Roadtrip Mischief
November 26, 2008
When Rob and I were on the roadtrip we had some “interesting” conversations along the way. I laugh thinking about them and so decided to share the laughter and weirdness. Me being the smartass that I am decided to test Rob’s patience with me. Here are some examples. Enjoy~
S: Are we there yet? 
R: No…
S: How about now?
R: No…
S: Now?
R: No….
S: NOW???
R: NO! 
S: Why not? Is it THAT far?
R: Honey….you knew this is going to take 6 hours..
S: Ok…
S: How far are we?
R: Honey….we’ve only been driving AN HOUR!!!
S: Oh ok….
*******************************************************
S: Ummm are we there yet?
R: No…
S: *sigh* Why not?
R: Cos it’s far away 
S: How far?
R: Ask me in another 5 hours
S: But I wanna know now
R: Eat your gummi bears
S: I did, see? *shows empty container* 
R: No kidding 
*******************************************************
S: How much farther? 
R: We still have a third of the way to go
S: We’ve been driving a long time!
R: Yeah…
S: Why does it take so long? 
R: Cos we keep stopping
S: Oh…then don’t stop so much
R: We stopped because you want to take pictures!
S: Oh…ok…then don’t stop for my pictures
R:
*******************************************************
Yes, that’s right. I’m that immature and weird. Yes, we are a couple of juvenile delinquents, but hey, we’re proud of it.
Mall of America
October 7, 2008
**I’m so tired today. I went to bed close to 4am because I was working on the thesis. I figured since I was on a rampage I might as well keep going until I got dead tired. Heh I’m now paying for it.**
In Minnesota we stayed at Homestead Studio Suites and Hotels. We got an awesome deal from hotels.com and got a free $50 gas gift card. For the price we paid and the distance to MOA, it was really worth it. The room came with tons of amenities but we didn’t use them much as I was busy dragging Rob around the mall, map in my hand and all.
Oooo! I just noticed Rob in the picture. Heh Hi honey! ~waves~ 
Pretty flowers outside. Oh how I love summer time there
Anyway we had to check in the hotel first as there was a time restriction on check-in time. We arrived at Homestead just before 7pm. We went up to check on our room and was pleasantly surprised.
With a full kitchen. I love the breakfast bar!
We didn’t unload our stuff because I HAD to shop, even for just a couple hours. Can you blame me? I had been sitting in that car for about 8 hours in total, excluding the time we were eating or taking pictures.
This flock of geese were just walking around in the middle of the road like nobody’s business. Many cars had to stop and so did we (!) for them to take their sweet time to get on the grass! So tua liap hut meh??? (For your understanding Robbie, I’m basically questioning their importance 
)
MOA wasn’t that hard to find from the hotel. It was just over a highway and down and there was THE mall, THE largest mall in the USA. If I didn’t know any better, I may have peed a little over the excitement when I saw the huge building.
Almost a picture of myself in the mirror
MOA is so big it has over 12,000 parking spaces. Oh let’s not forget the huge outdoor parking right in front of the mall itself.
MOA is so big it that 258 Statues of Liberty could lie inside the Mall! I’ve seen the Statue of Liberty and I can tell you it’s not small! I could even see it from the plane when I reached Newark International Airport.
MOA is so big that the total store front footage is 4.3 miles (6.88km) and the walking distance around one level (There are 4 levels) is 0.57miles (almost 1km).
MOA is so big it has 520 stores to shop in and if you remember, I once found out that if you spend 10 minutes in every store, it would take you more than 86 hours (or almost 4 days, with no sleep) to complete the MOA shopping marathon.
MOA is so big it has 3 Starbucks, 2 Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and 3 large foodcourts. It is so big Rob and I got lost, not just once, not twice, not thrice but at least 5 times during our 3 day marathon. It’s especially confusing when you walk from one end to the other and see a Starbucks at that “same” corner you saw it at the previous side.
