As we were leaving Rapid City we stopped to get some donuts. We had plans to get donuts in every city but these were the only ones we got on the whole trip.
This was our view in South Dakota.
This is where we crossed the Missouri River into Chamberlain SD. South Dakota definitely wins for the best rest stops. Every one of them was clean, had bottle-filling stations and some even had digital maps. The rest stop below even had a visitor's center that talked about Lewis and Clark.
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This was one of the types of boats Lewis and Clark would use. We were kind of surprised at how much we learned on this trip.
Every rest stop also had one of these teepees. Our next stop was in Sioux Falls, SD. We had lunch at Teriyaki Madness for $38.78 then went to see the falls. It was a pretty little park.
We had to get a picture of Brandon, SD for our Brandon. We loved all the massive farms in Minnesota. It was so pretty there, we were pleasantly surprised.
Had to get a picture for our Little House in the Prairie fans.
We finally made it to Minneapolis MN. We drove right to our hotel at Embassy Suites Bloomington. It looked just like the other Embassy Suites we have stayed out in Orlando. It cost us $320.54 for two nights. After we got settled in we took a drive to see downtown Minneapolis. They had a pretty good skyline at night. The next day we went back downtown to see the historic stone arch bridge. It was built in 1882-1883 out of stones and was used as a train bridge but now it's a walking and biking bridge. It was added to the national historic landmarks in 1974. It was pretty cool seeing all the old mills and factories.
They added this lock for all the ships back in the 60's but they don't use it anymore because they don't use the Mississippi River as much for transportation. They added an apron over the falls to help protect it from erosion.
Here you can see the bridge better. We took a little tour of the locks. The pictures below show how the falls looked before they added the apron.
We then went to the Mall of America. We walked through the amusement park first then we went to find some lunch at the Shake Shack which cost us $52.49. The Mall of America is huge with four stories, tons of shops, restaurants, two miniature golf courses, and an aquarium.
We decided on the glow-in-the-dark course which cost us $46.38. It was fun, it went through the music of the decades.
Here was my hole-in-one!
We got Brady a Minnesota, long sleeve t-shirt and a sticker for $32.34 and some Linder balls at the Lindt Chocolate store for $14.45, then went to the Aquarium which cost us $89.49.
Pirahnas...
Sharks...
Sea Turtles...
Rays...
Nemo!!!
We then got some yummy shakes at Haagen Dazs for $27.49.
As we were leaving we found this cute bath and body store called Nectar Bath Treats. All their products looked like donuts, cupcakes, and sweet treats. We fell in love with their whipped hand soap so I got one for the girls at the office and a couple for us for $38.73.
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