Where Are We Sleeping Tonight: Days Inn, St Paul, Minnesota We headed out nice and early this morning as we have a long day of driving ahead of us. Passing the local Citgo gas station, we couldn't help but notice that they have a statue of an elephant wearing glasses.... hmmm.... Continuing on towards Iowa, we noticed a sign saying that the Madison town markets were happening this morning. Well I guess we can stop and have a look. It was amazing walking around the town where a couple of streets had been closed to traffic to allow numerous stands to be set up where they were selling fresh produce and local crafts. We were slightly confused by a sidewalk scribbling that outlined the steps for civil unrest... weird what people spend their time doing. As we walked back to the car, we were happy that we hadn't bought anything, but then we saw that the town library was having a sidewalk sale where they were getting rid of a lot of old books. With no rooming our luggage to pack heavy books, we only bought a couple :)
Back on the road, a little behind schedule, we headed towards Iowa. We couldn't help but notice the number of religious signs seem to be larger here than any where else we have visited. Finally arriving at the border, we once again drover over the mighty Mississippi River into the 'friendly state' of Iowa.
Driving through the state, we were amazed at the size of the corn fields - they seem to stretch for miles. I have been amazed at how much the landscape changes when you cross a state border here - nothing like back home. Here, when you cross a border, a mountain range starts, or the land goes from plantations to cattle farms - the difference is amazing clear. I guess way back when, the states used the geological formations for the borders, hence the Missippi River being the border now. As we continued driving, we noticed a very long train chugging alongside the road. Then just around the bend, the road turned and crossed the railroad tracks. Sadly we had to stop and wait what seemed like hours for the long train to move along. We are slowly running out of time today...
Finally driving again, we noticed more fields of corn that stretched all the way to the horizon. This is clearly corn country. Finally arriving in Dyersville, we saw a ride-on lawn mower festival on our way to our destination - the field where they built a baseball field for the film Field of Dreams. It was amazing to see the house and field, just as it was in the film all those years ago. They built it and we came! The best bit is that they have baseball equipment there for people to have a swing and a catch! After exploring the diamond, and the corn field, we bought a couple of pieces of movie branded items before heading off on our way.
Heading north, we saw more corn fields, more corn fields, and some more corn fields. I think we are a little over corn now... seriously! Crossing the border into Minnesota, we saw more corn fields!!
Finally away from the corn fields, we arrived in the twin cities. One of the very first things that was on my list of places to visit was The Mall of America - the largest indoor shopping mall in the USA! And boy is it everything I thought it would be and more. The centre of the mall houses the Nickelodeon Universe fun park, complete with numerous roller coasters and other kid friendly attractions. The basement houses the Sea Life Aquarium with 300ft long Ocean Tunnel, and there is close to 600 stores in the mall! We started exploring but due to the size of the place, it started closing before we had seen half of the place. We are so coming back here tomorrow! The highlight that we have seen here would have to be the huge Lego store, complete with numerous Lego recreations, including a 3 story high Battletech-esque robot!
We headed out to the nearest hotel that TomTom could find and were amazed by the storm that was happening. There was never ending lightning but no thunder (that we could hear) and very little rain. It was a sight to see... and a little frightening at the same time.
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