MOA is so big, it has its own theme park, called Nickelodeon Universe. Believe me, Berjaya Times Square KL cannot compare.
It also has an aquarium, a LEGO Imagination Center, Dinosaur Walk Museum, A.C.E.S. Flight Simulation, and NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway.
I bet most guys reading this are foaming in the mouth seeing those LEGOS, remembering the good ole days when they were building space ships and planes out of tiny plastic bricks.
MOA is SO FREAKING BIG that they have a wedding chapel. A WEDDING CHAPEL! Who the heck goes to MOA and suddenly gets the urge to get married? “Hmmm I’m tired of shopping today, let’s go get married baby!” Huh??? Are there really people out there who do that?
The wedding chapel also comes with a bridal boutique, selling just about everything one needs for his/her wedding. The dresses on display were very pretty though. Heh I have to admit I was almost *tempted* to walk in there.
Must camwhore!
Victoria Secret store. Life is Pink is Life. I like that statement 😉
The best part of shopping for shoes and clothes in Minnesota, and MOA in particular, is that there is no clothing tax!!! The first store I looked for was Old Navy. I always loved their clothes but at times they may be a little overpriced. But I suppose that’s because its a branch under Gap Inc. I did find some great deals, USD13 capri jeans and USD8 tops of which I bought 2 each. HEHEHE
By the way, the Old Navy store had 2 floors
More MOA posts coming. Come back soon!
Roadtrip Part 2
October 2, 2008
It took us about 5 hours before we reached the border of Minnesota but we still had quite a ways to go before reaching MOA. We crossed a bridge and there was THE sign.
Minnesota welcomes you!
At this point I was really happy and excited while Rob was really close to throwing me into the river we were crossing. HEH Here’s why…
S: We’re in Minnesota!!!!
R: Yes we are
S: So where is the Mall of America?
R: Ummm honey, we just reached the border.
S: I know, we’re in Minnesota!
R: MOA is a third of the way up the state
S: Oh ok, that’s not too bad. How far are we?
R: Pretty far…
S: Ok….how long of a drive left?
R: 3 or 4 hours
S: What?! But we’re in Minnesota!
R: …….
(Ten or fifteen minutes later….)
S: Are we there yet?
R: No…
S: How about now?
R: No…
S: Now?
R: No
S: NOW????????
R: NO!!!!!!!!
S: Why not?
R:
Repeat the above conversations, oh let’s say about 10 times, throughout the journey. I’m sure at SOME point Rob would’ve driven off a cliff somewhere. Lol.
It should be noted that I’m actually not THAT annoying. I was having some fun and trying to make Rob laugh because most of the time he had the look going as he was concentrating on the driving. All I wanted was to get a from him.
The scenic, although longer, route took us across the Mississippi River. That was the whole purpose of the scenic route.
Side note from Rob “The first time we crossed the river, you didn’t get the pictures you wanted. So I drove back to Wisconsin for a couple minutes, turned around and crossed the bridge again so you can have your pictures, remember???”
Heh, thanks honey. I owe you one.
The view after the bridge was so breathtaking that even the pictures doesn’t do much justice.
One of the many dams along the Mississippi River
We stopped so many times during the first hour or so on this track across the Mississippi River, one of the longest rivers in the United States and fourth longest in the world. I remember reading somewhere that it runs through like 10 states.
On a highway lookout stop
Oh so pretty!
Not so pretty but must camwhore a bit lah!
Along the Mississippi River are naturally formed and man-made lakes. Lake Pepin is a naturally occuring lake and the largest lake on the river. After reading up some information about it on Wikipedia, I’ve been zooming in my pictures to see if I caught a lake “monster”. Apparently, there have been sightings of Pepie, a version of the Loch Ness Monster throughout the years in that lake.
Anyway, no such luck lah. Thought that if I did capture a picture of Pepie, I could make some money selling the picture to a magazine or something and be rich! 
