Terror At MOA

"Does everyone have all their stuff?" Mom yelled.

"Yep", I said

"Then let's go we're 30 minutes behind schedule!" Dad yelled.

"Here we go!" Nathan said. (Little brother)

"Mall Of America!" Rachel Said. (Little sister)

"Uh, I hate car rides!" I think to myself, "Oh well, it will be worth it in the end."

After we're about an hour & a 1/2 from home the Garmin shows a 10 minute delay on the interstate.

"What's wrong with this stupid thing?" mom asks "We're in the middle of nowhere, how can there be any traffic delay?"

Then we came around the corner & saw a massive back-up from a semi in the ditch. My dad merges right quickly to get to the rest stop exit before it gets blocked.

"Perfect timing, we can eat lunch & wait out the delay at the same time!" my dad said.

The rest stop is humongous inside! Over 1/2 of it looks like it's filled with a gas station & a huge gift store. It even has a Coldstone Creamery! Luckily traffic cleared up outside while we were eating.

"It should be an hour & a 1/2 up to the mall!" dad said.

Once we get about 1/2 an hour from the mall mom announces, "Since we can't check-in at the hotel until 3 we'll go visit Aunt Jennifer in the hospital."

"The neighborhoods here are kept very nicely!" I said sarcastically.

"That's outrageous; we have to pay $4 to visit someone in the hospital!" I think

After getting to the hotel at 4:30 I'm pooped. The hotel isn't what I expected even though it was renovated 10 years ago. The rooms are small & the kitchen appliances don't even match!

The next day we head to the mall around 10 after what I thought was a pretty pathetic breakfast buffet at the hotel. I love the mall! It's gigantic & the amusement park is like a mini Adventureland. The 1st thing that we ride is the log chute. I like this one a lot better than the one at Adventureland because you don't get as wet. I was really scared when we went down the 1st hill. I was surprised because I didn't get as wet as I remembered. Nathan was already to go on the next ride, The Pepsi Orange Crush. I thought, "Take it one step at a time kid." I don't like that ride & I knew I was going to have to ride it with him. Then I snapped back into focus & heard the lady say, "Say cheese!" Then kaploosh!!!! Down the slide we went into the water pool below.

"Let's go again!" Nathan said.

As we were walking around trying to find another ride, we saw the climbing structure with 10 floors up to the ceiling that had ladders & tight ropes to cross in order to get to the top to walk the plank over thin air! My dad wants to go on it, I don't, & Nathan does because he doesn't want to be a chicken like me.

I met up with mom & Rachel for lunch since I didn't want to go climbing. After lunch we did some shopping before we went back to the park. Nathan still wanted to go on the roller-coaster, so he went once by himself then I went with him the next time. We climbed up the stairs & ran to get in line before the gate closed. When you scan your pass the machine laughs like SpongeBob & I swear it sounded diabolical this time! When we went down hills or turned sideways I was screaming while Nathan laughed at me. The 2nd time we went it was more enjoyable to see the park from above.

Then we got off & headed back to the carousel where mom was waiting. Then Nathan just gets up & runs off to the left!

"Where's your brother?" Mom turns to ask me.

"I don't know he just ran off that way!" I said.

"You go check on the roller-coaster & I'll go check around over here!" Mom said.

So I dashed up the stairs to the loading dock where the ride just took off & the platform was empty. Then I ran back down to the exit where mom was waiting hoping that he would get off the ride. We stepped aside to not get trampled by the crowd & spot him running over to the carousel. At once we both tell him, "NEVER SCARE US LIKE THAT AGAIN!"