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Thursday, June 14, 2007 -
We left Waterloo early Thursday morning and headed north for three hours to Minneapolis. We arrived at the Mall of America as our first stop and the kids enjoyed seeing just how large it really is! Each of the three floors is approximately a mile around and every store known to man is found there! In the middle of the mall is an amusement park complete with several roller coasters and a log flume! We had lunch and the kids enjoyed one ride on a roller coaster before heading over to Park Minnehaha, located near downtown Minneapolis.
The New England poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, gave a Minneapolis waterfall national fame, but he himself never saw the 53-foot Falls he wrote of in 1853 in his poem "The Song of Hiawatha".
On the grounds of Park Minnehaha is the John Stevens House. Originally located near St. Anthony Falls, the house was home to Col. John H. Stevens and is believed to be the first home built west of the Mississippi in Minneapolis. Stevens had permission in 1850 to occupy the site, which was part of the Fort Snelling military reservation, in exchange for providing ferry service. The Dakota Indians sometimes camped around the house. In this house, the name "Minneapolis" was suggested as a name for the city.
We decided it would be fun to rent a four person bicycle as a great way to see the park. Although it was fun, it was sure a lot harder than in looked! Everyone thought he was the only one peddling! We made a couple of loops around the park before our hour was up.
We headed into town to the Marquette Hotel where we would be spending the night. It was a short walk from there to the stadium where we had tickets to the Braves versus Twins baseball game scheduled for that evening. The game was a lot of fun even though the Braves lost in the last inning! It was fun to see our home team play so far away!
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