Another Dot on the Map

On Memorial Day weekend, I added another dot on my travel map. Not just any dot, but the newest one on Southwest's City Map - Minneapolis, MN (MSP). We started service there on March 8 of this year but long before that, about the time it was announced we would start service to MSP, my family started planning a trip.

Aunt Judy, my grandmother's sister, has lived in the Minneapolis area for about 4 years; Jan (her daughter) and Connally have been there for much longer. Yet none of us had made it up to that part of the Midwest to visit them. The newest Freedom to Fly addition was the perfect opportunity.

My parents and my grandmother flew up on Thursday with no problems. Being a holiday weekend, my trip on Friday wasn't as easy and I ended up spending the night in Chicago (don't worry, a little Giordano's made it a worth while stop), then flew up to the Twin Cities the next morning.

The first stop was a place for which Minneapolis is well known - The Mall of America. I can't imagine trying to do your regular mall shopping there, it could take days! Among the highlights were walking through the amusement park, the Lego store, the American Girl store, and the largest scrapbooking store I've ever seen (Holly - the fastest scrapbooker I know - you would have loved this place!). We also found some Mall of America postcards in the official mall store.

Mom and I above the Lego Place.

The amazing scrapbooking store

After the mall, we all hopped on the light rail (I just love cities with good public transportation) and stopped off at the Metrodome - where the Twins play baseball. Most of us got our pictures made with the "team" while we were there. See if you can find me :)

The rest of the weekend included hamburgers and horseshoes at Jan and Connally's house (I wish I had a picture - they've fixed up a 1950's house and it looks amazing) and antique shopping on main street Anoka, where Judy lives. We also took a walk to the Mississippi River and enjoyed Judy's potroast dinner.

Evidently May is the time to visit Minnesota, after the cold and before the bugs. We had perfect weather and a great weekend.