Mall of America, Minneapolis

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY KAITLIN!

Sunshine lollipops and rainbows everywhere! Today, Jon and I woke up at 8:15 am to get our free continental breakfast. They had donuts, bread, cereal and waffle batter to make waffles. We went back to sleep and officially woke up at 10:00 am. We arrived at Mall of America at around 11:20am. The mall had 3 levels, one of which is where the movie theatre was. This is the largest mall in America, containing 520 stores, 50 restaurants, a theme park (Nickelodeon Universe) and an aquarium. The theme park was very cute and very child-oriented. Of course, Jon wanted to go on the rides but he was too cheap to pay. We’ll also be going to Six Flags which is a roller coaster filled park quite soon.

The mall is divided into North, East, South and West quadrants. The major department stores included Sears, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. There were several Gap stores e.g. Gap Women, Gap maternity, Gap, Gap Body, Gap Kids and Gap baby. There were also several Caribou Coffee stores which Jon thinks is the American version of Tim Horton’s.

When Jon and I went into Abercrombie and Fitch, we saw was seems to be smoke coming from a vent. It was perfume that was being sprayed into the store. Jon kept on saying he was having a lung arrhythmia because he was suffocating from the fumes. It was quite stinky. As we walked into Gilly Hicks Sydney, a lingerie store from the Abercrombie family, the salesperson standing by the door was literally shouting at us. She was telling us about the sales and so forth but she was speaking so loudly it was disturbing. Jon had the idea of saying GOOD BYE really loudly as we left but he didn’t get a chance to as she was talking to other customers. Ha ha! I bought a navy tank top at Hollister for $8. Jon bought socks at Marshall’s for $8 as well. We also bought a Lindt Amarena Cherry Creme. It’s a new chocolate bar with a cherry crème filling. I have never seen this in Vancouver and I would bring it back but this needs to be kept no higher than room temperature which is not possible. We’ll let you know how it tastes.

For lunch, we ate at Auntie Anne’s Pretzel. They had a deal where if you bought 3 items, you would get 1 free. So we bought 2 hot dog pretzels, an almond pretzel and Jon’s favourite pretzel sticks with cheese dip. The total came to $10.

We came across a store called MagiQuest. It is an interactive wizard game. You walk around with a wand and you point it at the screens to kill dragons and perform magic spells. It was an interesting idea. There was also another store called A.C.E.S. Flight simulation where you pay $29.95 for 30 minutes in a mock aircraft. You are fighting people in the air in the plane and it simulates that experience.
We found out that there is no tax on clothes and shoes here. Pretty cool!

After we left Mall of America, we drove to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. We saw a large spoon with a cherry as well as others. As Jon was driving on the freeway, he kept on getting lost because of all the construction. Sometimes, the exits would be blocked so we couldn’t leave the freeway. Other times, the freeway splits off into left and right and his GPS is not that clear on which lane to stay in. We
found our way eventually.

We bought groceries at Cub Foods. Food there is quite cheap. We bought grapes for 78 cents/ lb. Bananas for 48 cents/ lb. Shredded cheese (2 cups) for $1.99. We’ll be making pasta tonight with Caesar salad. We’ll also finish watching Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Rings.

Good Night!

Minneapolis

Greetings from America! Jon and I crossed the border into North Dakota at around 2pm. Early this afternoon, we drove to Altona where we saw a large painting on an easel. I think it was copy of Vincent Van Gogh’s work. It was pretty cool because it was so large. In addition, Jon and I had a twizzler sword fight. I was victorious. MWAHAHAH!

When we were crossing the border, we had our car searched because we had so many things in the truck. Fortunately, there was no line up. We used our Nexus’ which SHOULD allow you to go through the border faster but there was no line designated for Nexus holders. All the lines had a nexus scanner but you would have to wait in line like everyone else. So I’m not sure what the point of having a Nexus is when crossing at Pembina. When Jon’s wallet was being searched by the border guard, the guard liked Jon’s Ray Ban sunglasses. Ha ha. All is well and we made it through.
As we were driving in Grand Forks, Dakota, we saw a Little Caesars. Earlier in the day, Jon mentioned that he wanted crazy sticks which are breadsticks from here. So we bought a large pepperoni pizza, crazy sticks with pizza sauce and a 2 L bottle of Crush. The total came to $9.62 USD!!! It’s so cheap! Jon and I ate half of the pizza. We’re saving the rest for dinner.

Yesterday, Jon and I watched half of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. It was quite good. However, Jon kept on saying “my precious” like Golem in the movie. If you know me, you’d know I’m terrible with names. MOVIE SPOILER: I was asking Jon if Dumbledore dies because he lost the fight to the wizard with iron-straighten white hair. He kept on laughing at me because the wizard’s name isn’t Dumbledore (Harry Potter) but Gandolf. I would also call Gandolf, Gandwarf. Ha-ha. Jon had to prep me on the names of the character before watching. Funny! Hopefully we will have time to watch the rest of the first movie.

