Today was in reality one of the less interesting points of this trip as our only goal for today was to get back across the dust belt of America and go through Minneapolis in the morning. We were supposed to explore the city. After leaving Ashleys dad early in the morning we stopped for gas on the way to the city. The whole evening and morning was spent driving to reach the downtown area to go to breakfast at a local breakfast area. The downtown area was very attractive and the city skyline was one of my favorites for any metro area I had visited this trip.
After breakfast our only goals for the day was to walk the downtown area, and check out the Cathedral. This was to be along the walking route. We discovered many smalls parks and unique metro buildings that rivaled any large buildings in New York or Chicago. we enjoyed the weather but as mentioned there was not much time to sink our teeth into the city as we had a goal of getting through the state by night fall into Chicago.
The Basilica of Saint Mary of Minneapolis was definitely impressive and rivaled any cathedral one would see in Europe. This was a nice surprise, and we were able to explore the cathedral and listen to the live organ playing which almost seemed to transport one to another universe in sublimity. The church inside resembled the pantheon cathedral in Paris. this is also the largest church in Minneapolis and Minnesota.
We wrapped up this adventure for the mid day and decided to head to the famous Mall of America, which is the largest in the United States, and perhaps could be considered our primary destination for the day. Ashley got a haircut, and I explored various retail shops before we grabbed Starbucks coffee and headed eastward. Once we had our fill of the malls we started our drive and made it halfway through Wisconsin before it was time for dinner, and since we were not camping we decided to get a nice dinner at Culvers which would be the first time had ever tried one of their famous butter burgers. I was impressed!
Nonetheless after this we headed towards Chicago and bought a hotel for the night at Super 8 and enjoyed being in a place with roof over our head for the night. After buying beer for the room we passed out immediately after an incredibly long day of driving. Time to explore the windy city tomorrow!
EXPENSES
12.55 gas
6.60 breakfast coffee
35 breakfast
9 parking
9.43 lunch qdoba
56 chicago hotel
1.50 water
19.03 gas
5 tolls
17.04 culvers dinner
22.19 gas
3.72 snacks
Total – 206.82