Chippawa Falls and Mall of America

If you ever go on a cross country trip, you can go ahead and skip Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  The Paul Bunyan Logging Camp was closed because it was too late in the season- even though it was 75 degrees outside-which is summer heat in that neck of the woods.  You could probably bypass Chippawa Falls also.  Like Eau Claire, it used to be an old logging town and still has some historic buildings in the downtown area. 

We drove west towards Minneapolis & St. Paul, the Twin Cities, to see what they had to offer.  We checked into a beautiful campground in Apple Valley, Minnesota called Lebanon Hills Campground.  After detaching the truck from the trailer, we headed to the Mall of America, which was just 5 minutes away.  The Mall was amazing!  It was three floors of shopping, with an amusement park in the middle and a full aquarium on the lower level.  I think it also had a casino in it somewhere!

The best part about the Mall, besides all of the great shopping, was the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant!  They served- you guessed it- a variety of shrimp entrees... and other seafood.  Kenny and I sat down at the bar had a drink and the coconut shrimp appetizer while we watched Forrest Gump on TV.  They had the movie on loop on flatscreens along with a bunch of movie memorabilia on the walls.  And the bartender was so nice! He filled us in on a great place to go mountain biking in the area- which happened to be right near our campsite.

The license plates read "Stupid is as stupid does," "Mama says I'm special," and "I gotta P"