Bride Collapse(d)

We ended up going to Twin Cities - Minnesota after most of the cousins ditched San Diego's expensive flight tickets. That means if we start planning early we'll ended up in San Diego next year. That's not how I should have begun this highly anticipated blog. Let me try again..

I mentioned earlier that I would post some pictures from St. Paul, MN. The only way I would post them, is if I actually went there; I did, a day after the Bridge Collapse. If you were me, perhaps you would have called off the entire trip for fear of another bridge collapsing, but let me tell you somethin' even after a major catastrophe, life continues, cows have to be milked, the animals fed, food prepared etc.

We chose to visit only the major attractions in MN. MOA (Mall of America) was one of `em. Normally your trip to your local mall is less than 3 hrs. We had planned to give it about these many hours, but Lo and Behold! We got there at 11 a.m. and ended up leaving at 9:30 (when they finally announced that it was over) This is not your typical mall. It has more than 500 specialty stores, 50 restaurants and 14 movie theaters. Consider this fun facts:

• Mall of America is the largest, fully enclosed retail and family entertainment complex in the U.S.
• Seven Yankee Stadiums would fit inside Mall of America.
• Mall of America’s 13,300 short tons of steel is nearly twice the amount in the Eiffel Tower.
• Walking distance around one level of Mall of America is .57 of a mile.
• Spending 10 minutes in every store would take a shopper more than 86 hours to complete their visit to Mall of America.
• More than 4,200 couples have been married at Mall of America since opening in August of 1992.
• Mall of America is located on the former Metropolitan Sports Stadium which was home to the Minnesota Vikings and Twins. Home plate can be found in Camp Snoopy.
• There are 30,000 live plants and 400 live trees planted in The Park at MOA.

I drank lots and lots of Chai Tea Latte at Caribou and Starbucks.
Next we hit Minnesota Childrens' Museam, Minnesota Zoo, Minehaha Falls, Dontown St. Paul, Downtown Minneapolis, Tamtams restaurant, Famous Dave, Rochester City, Collapsed Bridge, Lori Art Festival and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
A few highlights:
@ Tam-Tam's African Restaurant we met the owner/chef, Steven Kaggwa who inspired us with his passion for cooking. You can read a review of background here. I can't tell you enough how tasty the Nyama Kyoma, Sambosas, Tilapia and Ka-Chai was, (note the Ugandan accent)
@ Minneapolis Sculpture Garden we were marveled by the Spoonbridge and Cherry which weighs more than 7000 pounds
@ Minehaha Falls no water was running. A local told us that it dries up every 50 years. How odd could it be that we there on the 50th year? You can believe that?
@ the collapsed bridge we worshiped the Lord.

When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, "Where is the whitewash you covered it with?" Ezekiel 13:12

Here are the photos