Day 32 – Everything on a stick

Pig Grill for sale at the Mall of America

We started the day with shopping at the Mall of America, which is the largest mall in the US. I think technically the King of Prussia Mall is bigger if you count floor space in both malls, but the Mall of America has many more stores and is all under one roof and includes an amusement park in the middle. The size is jaw dropping.

Then we took a driving tour of St. Paul, the second and smaller of the Twin Cities, and coincidentally another state capitol. Who knew? We saw the Fitzgerald Theater, home for A Prairie Home Companion and also other local and national shows. It is named for F. Scott Fitzgerald, a native son of St. Paul. We even had time to drive to my old stomping grounds at the Unisys plant in Roseville where I went on business more times than I care to count.

Crowd at the Minnesota State Fair

Finally we closed the day with a late night at the Minnesota State Fair. It is the second largest state fair in the US (behind Texas) and the thing that struck us most is that they sell everything possible “on a stick”. Corn dogs are an obvious example, but they also had walleye, key lime pie, spaghetti and meatballs, fried pickles and almost anything else you could think of. I even took a picture of the sign advertising spaghetti and meatballs on a stick as I didn't think anyone would believe it. I still don't know how they do it.  The fair was also excellent for entertainment. We skipped the main stage entertainment (Journey and Joan Jett) and opted for the smaller (aka free) acts. 

Marcia Ball and Band 

We had the sublime pleasure of drinking Leinenkugel (a local beer) in the shade and listening to Marcia Ball rock out some New Orleans R&B. Her piano playing was fantastic and the band put us in the mood for going to New Orleans next month. She regularly plays at Jazz Fest. We also watched a lumberjack show and closed the night with Cashed Out, a Johnny Cash Tribute band. They were pretty good and the singer had all the right inflections, even though his voice wasn’t quite as deep as Johnny’s. All in all, this was our favorite of the three state fairs we attended this year.