We left Sioux Falls around 10am and headed for the freeway. Yesterday, all we saw from Mitchell to Sioux Falls was corn fields. And that is all we saw again this morning - corn fields as far as the eye could see. Boring!!!!!!! Rob made an interesting observation - we haven't seen corn on any menus or had corn in any mixed vegie combo. I wonder what they do with all their corn???
We crossed the state line into Minnesota not too long after leaving but the scenery didn't get anymore interesting. We also entered a new time zone but we didn't know that until we reached the hotel. We have jumped forward an hour.
The corn just went on and on,on both sides of the road for a couple of hours. It wasn't until we got off the interstate and got on a different highway that we started seeing beautiful autumn trees, a river and cows. It made a nice change but the corn was still there and kept reappearing from time to time.
St Paul and Minneapolis are called the twin cities. We are staying in St Paul. The main attraction of St Paul is St Paul's cathedral. Construction began in 1906 and the first mass was held in March 1915. The interior took over 40yrs to complete. The cathedral has a massive dome that is 186ft high. It contains 24 stained glass windows. The cathedral seats over 3000 people. It is beautiful inside.
We also visited the Capitol building. It is white and impressive - similar to Capitol Hill.
In the centre of the city is a small park. In the park there are several bronze statues of the Peanuts characters. This is because Charles M Schultz was born in St Paul. Around the park were several large buildings - I think the library was one - and they all seemed to have fancy functions on. There was lots of very well dressed people around, part of the road was closed off and there were at least 2 weddings in the immediate area. It was so busy I couldn't find a park anywhere. Rob got out to take photos while I drove around the block until she was ready.
We hadn't had lunch and were starving by now so we decided to go to dinner. We had read about an old dining car in town that was heritage listed. It is called Mickeys. When we arrived we found it was tiny and full. That turned out to be a good thing because we could only see burgers being eaten. Robyn had read about an Italian restaurant in the Cathedral area so we headed there. We found it was a pretty ritzy place and being Saturday night I'm sure we wouldn't have got in. Further along the street we found a place called the Cheeky Monkey Deli. We had a nice meal in there.
Ever since leaving Jackson the car has had a dead animal smell every time we use the window washer. It is absolutely disgusting. Water ran out today so tonight when we stopped for petrol we opened the bonnet. As we filled the water up something floated to the top. We think it was fur of some sort. Now the squirters don't work at all. We think there is a dead animal in there. I think we should call the roadside assistance but Robyn doesn't think they will come for that. She wants to have a dig around with a wire coathanger. I will leave that to her.
Tomorrow we are going to the sculpture garden to see the giant spoon and then we are going to Mall of America. It is the biggest shopping mall in the States. Nothing opens until 11am on Sundays which is very late. Maybe we will go for a drive in the morning.