Mall of America, Minneapolis, Minnesota

I have a love/hate relationship with this mall. Yes, it is huge... they have everything. More than you need, frankly it's excessive and exhausting shopping here in this commercial mecca. When I come to Minnesota, I usually plan to spend a day here to get any necessary shopping out of my system. Sometimes I come to my senses and leave earlier, especially around the holidays when the stores jack up the prices for us tourists. It's great to go in mid-spring when the stores have excellent clearance sales and combine that with no sales tax you can find good deals.... this is kind of off season time so it's not terribly painful to shop with the crowds either. Restaurants here are not very impressive, although I do enjoy getting an overpriced peanut butter sandwich once in a while (until I tried the sundried tomato one and felt quite sick!)... the bars are pretty amusing and the other stuff is ok to check out once but not much more than that. Excluding the Lego store, they always change up the Legos, which are pretty cool to look at! If I lived nearby like my friend does I'd go crazy trying to shop here since it's crazy big and would take forever to do your normal stuff and avoid the strange touristy stores. It is fun if you're there with something happening in the rotunda, like a food tv event. Holidays are cool to see the decor, especially to see the kids trick or treat at Halloween. It's commercialism at it's best... and worst!