We arrived at Travelodge Minneapolis. There was lots of driving involved so not many pictures today. We stopped at McDonalds in St. Cloud and ordered a strawberry banana smoothie. It was quite tasty. We also saw a McDonald’s gas station. As we were pulling into the Travelodge, we saw the restaurant called Hooters. We’ve both never been. Jon asked me if it was on the same level as Moxy’s. I said that I didn’t know but it looks like it would be similar to church’s chicken. Ha-ha. Tomorrow, we’ll spend the whole day at Mall of America, the largest mall in America. We also get complimentary breakfast but we have to wake up before 9. Tonight, we’ll watch some more Lord of the Rings.

Good Night!

Winnipeg: Forks, St. Boniface, Downtown, Exchange District, Chinatown, Assiniboine Park

Greetings from Winnipeg! Jon did not sleep well at the hostel we’re staying in. At this hostel, it’s really cold because they love air conditioning and the walls are white. Jon characterizes this place as awful but I don’t think it’s that bad. We have our own washroom so I’m happy.

Anyways, this morning, Jon and I walked through downtown Winnipeg in its Shopping, Exchange, and Cultural district as well as Chinatown. The exchange district is where you’ll find the major banks and where they have their Grain Exchange building. This district is the original centre of commerce and culture back in the early 20th century. The Cultural district houses the Manitoba Museum, concert hall and theatres.

In Winnipeg, the Chinatown here is about 1/8th, or even less, the size of Vancouver’s. It consists of a handful of restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets. Maybe Jon and I didn’t go deep enough but from what I saw there were about 5 restaurants, 1 bakery and 1 supermarket. At the supermarket, Jon bought his beloved strawberry pocky. We also went to the Maxim bakery. You may recognize this bakery as it can be found in Chinatown Vancouver and at Metrotown near T and T. Well, I had such a bad craving for Chinese buns so we bought 4. I bought 2 cocktail buns...my favourite! Jon bought a curry bun and a bbq pork bun. He said the curry one didn’t’ taste like much but he liked the bbq pork bun. With cocktail buns, you can’t really have a BAD bun. My favourite cocktail buns come from Michelle’s bakery in kerrisdale, FYI.

Anyways, Winnipeg is having a Fringe theatre festival which showcases theatre companies, and performances. Jon and I walked into it as we were heading back to our room but unfortunately, we were too early. The festival began at noon but we were there at around 11:30am.

I noticed that the town shuts down on Sunday. Many stores are closed on Sundays or open at noon which is quite late. In the Vancouver, you don’t see that much.

After we finished walking through downtown, we drove to The Forks. This reminds me of Granville Island and is located at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Jon and I had accidentally walked over the Provencher Bridge but was surprised to see a restaurant called Salisbury House sitting in the middle of the bridge. We ordered a large twist (chocolate and vanilla) ice cream cone from here and it was deeelicious. It was super creamy! What a good find especially for a sunny day! However, when we went to the Forks market, there were lots of stores selling ice-cream and frozen yogurt. When Jon saw this, he was sad because he wanted frozen yogurt, as well as fish n’ chips. Oh well!

At the market, they had cute stores and was less crowded than Granville Island but there weren’t a lot of stores. As Jon and I were leaving, there was a street performer with his dog. His dog was doing tricks like back twists, jumping on the owner’s back and catching the Frisbees. We walked a little further and saw these boys on bikes playing some sort of street hockey. They were using sticks that looked like it had a cup holder on the other end of it; this is where the ball goes. They were biking back and forth trying to score. Jon and I have never seen it before. Jon suggested that we join them with our skateboard and scooter. Ha-ha!

As we were walking to our car, we came across a skateboard park. We saw two little brothers, the oldest one not older than 5, both on scooters in the park. THEY WERE SO CUTE. The teenage skateboarders around them knocked over a bin and would jump over the bin on their skateboard. The oldest little boy would scooter to the side of the bin and hop on his scooter, as if he’s jumping over the bin. It was so cute. His little brother would follow his older brother around. What a cute sight!

After leaving Forks, we drove to Winnipeg’s French Quarter and Old St. Boniface. There we saw Louis Riel’s tomb, Louis Riel being the founder of Manitoba and the Métis leader. We also saw the house of Gabrielle-Roy, a 20th century author of novels such as Streets of Riches and the Tin Flute. Lastly, we saw the St. Boniface Cathedral-Basilica. This cathedral had been rebuilt due to a 1968 fire.

