitting in the lobby of the Jiffy-Lube, we had the opportunity to watch the weather channel for the first time on our trip. Turns out that the area we were traveling through was suffering server wind with gust up to 40mph! With everything in order we set our sites on Minneapolis and tried our best to deal with the harsh gust which thrashed against the truck and trailer.

Finally we arrived in the city and made tracks for the Mall of America. It really is not that much bigger than Virginia’s own Tyson’s Corner; however, add in three stories of shops and place an amusement park in the middle and it becomes quite impressive.

We ate dinner in the food court which is on the third floor and overlooks the roller coasters (we counted at least three). Then we strolled around and looked at a few shops.

The Mall of America not only has an amusement park we found out. It also has an adventure golf course on the top level, and an aquarium in the basement. Unfortunately, both of these were closing up for the evening once we found them.

Back outside the mall, we snapped a quick photo with the sign and then headed away from the neon glow and towards our campsite. After a long day’s worth of driving, the rest was greatly appreciated.