This weekend, my mom and I packed up our suitcases, drove out to Dallas Love Field and flew away for the weekend. A weekend away couldn't get here fast enough. Things have been so busy at work and in our personal lives. We were looking forward to having a much needed weekend away from all the busyness of our day to day lives.
Now if you know my mom and me, you know that we are shoppers. We are the type of gals to leave early in the morning to go shopping, and we don't come home until 9 or 10 or sometimes even later depending how late malls and stores stay open! Our shopping stamina is insane. Not to mention we also love a good deal or sale! I mean, who doesn't?! My sisters, on the other hand, are complete opposites. They enjoy shopping, of course, but their style is more "in and out". They quickly browse, get what they need and head out.
So as you can see, it only makes sense that the Mall of America has been on our Bucket List for quite some time now. Thanks to my thoughtful and sweet husband, he made that dream come true. Colt did all the leg work for booking the flights, booking the hotel accommodations and so forth. I know that alone takes a lot of work and we were truly grateful. What a surprise! Mom and I have been counting down the days to our weekend getaway. On Thursday, the time had finally come!
We flew out around 8 a.m. on Thursday morning. We had a quick stop in St. Louis but we didn't have to change planes. The flight attendants were super sweet and told us that we were going to love the mall and love the people in Minnesota. We landed in Minneapolis around noon and we picked up our luggage, found our shuttle and headed to the hotel. Thanks to Colt's hotel status, we didn't have to wait until 3 pm to check in and were able to check in right away! Mom and I dropped off our luggage and headed back to the shuttle. We only had a weekend and we were not about to waste any time getting to the mall!
Excited for a new adventure!
Fun in the airport when we landed.
We arrived at the mall and we were in awe! People had told us that we would be unimpressed, that it was just like any mall here, and that we wouldn't like it. Boy, were they wrong! We LOVED IT! Saying the mall was huge is an understatement! We were told that the mall has been recently renovated and it is gorgeous. Shiny white tile, beautiful natural light, so.many.stores.
The largest Nordstrom I've ever seen!
Bucket list checked off!
Roller coasters and Farris Wheel inside the mall! Wow!
We spent the remainder of the day checking out a few stores, ate dinner there and caught a late movie before heading back to our hotel. It had been a long day and we were ready to take off our makeup, shower and kick up our feet. We had an early and busy day the next day! I'm glad we headed back to the hotel at that time because I had the world's worst migraine come on and I needed to lay down. The beds and pillows in the hotel felt like we were sleeping on clouds. We got 10-12 hours of sleep a night and we never get that many hours of sleep a night. It was much needed! Pure heaven.
Friday morning we woke up early, got dressed and realized it was pouring rain. We had planned to walk across the street from our hotel and catch breakfast at Einstein's Bagels but it was pouring rain and freezing cold. We called an Uber and had Alexander drive us to breakfast instead. He was a very kind, sweet and talkative gentleman. It was my mom's first time trying out Uber and she loved it! She was so impressed. Uber is seriously the best thing ever. In fact, every Uber driver we had this weekend was friendly and phenomenal. We had a delicious, healthy breakfast and great conversation. Afterwards, we ordered another Uber ride and headed out to one of the local Catholic churches. Fridays during Lent we are attending "Stations of the Cross" so we found a service at noon and decided to check it out, much thanks to the app called "Mass Times.Org"! If you're interested in learning more about what Stations of the Cross are, this website has a great explanation!
It takes a small village of makeup to get me ready for the day! Hah! And this is only the "travel size" version that I brought with me!
The people at this local church were so friendly and helpful. They took the time to show us around, explain their church's history and chat with us before the service.
After church we caught another Uber to the mall where we spent the rest of our day browsing, shopping, snacking (so many food courts!!!) and attending another movie. We don't eat red meat, turkey or chicken on Friday's during Lent so we stopped in at Tony Roma's for dinner. Shrimp Scampi for me and Shrimp on a skewer for my mom. It was so delish! We stayed at the mall until it closed and caught the shuttle back to our hotel. It was so cold that night!!!
Yum!
Ready to head back to the hotel
Once we got back to the hotel we relaxed, showered and fell asleep pretty quickly. We didn't realize just how exhausted we were. Mind you, it was around 10 or 11 when we fell asleep!
Saturday morning we woke up and got dressed and decided to go downstairs for breakfast at the hotel. The chef made fresh waffles, pancakes and custom omelettes for us and we devoured it! The food there was amazing. After breakfast we did a little sight seeing and then headed back to the mall! LOTS of shopping, roller coaster rides, eating, ice cream and fun! We were having the time of our lives!
Checking the weather at the hotel! We saw snow!
Loving the mall!
We love Minnesota! ;)
Later that evening we headed to another beautiful church and went to Mass. The congregation was warm, welcoming and inviting. The service was inspiring and we even got a special blessing from the priest! Afterwards, mom and I headed to dinner out on the town. (Unfortunately, I didn't take any more pics that night.) After dinner we decided to return to our hotel, pack up all our loot, and relax for a bit.
Sunday morning we were leisurely. We lounged in our hotel room. Caught up on one of my guilty pleasures, reality tv, "Mob Wives" and enjoyed the last few hours we had in our comfy beds! We seriously could not get over how incredibly comfy the pillows were. We looked up what kind of pillows the hotel used and mom and I have decided we must buy these exact pillows and put them in our own beds! I'm telling you... these pillows were life changing!!! Best night's sleep!
We made one last stop at the mall before having lunch at a local sandwhich shop and heading out to the airport. As I'm sure you know, when on vacation, the time and days fly by so fast. We flew out to Kansas City for a layover before heading back to Dallas. While we were in KC we had dinner at this quaint little place called "The Pork and Pickle". The recommendations did not disappoint!
Flying homeeeee
This trip is just what we needed. Our weekend away was relaxing, rejuvenating, fun, adventurous, and cold! We definitely loved having the chance to see snow. Also, the Minnesotans are seriously the kindest, most nicest, helpful people you will ever meet. They are our new friends!
It was so nice to catch up on sleep and do things that we don't normally have time to do. We feel refreshed and ready to get back to work and get back to our students.
A huge thank you once again to my sweet husband for working so hard to make this happen.
Hope all of you had a refreshing and relaxing weekend!
We love you all!
