This time we found it for serious...

So, day two in Minnesota. Not yet painting. Well, Steve and Carole were painting all day... and I think Dawn, Steve, Carol and Bob were actually painting until the wee hours of the morning yesterday.



But we had a free day to explore this fine city.

It began with a walk to the light rail transit stop down the street. We decided to get off at a stop called "Downtown East/Metrodome" - and there was a thing that looked like Toronto's Skydome there. Or, The Rogers Center, as I believe it's called these days.

We walked for a bit, then ran into Lucy




And a very strange tennis match downtown. I mean, the tennis match wasn't exactly strange. Except for the pregnant tennis player, maybe. But it was in a very, um, unconventional location.



Across the street, there were these statues.



Why is this family so afraid? Tennis-related trauma in their past, perhaps?

And speaking of fear, pretty much everywhere we went, we could be certain to find one of these notices lurking about nearby.


I guess the signs themselves are more reassuring than anything... while I'm "on the premises"... but what does it imply about when I'm off the premises again?


Anyway, we went for lunch, and played a game of war. A game that never ended. I hate war. It's a beautiful bit of social commentary, when you think about it. There is nothing to that card game... it's all random, luck of the draw, bs. It is the most mindless card game you can possibly play. War.



Back on the light rail... we crossed the city towards...

The Mall of America!

And as soon as we get in the doors, we see this:



And there are Lego dinosaurs, and rollercoasters, and a animatronic moose - and I'm sure this is the beating heart of America.








You know those pictures they try to sell you after you get off of a rollercoaster, the one's of your frightened faces. Well, in the digital age, rather than pay for these sucker scams, people take pictures of the screens that they're previewed on. And I take pictures of people taking pictures of their picture.



Also, Julia was just tall enough to ride.



And there was this ice cream place that took basic ice cream flavours (well, as basic as "cheesecake" or "coffee" could be), then added ingredients and mixed them together in front of you. Trust me, it was weirder than that sounds.


Uh, and, Bubba Gump Shrimp apparently came into the picture at some point.