Wordless Wednesday: Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium! @SeaLifeMN

Wordless Wednesday: Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium!

By Erin

If you couldn’t tell from last weeks Wordless Wednesday, I love aquariums. They are filled with such awe inspiring, magical, mythical creatures that just amaze me with their beauty and uniqueness. I have always wanted to be a part of this Under the Sea world, so whenever I visit an aquarium, it makes me feel as if I am part of their world, even if it’s just for a very short while. Yes, I Love the ‘Little Mermaid,’ another reason why I think I love these creatures so much! Growing up with that movie, and watching it endlessly, whenever I’d go swimming, I’d pretend we were swimming around like a mermaid along with all the other sea creatures.

At the Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium you can truly feel like you are under the sea for a few hours. Located in Bloomington, Minnesota at the Mall of America, the aquarium can be found on the very bottom level in the basement. I have tons of family that lives in Minnesota so I am out here just about every summer. Usually at least one trip to the Mall of America is made on my visits to this beautiful state. I had never made it down to the aquarium though until just this past summer! If I had known it was this grand of an aquarium, I would have made sure to get there sooner! So the next time you are in Minnesota, I HIGHLY recommend going and checking out this awesome aquarium! Enjoy!

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LA Girl In Minnesota… Guest Post from Jamie–> Minnesota Girl In LA

I had also asked Jamie, over at Minnesota Girl in LA  to write-up a post for me since I am visiting her home state of Minnesota right now! Here is her wonderful post about fun things to do and see if you are ever in the state of 10,000 lakes… Minnesota!! 🙂

Erin asked me to write about my favorite Minnesota places since she’s out visiting there right now.  Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to sit down and think about some of my favorite places from the state I grew up in.

I grew up in the Twin Cities area, to be more specific, the southern suburbs.  Think Lakeville, Apple Valley, Eagan, Burnsville area, or south of St. Paul.  
Some of my all-time favorite places in Minnesota were:

  1. Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Just being able to walk along these gardens during the winter or even the spring time to see what artists would create, or more so, try to pin point what they were thinking was enjoyable for me.  And of course, the iconic Cherry in the Spoon Picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Cherry and the Spoon

  1. Lake Calhoun

I loved to rollerblade, and often, during the summer I would go to one of the popular Minnesota lakes to rollerblade around.  Lake Calhoun became my favorite the year before I decided to move away, but Lake Nokomis was another favorite of mine.

 

  1. Cosetta’s Italian Deli

I love Italian, and one of my favorite restaurants to visit in Downtown St. Paul was Cosetta’s.  It was a very well-known restaurant and deli, and no matter what time of the day it was there was line for their food.  They also had a shop where you could take home some of your favorites.  

 

  1. My favorite museums included the St. Paul History museum, The Science Museum, and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

  1. Mall of America

The biggest mall in the United States was the Mall of America.  This mall even had an indoor amusement park inside, what isn’t there to love about it?  I use to take the bus after school to just hang out at the mall.  Most likely I was a huge part of the reason why a curfew time of 7pm was given to children under 16 years old of age every Friday and Saturday evening.  

 

  1. St. Anthony Falls

It was just a truly beautiful area along Minneapolis to walk along, and of course see the hydraulic falls in action.

 

  1. Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling Area

These places were pretty close to one another although they were usually different visits.  The Minnehaha Falls area is a very beautiful area, and of course I loved driving around the houses in the area because they were a sign of the times, and the houses had a ton of character.  

 

 

 

 

 

Fort Snelling Area

  1. Grand Ave.

This place had some pretty great shops and boutiques to walk through with some great eateries.   You can’t go there without stopping in the Grand Ole Creamery.  Amazing ice cream served up for you.

 

  1. Uptown

Another fun little area with shops and boutiques to walk and browse through.  

   10. The North Shore

During the weekends, if I could, I would love taking the 3 hour drive up north to head to Duluth, MN.  I loved looking out at Lake Superior, and of course driving even further north along the north shore.  This was truly my zen place of Minnesota.  I didn’t get up there often, but anytime I did I was instantly relaxed, and my stress disappeared.  These were just some of my favorite things to do in Minnesota, the place I grew up in.

 

 

 

 

 

North Shore

Day 21– Future

In just a few short weeks, not too long into the future I will be returning back to Minnesota and North Dakota to visit family, celebrate my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary (which is actually today, June 21st, 2012!!! WOW!), a summer wedding in Medora, North Dakota and a 90th birthday! Here are some treasured memories of my visits out to these parts of the states, and I look forward to the new ones in the future! Who knew you could have so much fun in these states? 🙂

Minnehaha Falls, always a fun little hike in the city!!

Minnehaha Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out on Lake Susan visiting at a cousin’s house. Shown: Grandpa with his 2 sisters that are still living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More of Lake Susan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Susan. So pretty!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunsets on Lake Susan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More sunsets on Lake Susan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer wedding in Stillwater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stillwater

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weddings are always fun when you end up in a different state…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good-times in Medora, ND. An old western town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep! They even have horse and carriage rides still… that’s how western of a town it is. I LOVE it!! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medora, ND.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medora Post Office!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medora… such a cute little town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Painted Canyons. So beautiful and so fun to go trail riding on! Can’t wait for my next ride in these here hills! Yee-haw! Much different from all this flat stuff we call “trails” out here in Cali!! LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WILD. YES WILD horses we saw when out trail riding!! They still have wild horses running about in North Dakota!! Along with buffalo, prairie dogs, elk, deer and lots of other amazing wild life!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE wild horses!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prairie Dogs!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buffalo and BABY buffalo!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awwwwwww look at the cute buffalo!! (Just as long as you don’t get too close and make anyone mad…. don’t want anyone to stampede or charge at you. 😉

Futuristic bikes… I think Mary, from Along Comes Mary, should learn to ride this bike!! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or this one… 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great-Aunt Betty knows how to have a good time on the river cruise with her beer (ROOT-beer that is….).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Canada…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite girl out in North Dakota to hang out with to go out on a ride with. Aero! *DISCLAIMER* This picture shows you what NOT to do when riding…. lol. You should ALWAYS wear closed-toe shoes with a heel if possible and a helmet!! Long pants are always a plus to, but as I had gone for a swim and was in a hurry to get one last ride in before we had to head for the airport, and my riding gear was all packed up ready to go; I just hopped on and went for a quick ride. I know this horse very well, and am a fairly experienced rider, so it worked out for that situation in that moment in time. 😛

For anyone out there that thought there is nothing to see or do out in Minnesota or North Dakota, now you see just a handful of fun opportunities waiting for you out in them here states! So get out there in the great outdoors!! 🙂 I sure cannot wait to see what fun this next trip will bring! <3