<p>My teen daughter wants me to take her and a friend here. Do you think that it is worth a trip from Florida? I have some down time till my son goes off to school the end of August, but I don’t know if this would be a fun trip. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, CJ</p>
<p>I’ve been to the Mall of America a number of times. It’s worth going to if you happen to be in Minneapolis anyway, but I wouldn’t travel all the way from Florida just to see that mall. It is, after all, a mall. It’s full of mall-type stores: The Gap, Brookstone, etc. It may be the biggest Gap you ever saw, but it is still The Gap.</p>
<p>There are the amusement park rides in the center, but those are for little kids. There are good but not great restaurants. Like I said - it’s a mall.</p>
<p>personally I wouldnt base a vacation around shopping even if it was to NYC or Italy.
I think that it is admirable that she wants to take a vacation with you, but I would be more likely to go for something that shopping was just a sideline rather than the main event
Fr instance I recently took my then- 14 yr old daughter and a friend to the pacific coast. Neither really wanted to go, but they wanted to get away- the highlight of the trip was kicking me out of the room so they could apply self tanner until I “relented” and allowed them to drive on the beach. Many cool mom points for me :)</p>
<p>No. Not worth a special trip. Come to San Francisco instead! 
</p>
<p>Mall of America is a huge mall. It has Camp Snoopy or something in the middle–an amusement park for younger kids. It’s noisy and the floor vibrates from rides. My sister gets nauseated from the noise and vibrations when she goes there. My oldest daughter went there when she was eight or nine (visiting my sister) and got lost for a couple of hours (my sister told me this after she finally found her). I went there four years ago with the girls and the two year old disappeared–I was just getting ready to call the police when we spotted some friendly teenagers walking with her, looking for her parents. After that, I swore I’d never go back there! But, in a couple of weeks I will be in Minneapolis, and maybe we’ll visit while we’re there–the two year old is now six, and we all have cell phones now to better keep track of each other, so maybe . . .</p>
<p>Mall of the Americas is somewhat disappointing in terms of shopping. It’s size, as has been mentioned, is mainly due to the amusement park in the middle. For a true shopping experience, King of Prussia Mall outside of Philadelphia is superior. Horton Plaze in downtown San Diego is also a better experience, and you get all the other neat things about San Diego with it. Dallas has a number of malls- several of which are superior to Mall of the Americas. Not worth a trip from Florida to MSP just for the mall.</p>
<p>I live in Minneapolis and I rarely go to Mall of America. It is truly nothing special - in fact the last few times I’ve been there it reminds me of going to the state fair. It’s not a place I feel safe letting my teen daughter wander either.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I think that I will try to talk my daughter out of going and maybe pick somewhere else. CJ</p>
<p>I’d suggest a trip to an interesting city like NYC, Frisco, or D.C. where there’s much more to do and see than a large mall.</p>
<p>I’ve been to the Mall. It was fine to visit since I was in Minneapolis already, but it was not worth spending hundreds of dollars to fly there to just go shopping. </p>
<p>Heck, if you want to shop, go to Toronto. You’ll be in a different country and be in a place with good shopping where the dollar goes far. There also are plenty of other interesting things to do.</p>
<p>I’ve been to the Mall a bunch of times (I live relatively close to the Twin Cities) and I don’t really think it’s anything special. I certainly wouldn’t make a special trip to see it (though I do despise shopping).</p>
<p>We just got back from looking at colleges in Minnesota, and D did get to make her “pilgrimage” to MoA. She loved it, after MoA she toured the Flour Museum in Minneapolis. Now while they did manage to make a truly dull subject rather interesting, does that tell you anything about the attractions in Minneapolis? Unless you will be heading to the lakes for canoeing/kayaking, fishing, etc.</p>
<p>Only as a consumer pilgrimage; a Meccan or Roman style tribute to the American ‘Higher-Power’.</p>
<p>I visited Mall of America a few years ago when in Minneapolis for a wedding. I certainly found it disappointing based on my expectations and tried to think why. I think it’s basically that it was quite a phenomenon when it first opened - there was little or nothing like it. Over the years, most (tho not all) of what it has to offer has come to be available at other malls around the country, so it truly is nothing special anymore.</p>
<p>flour museum? sounds like something Garrison Keillor wouldhave on his show- ya know I always thought that show was fictional guess not ;)</p>
<p>They also seem to eat a lot of rhubarb up there. ;-)</p>
<p>I love rhubarb
I have no idea what happened to my patch though it just disappeared ?</p>
<p>emeraldkity4,
mine comes up all the time, I couldn’t get rid of it. May be you can divide the root, some plants work that way like lemon grass otherwise it will die off.</p>
<p>Stereotypically, I’ve been to that museum twice, haha.</p>
<p>Garrison Keillor’s show (A Prairie Home Companion) is named for a cemetery that’s in a town near here. I’ve seen that, too. </p>
<p>Is rhubarb a regional thing?</p>
<p>I think rhubarb is a more nothern thing. I grew up in lower Delaware and never heard of it until we lived in upstate New York. It’s also grown here in Pennsylvania. Coincidentally, I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie last night. If you google rhubarb and then go to images you can see lots of pictures. You cut off the huge leaf and then cut the stem up into 1/2 inch chunks. It’s very sour and most people either love it or hate it. You can cook it down until it’s like applesauce but I like it best paired with strawberries for pie.</p>
<p>But back to the mall topic. One could easily visit the King of Prussia mall which is about 30 minutes from Philadelphia and then spend a day or two in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>rhubarb crisp (with apples), rhubarb muffins, and rhubarb with strawberries in a pie or just the two of them with loads of sugar.</p>
<p>We eat it either just cooked down like applesauce on vanilla ice cream or in a pie or cobbler- no strawberries
muffins sound good.</p>