Together at last at last at the Mall of America – Day 8

After driving into the evening to find a place to stay for the night on Friday I wound up at a rest stop (Wal-Mart in Minneapolis does not permit overnight parking (I went to 4 of them)). Saturday morning was beautiful and I went on a quick ride past a scenic lake with nice homes surrounding it. The bike path was a nice wide trail in most spots, which I eventually learned was really for snowmobiles in the winter (it must get really cold here). After my ride, off to pick up Julie at the airport, which went off without a hitch. Our first stop was to the Mall of America, and unfortunately I did not take me camera to record this overwhelming spot with its indoor amusement park (Nichelodeon Sphere), Lego Land, Aquarium and over 500 stores on 4 levels. I told Julie to find herself a birthday present, but she said she could not shop with me.

Following our stop at MOA we made our way north to the shores of Lake Superior, which is like the ocean. We drove for 150 miles along the shoreline never seeing an opposite shore. While driving this two lane road, we came upon a terrible accident where a small car had crossed the road and must have gone airborne over big boulders and finally wound up crashed into a large tree. We stopped, along with others, and were amazed to find the occupants all conscious and coherent. Although they were injured, it did not appear any were serious and after seeing the condition of the car, that is a miracle. We left the accident (there were a lot of people there) and continued north for about 30 minutes before we saw a police car going the opposite direction towards the accident, then about 10 minutes later an ambulance, so the people injured waited about an hour for emergency help, at least from the direction we were traveling.

We crossed into Canada and within about 10 minutes came upon a black bear on the side of the road. We watched as she loped across the street and then saw she had two cubs as well. What a difference from Yellowstone where there would have been 200 people stopped to watch. Here, people hardly take notice.

We drove on until evening and stopped in Thunder Bay at a KOA Campground along with a lot of people who appeared to be staying there for their vacation.