Jon took a nap and is well rested. We drove to Polo Park Shopping Centre and had Arby’s since Jon was craving it for a while. He had 2 BBQ bacon melts and I had beef and cheddar melt with curly fries and Dr. Pepper. Jon was satisfied. He had been yearning for Arby’s since Alberta.

Afterwards, we drove to Assiniboine Park to see the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden. This garden has over 300 bronze sculptures, ceramics and paintings. Jon kept on saying “it’s Gooorgeous baaaby” (think Fran Drescher). It’s quite annoying after the 10th time but that’s my baby...my goooorgeous baaaby!

We were going to go to Shoppers but the one we went to closed at 6pm. There was a Safeway beside it but that too closed at 6pm. So we returned home.

Jon finished planning for the next few days. Tomorrow, we’ll be Minneapolis. We’ll wash up early and try to watch lord of the rings...or at least part of it. Jon wants me to be cultured in nerdom. Ha ha.

FYI: We (Jon) have/ has driven over 3500kms averaging 22.5mpg.

Spirit Sand, St. Claude, Elm Creek, Winnipeg

Good Afternoon! Jon and I left early afternoon from Glenboro to the Spruce Woods provincial Park where we hiked at the Spirit Sand Dunes. In total, we hiked 5.6 km mainly in sand. It was quite interesting how the landscape can be so vastly different in different parts of provinces. The sand was quite nice. Jon compares it to beach sand.

On the hike, there were lots of mosquitos and bugs. The mosquitos were all over me. Fortunately, I wore the long black pants, which were de-fuzzed yesterday. Jon and I also put on mosquito repellant. However, somehow, a big black bug managed to fly into the inside of my pants. Of course i screamed. Jon said something really funny. On this trip he’s been making poems and songs. He said something like “I’m not embarassed by you but proud of you for walking around with your shirt tucked into your pants. Your pants into your socks. Your socks into your shoes and you chin strap behind your ears.” Haha. After the bug in my pants, i had no choice.

While we were trying to figure out how to get to Spruce woods provincial park, I discovered a place called Neepawa which is north of Glenboro. This place is the “World Lily Capital” because more varieties of lilies are grown in the area than anywhere ese in the world. We’ll try to go there on the way back. Jon said he may trade me for another Lily. I told him that “well then i hope that place is nice”. Haha

We’re on our way to St. Claude to see a large pipe.

Edit:

We went to St. Claude to see a large pipe and Elm Creek to see a large fire hydrant.

We're now in Winnipeg at our hostel. It's cold here but not too bad. There was thunder when we were driving here. Now, it's raining so we'll just stay in and watch a movie.

Have a good night!

glenboro

hey everyone,
jon and i are in glenboro, manitoba. i wrote a post for today but we don't have wifi and our rogers rocket stick that gives us wireless internet doesn't work here so i will post what we did today tomorrow.

a summary is: walked around regina downtown, went to fort qu'appelle where we saw a big teepee, motherwell homestead national museum where there was a nice house, kipling where was a big red paper clip, boissevain where we saw a big turtle, glenboro where we saw a big camel.

We're at the bar that's beside our inn. There are about 8 people in this bar now and we're listening "picture" by kid rock and sheryl crow on a juke box. they are singing karaoke. Very funny.

Good night.

It's good to be in a small town with the locals.

There was a time zone change so we're 2 hours ahead of BC.

Edit:

Hello everyone. Jon did not sleep as well as he would have liked because University of Regina dorms are not cheap with their air conditioning. Jon was cold during the night. I on the other hand was okay because I felt cold initially so I wore a sweater to sleep. We drove around downtown Regina. They had a really pretty parliament building and bridge. They also had lots of geese. Jon and i went to Safeway to buy pizza buns. We really like them because they are extraordinarily cheesy.

We were off to Fort Qu’Appelle where we saw another giant Teepee, one of our big things. We also drove to Motherwell Homestead National Historic Site to see a pretty house. When we got there, we didn’t know you had to pay for a tour. We thought it wasn’t worth it so we just took a picture there. It was quite a nice red house.

Then we drove to Kipling where we saw a large paper clip. Today was mainly a driving day. We even drove on a dirt road. Jon is not too happy with the birds on the road because the birds stand in the middle of the road. Jon, of course, honks at them to try to get them to move but Jon was quite close to hitting some birds which would have been very unfortunate. When we were driving to Glenboro, there was a sea of dragonflies flying towards our car. It was scary to see so many things fly towards you but good thing we weren’t riding a motorcycle.

While jon was driving, i spent 45 minutes picking off the fuzzies from my black pants. The lint roller i bought didn’t work for my fuzzies. I didn’t have anything better to do so it’s not time wasted. I shall wear those pants tomorrow when we go hiking.

