Last week, on a beautiful day that could have been spent frolicking around a lake or biking across the river or just generally exposing my sun-starved skin to the elements, I needed to go to the Mall of America for work.
It was only for about an hour. But! The combined stress of trying to drive there and park during lunchtime and while construction is happening (to make the mall even bigger!) and just the general ickyness of the Mall of America on a weekend afternoon compared to the general delight of a Minneapolis summer weekend is reason to be dramatic. Ask anyone.
After I whined about this for a good 15 minutes, I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and a)return a bathing suit to J. Crew (I don't think one pieces are for me), b) finally get an army green jacket so I can truly call myself a blogger and c) bring my camera so I could take my faithful readers on a mini-tour of, as its called here, The Mall. Capital "T", capital "M".
In our last few months in Shreveport, I wrote a post about the mall there; a mall that should probably hand out anti-depressants as you walk in. I think the fact that my most convenient mall is now the Mall of America is a classic case of be careful what you wish for.
In case you weren't aware, there's an amusement park in the middle of the Mall of America. It features a giant ferris wheel (with a terrifying giant Dora), a roller coaster that goes upside down, and some giant swinging contraption that looks like it's going to crash through the glass ceiling and never fails to give me a slight heart attack. Also in the Mall of America: a mini-golf course, an aquarium, a comedy club, a movie theatre, and a wedding chapel.
And, obviously, a store devoted to Peeps.
Not sure why they didn't stop in Lacoste.
You know how mall maps usually take up one side of one of these things? This map takes up three sides.
Not everything about The Mall is terrible:
in the winter, you can pretty much walk a 5k without passing anything twice (there are signs marking your mileage) || On a Saturday morning at 10 am, I can park, run in and out of 5 stores and be on my way in 30 minutes. It's all about timing. || Each store somehow manages to maintain a personality and its own smell, despite being crammed in with a million other stores. I noticed this when visiting Madewell and Free People, which are right next door to each other but feel like different planets. I think that's kind of cool, slow clap store designers. || there must be a noise ordinance, because the volume at Urban Outfitters is low enough that I don't have to leave within 3 minutes || the Forever 21 has a Classy Lady section where inseams are FOUR inches as opposed to TWO inches and there is nary a crop top to be seen
LOL hard at this- the only time I go to MOA is if I happen to find myself with a day off (and even then, not a top choice of stops) OR on a Saturday and only if I get there 1 minute after the place opens and if I'm not gone by 11 my blood pressure starts to rise. The worst is that it used to be my most convenient mall too when living at home. Now I have both Ridgedale and Southdale closer.. thankfully. haha.
ReplyDeleteThe roller coaster gives me anxiety.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to go there to say I've been, but I'm also not trying to go there because I have a feeling it might make me suicidal.
ReplyDeleteLOLZ at the Lacoste comment. For a split second I thought I recognized that beard from Duck Dynasty.
I knew about the roller coasters, but I did NOT know about the wedding chapel. It's a shame I didn't know about that three years ago.