By Lesley Sauls and Glenda Winders
Three generations of women screamed and flew into the air with a wall of water crashing down behind us and loud whoops of delight between us. We were hanging on to a rubber inner tube for dear life as we zoomed through the twists and tunnels on the waterslide of a lifetime toward a more gentle drift around a warm, lazy river. This wasn't in some outdoor tropical paradise. In fact, it was snowing outside when we arrived at our indoor water park hotel in Minneapolis.
We had come to celebrate the youngest's birthday weekend, and we found plenty to keep us busy in Mill City, a nickname that nods to the industry that put Minneapolis on the map. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, grain traveled by train to Minneapolis, where it was milled into flour along the banks of the Mississippi River that winds through the heart of the city. We started our visit with a bird's-eye view of the old mills from an occupied cantilever that extends 174 feet out of the Guthrie Theater toward the river and has peek-through windows specifically designed to frame some of the more dramatic scenes outside and highlight the old mill history of the area.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the theater early in the day made our evening visit more exciting. We had explored the costuming and set-building areas and seen the practice and dressing rooms that the actors in our evening's performance would use. We nudged each other with knowing smiles when the actors toasted onstage with the metal tankards we had seen earlier on a prop table.
We took the birthday girl to the Mall of America for her special day. Her older sister was the only one of us who was actually interested in shopping, and the rest of us had never considered a mall somewhere to go for an exciting day of fun. Oh, how we have changed our tune!
We kicked off our morning with a stroll through the underground Sea Life Aquarium that is home to more than 10,000 sea creatures and then ambled through a forest of towers in which slowly drifting jellyfish were enhanced by a rainbow of lights that changed color as we moved through them. In clear tunnels we actually walked through the middle of several aquariums that were home to large fish, rays and turtles. We put our palms to the glass, delighted to be so close to the belly of a hungry shark.
Ready for another thrill, we headed to the center of the mall, where a seven-acre theme park was ready to spin and jolt us around. We liked the excitement of one roller coaster's vertical drop and the lofty view of another that toured us through the entire park, but our hearts were completely won over by the Log Chute. The ride is built into a mock mountain in which riders bump along a river in floating logs past dioramas that depict life in a Paul Bunyan logging camp before being plunged down an exhilarating 40-foot drop.
On an adventure ropes course, we dangled 56 feet above the theme park. Later we wound through the tunnels and caves of Moose Mountain with putters in hand to move colorful golf balls through a north-woods-themed putting course.
We took a break from our thrill-seeking to celebrate the birthday girl at American Girl Place with a beautifully appointed and savory lunch that included a birthday cake for dessert. The girls' dolls had come along for the adventure, and each received a T-shirt, tiara and plastic balloon that were sculpted to fit into their little doll hands as they sat in booster chairs made specifically for their attendance at such celebrations.
Having settled the dolls, cake and souvenirs into our car, we went back into the mall for a tour of Barbie's Dreamhouse. Interactive activities and simulated elevators made us feel like we were visiting Barbie in the pink plastic house she has inhabited for decades. Funny video clips in windows, a dolphin in the toilet and other surprises kept us looking around each corner with anticipation. For visitors who are less enthusiastic about Barbie there is also "Star Trek: The Exhibition" with props, costumes and displays that will delight "Trekkies" of all ages.
We spent our last getaway day in two world-class art museums. At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts we explored halls filled with paintings, sculptures, modern and ancient art. The girls taught us the rules of Mancala on a traditional game set we found in the African art area, and we pretended to be honored visitors in a Japanese formal audience hall from the 16th century. Other period rooms showed us how hand-painted silk once served as wallpaper and beds were once much smaller than those we enjoy today.
At the Walker Art Center we had the unusual experience of viewing drawings that preceded the artist's famous paintings when we walked through an Edward Hopper exhibit. In another wing of the center we were captivated by the upbeat and atypical use of mixed media in a modern art exhibit called Give More Than You Take by Jim Hodges, which the girls found especially relevant. These exhibits have moved on, but the center is known for having thought-provoking contemporary visual and performing art exhibits, so there is always something fresh and exciting to explore.
On our last evening, just when we were ready to wind down for the night, our birthday girl had one last wish
"The water park is open for another hour - how about one more time down the big slide?"
How could we resist?
WHEN YOU GO
Radisson Water Park of America Hotel: www.waterparksofamerica.com/hotel
Guthrie Theater: www.guthrietheater.org
Mall of America: www.mallofamerica.com
American Girl Place: www.americangirl.com/minneapolis
Minneapolis Institute of Arts: www.artsmia.org
Walker Art Center: www.walkerart.org
Lesley Sauls and Glenda Winders are a freelance writers. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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