And Now . . . Back to Minneapolis

This morning we slept until 7:30am and then got up and ready for our day. The plan was to leave Madison and make our way back to Minneapolis. Once dressed and packed we loaded the car and hit the road - and it was raining. We drove for about 50 minutes and then decided to stop for breakfast and coffee. While we waited for our food I logged into Southwest Airlines and got our boarding passes for our flight home tomorrow.

Snowy Trees

With our tummies full and our flights ready we started driving again. We hadn't been on the road for long when the rain turned into a light snow (which lasted the rest of the day). We made a stop at a rest area near Lyndon Station, WI to look for a letterbox by cheekee monkey called AMEN! which I found without a problem even though it was under an inch of snow. I took the box back to the car to stamp in and when I was finished I returned the box to its hiding spot and then took a few pictures of the trees with their light dusting of snow. Then it was back on the road. About an hour down the road we pulled into another rest area between Millston and Black River Falls to look for another letterbox. But the trail we needed was closed and we decided not to look for the box. So it was back in the car and on the road again. Our next stop was not until we crossed back into Minnesota. We pulled into the Minnesota Visitors Center and looked for hartwolfzell's Viking Territory box. The place was covered in about two inches of snow and the box was quite a ways from the parking area. It took me a little while to locate the box but I eventually found it. There was no where to sit so I had to stand and stamp in. It was quite challenging but I got it done. Then I rehid the box and made my way back to the car.

Since we are flying home tomorrow we had plans to stay at a hotel near the airport so we headed in that direction. And since we were in that area we decided to go to the Mall of America.

LEGO Dragon at the Mall of America

Now Thomas and I are not shoppers but we wanted to go just to say we had been there. The place is huge and we only saw about a quarter of it. I think we were there for about an hour and a half. We only went into a couple of stores and just actually wandered around the place. Now that we had been there and done that we left and went to have something to eat. While eating I decided to check Box Radar on my phone to see if there were any boxes near the Mall of America and our hotel. I found one - Mall of America by Shorty. So after eating we drove about two blocks and took a very short walk and easily found the box. Again with the snow all over there was no where to sit and stamp so this time Thomas helped me by holding things while I stamped in. Once the stamping was done and the box back in place we made our way to the hotel to get checked in. We are now packed and ready for the flight home. We had a nice trip and I was glad to get to see three Capitols that I hadn't visited before and to add three new states to my letterboxing map. But I have to say I miss our New Mexican sun. We have been here a week and we only saw sunshine for about four hours one day, the rest of the time has been overcast and rainy. I guess we will have to try and get out this way again in the Spring or Fall and hopefully when it is a little dryer.