We have crossed the provincial boarder and are now in Manitoba. We went to Boisssevain to see a large turtle and now, we’re at Glenboro where we saw a camel and where we’ll be staying the night. It’s really hot in the room we’re in even though we have air conditioning. Due to the time zone change, we’re now operating 2 hours ahead of vancouver. The first time zone change was at Banff or somewhere near there so right now, it’s 9:33pm. We’ll sleep early because we’ll be hiking tomorrow to see cactus-filled dunes. Exciting!!

Good Night!

P.S. I was bitten again today. This is so sad but I think by the end of this trip, I would have had a bug bite from each province/state I travelled to.

Taber, Medicine Hat, Maple Creek, Moose Jaw

Good day everyone! Jon and i had a good sleep at out $4.91 hostel. We left at around 10:45am to browse around downtown Lethbridge. It has your major box stores like safeway, london drugs, save on foods, for example. We went to dollarama to get a lint roller and bag clips. The lint roller is for my black pants which i threw in the washer and dryer with a white fluffy towel. We then went to save on foods to get more water, bread, fruit and such. Did you know that save on foods sells gas? Well they do. They also give you money back for filling up with them like superstore has gasbucks.

Jon and I left to go to Taber where there was 2 large corn stalks. This was a “big thing” which is essentially a very large thing. Jon and I are trying to take pictures with most of the big things in canada. Our first big thing was smokey the bear from Revelstoke.

After Taber, we went to Bow Island where we took a picture of a large golf club. Then we went to Medicine Hat where we took a picture of the Saamis Tepee, another big thing.

We have crossed into Saskatchewan now. Our first stop was at Maple Creek which was described as a town that looks like the Old West. It looks nothing like the Old West. It just looks old. We had to drive 8km to get there so that was a bit of a waste. We’re now heading to Moose Jaw where we’ll try to do the tour of the tunnels.

Edit: We are at the University of Regina. We’re staying at their dorms. It’s not bad. Jon said that the buildings here are quite nice. In fact, the dorm that we’re staying at is apparently better than Gage, on UBC campus. I have 2 additional mosquito bites. I’m sad!!!!! I shall use mosquito repellant tomorrow.

We stopped at Moose Jaw where we saw the Passage to Fortune tour at the tunnels of Moose Jaw. It was very sad. The tour retells the story of the hardship chinese immigrants experienced when coming to canada around 1885 for the railway. The story follows the life of Mah Lee who in China was a herbalist but when he came to Canada, worked on the railway and then in a laundry. He worked for 35 cents but half of that went to paying for his food and living arrangements. He ate and lived in the laundry where it was cramped, mold, hot and smelly. The tour was good but it’s weird saying something is good when it’s so sad. The audience (jon and I) were part of the tour and we played the chinese immigrants. This was weird because the tour guide was caucasian and she was pretending to be the laundry owner’s wife back then and was yelling at us. However, it’s part of the tour. It’s just a little weird. After seeing this tour, it definitely makes me appreciate what i have.

When we were walking to get tickets for the Passage to Fortune tour, a random guy asked us if we’ve ever heard of country music. Jon and I said yes. Then he said “good...” then proceeded to sing a country song. Jon thinks it was funny.

We ate at a local vietnamese restaurant. Actually, Jon was craving Arby’s but there isn’t one here. So we ate Pho. The soup was very different from the ones i’ve have in the lower mainland. The best description that i could think of is instant noodle soup. It tastes sort of like dilute nissin beef noodle soup. It wasn’t bad tasting. Very much edible but different. The beef ball were better here. They had bits of black pepper in it and was very chewy. Jon had beef with his noodles and it wasn’t like pho beef. It was more like normal beef you use in stirfry. The meat selection was limited. It was either beef balls and noodles or beef noodles. I told jon we should try something in different provinces and see how it tastes. It’s either sweet and sour pork, which we’ve tried in Banff or pho noodles. We’re thinking of pho noodles but we’ll see how that works out. I don’t feel that comfortable eating pho noodles in winnipeg but that’s just me.

After dinner, the restaurant (Saigon) gave us fortune cookies. They tasted like play doh. Now there are 4 things that taste like play doh: 1) play doh 2) so nice soymilk 3) cookies from quiznos 4) fortune cookies from moose jaw

We checked out the moose jaw casino. It was small but wasn’t bad looking. Jon said it wasn’t as good as he thought it would be. Jon also wants to let you all know that his new shoes are squeaky but he likes to dance in his shoes. He also said that his shoes will let other animals know we’re coming if we go hiking. Ha ha

Good night everyone! Tomorrow, we’ll explore downtown Regina, then we’ll drive into Manitoba.