Lake Pepin
We stopped by a town called Winona for a quick bite at McDonald’s. At this point I remember asking Rob, “Are we going to get to MOA in time before the stores close? I wanna go shopping!”. Of course he laughed at my eagerness to shop and I also remember him using that against me.
S: Oooo let’s stop and take a look here
R: If we keep stopping you’re not gonna get a chance to shop today
S: Oh…ok. Let’s keep going.
R:
We kept driving and driving until we saw this nice little town by a lake a little over an hour later. There were many sailboats on the lake. I couldn’t ressist, we HAD to stop and take some pictures. I think the town is call Lake City. Heh how creative.
I think the most we spent there snapping pictures was about 30 minutes. I would have loved to dip my feet in the water or something but shopping at MOA was my ultimate goal for the day. 
Ahhh women…Lol
And so about 2 hours later (and after checking in our hotel room), we saw this…
NO not the “Right Turn Lane” sign. Look BEHIND IT, at the humongous building
MALL OF AMERICA!
The journey started at 9am and we arrived at MOA just before 7.30pm. The roadtrip was SUPPOSE to take 6-7 hours but with my constant shenanigans “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? How about now? Now? Are we there yet? How far is it? How long have we been driving?”, “Oooooo! Look at that!” or “STOP!!! Picture op(portunity)!!!” or “Honey, I gotta pee” or “Baby, I’m hungry” or “Ummm I really need to stand up…my ass is killing me!”, it took us about 10 hours. *sheepish grin*
Roadtrip Part 1
September 28, 2008
The day started at 9 am when we piled all our stuff in the car and headed towards Minnesota. We tried to sleep as early as possible the night before but I think we both were too excited about the trip the next day. I know I was.
Rob getting gas AKA petrol
Driving for some thirty minutes, we swung by a rest stop for gas and Burger King for breakfast. Rob introduced me to French Toast Sticks. Apparently he ate a bunch of these when he was a teenager and he told me stories about how he would skip the first class of school JUST to go eat French Toast Sticks. (The rebel!). In his own words “They were the best thing on earth back then!”
And you know what? I agree with him! They are GOOD! If you love French toast like I do, this certainly will tease your tastebuds. I cook my French toast on a pan, Burger King’s French Toast sticks are FRIED!!! OMG they are SO TASTY!
French Toast Sticks dipped in Mapple syrup. YUM!
Pink lemonade for breakfast 😛
Then we off to continue our journey to MOA.
We took the scenic route which was the longer way but it was well worth it. We drove past many farms and little towns. The view was great, I really love the countryside!
Our route cut through Wisconsin and when we reached the Wisconsin Dells area, I saw tons of water parks and resorts around. It looked like a lot of fun but we had a schedule to stick to so we drove on.
The sign says “Wisconsin Welcomes You”
Earlier on in the week, we heard news about Lake Delton in Wisconsin Dells that dried out, like completely dried out. All that was left was mud and stones. So we figured we would take a detour and sneaked in stopped by one of the resorts in Witomy to check it out. I was dumbfounded….
According to Rob (2008) [Practising my citation skills for my thesis, please don’t mind me :P], it’s a man-made lake with an edge very close to a river and the water broke through and emptied in a nearby river. To quote Rob again, “This is what happens when human messes with nature!”
We stopped only for a little while and went on our way. Along the way, we drove past more farms and prairies. It was a sight! I loved it. There were horses and cows and sheep. Very different from the tall buildings and highways, away from civilization. Again I have to say, I love the countryside!
Cool looking rock formation
Last but not least, this is me in the car with a mouth stuffed full of gummi bear candy. 😛 I tried to coax Rob into competing who can have the most gummi bears in their mouth (like we did during my first visit there, roadtripping to Wilmot) but he said it was too early for candy! *GASP* So, in the end I syiok sendiri (entertained myself) lah!
In the mean time, I’m preparing pictures for Part 2!