3 floors of stores and a mini roller coaster make for an awkward time at the mall 07/08

Jolly green giant was very giantlike. Not really a lot else in blue earth besides that. And corn. I don’t think I’ve gone a single rural mile since st louis without seeing at least a little bit of corn. It’s like we could feed the world off of the corn I’ve seen.

I got to the Mall of America around 6ish and walked around for about 3 hours. As far as being the biggest mall in America, I can believe it. It even had two of some stores to save you the 10 minute walk to the other side of the mall. I noticed two of the following: American Eagle, Fossil, Abercrombie and Fitch, the Disney store, and Express.

The theme park in the middle was Nickelodeon themed, and was very interesting. However, since I lacked the company of someone 12 or under, I didn’t ride any of the 20 or so rides they had (including a roller coaster…in the mall!). I’d venture to say that 60-70 percent of the third floor was a food court. They had everything ranging from Taco Bell to a super fancy restaurant with 15 dollar appetizers.

I had the pleasure of being part of an awkward sexual joke while at the mall. I went in to a game store (like, board games and such) just to poke around. The girl behind the counter said she liked my jacket (my Star Wars one). Her bizarre looking male co-worker, having hair evoking memories of Sideshow Bob’s (from the Simpson’s), said, “Ya, that’s because she wants to dress up like a stormtrooper.”

He said this like it was a bad thing, but it definitely piqued my interest. I for one would love to have my own personal Mandalorian armor, so I can see the draw in having a Star Wars style costume. As I was about to remark on the subject, Sideshow Bob noticed that the front of my jacket had an AT-AT driver on it. He said, “Ah, speaking of stormtroopers…”

I, of course, showed him his folly. The girl behind the counter was quick to back me up. Sideshow Bob then said, “Oh well its all the same.” Then he turned to the girl and suggestively said, “I’d bet you’d like to drive something.” Then there was a very long awkward moment where she didn’t know what to say and I didn’t know how to respond to being the butt of a sexual joke (no pun intended). Sideshow Bob was pleased with his little joke and turned, smirking, in the opposite direction.

The silence was finally broken when the girl said, “But ya, cool jacket.” I said thanks, and then walked out of the store, not really knowing what else to do, or if would have even been appropriate to stay.

After the mall, installed some curtains in my camper. And by installed, I mean I Velcroed some green fabric to the wall to cover up where my vent/fan allows people to peep in.

I then tried to secure lodging for the night. My battery was running low and needed to be recharged, so I tried searching for a nearby state or national park. The nearest one was 45 minutes away, so I just went to that one. I should have taken more time to look at the website, because the one I went to (Afton State Park), did not have sites available for campers or RVs. Only tents. Luckily, or so I thought, there was a piece of paper noting that there was camping available for RVs and trailers about 4 miles down the road at St. Croix Regional Park. I happily went down the 4 miles, only to be confronted with a gate.

A GATE! At a camping park! Who ever heard of such a thing? This thing was high tech with it’s keypad staring me in the face, taunting me because I didn’t know the access code. I tried about 7 different things before it started making a constant, loud, highly irritating beep for the next 30 seconds. I gave up, frustrated, and decided my battery would have to wait another day to be charged. I pulled in to the closest hotel parking lot and conked out.