Minnesot-ahhh
The tourist versus the local. It's been a major theme of this trip for us as we've planned our destinations and driven through the larger half of our route. Every place we've gone to has been either been dubbed cliche tourist attractions with gift shops and scary tour guides, or slices of local culture.
Everywhere we've gone (tourist trap or local eatery) we've tried to identify what it is that makes a place one or the other. Typically the answer comes down to the number of local visitors to the attraction, as well as the variety of shot glasses available in the gift shops. And there are always gift shops.
Because the tourist destinations tend to leave a sour taste in our collective mouth, I couldn't help be but a little bit nervous about our approach to Minneapolis/St. Paul, which houses the world-famous Mall of America. After all, it's a mall which boasts 35-40 million visitors every year. That is more than the number of visitors to Graceland, Disneyland, and the Grand Canyon, combined. That is more than the entire population of Canada. And it's all for shopping. I'd say it's the Mecca of Consumerism, but Mecca only gets 2 million visitors every year, so that doesn't quite cover it.
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