What Ya'll Doin' in Minnesota?

This seems to be the standard reply when people in Minneapolis find out we're from Australia. I don't think many Aussies make their way to this part of the world.

The Amtrak train we took from Seattle is a route called the Empire Builder, and as it continues east from Whitefish it skirts the southern border of Glacier NP. A day and a half later it terminates in Chicago. We got back on the train in Whitefish but, having already been to Chicago, decided to disembark in the Twin Cities instead.

Something we love about long, scenic Amtrak routes is the running commentary provided by on-board National Park Rangers. As we left Seattle and wound alongside waterways, through forests and over mountains, we'd been regaled with information about the history, geology and ecology of the area. However, for some reason, the commentary in Montana was only provided within the Lounge Car, and our chances of getting a seat were nil. Bizarre, given that they sell the park as the highlight of the route.

Avoiding Chicago wasn't the only reason we stopped in Minneapolis; it's home to the Mall of America (more on that later) as well as Target Field, which has been ranked by ESPN as the number one baseball stadium experience in North America. Finals were well underway last time we were in the states, so we'd not seen a MLB game.

Target Field

We rectified that on our first night here, when the Minnesota Twins lost dismally to the Toronto Blue Jays. Turns out the team isn't as good as their stadium.

Strike

Cheese?

That said, we don't go to sports games for the sports. We don't even go for the cheese fries served in a miniature helmet. At least I don't - I won't speak for Danny. The atmosphere and the people are the real draw cards. We got lucky here and ended up sat next to a hunting taxidermist from Wisconsin and a local firefighter-slash-lumber salesman. Neither had met an Australian before, and couldn't quite believe what they were seeing or hearing. Our firefighter friend was so enamoured with us he invited us to live in his basement. They bombarded us with questions throughout the game, bought us beers, and we literally had them and their friends chanting Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi by the end of the second innings.

The icing on the cake (or the cheese on the fries) was making a brief appearance on the big screen during dance cam. In the interests of full disclosure, we may have been riding the coattails of a kid doing a pretty sick sprinkler two rows in front.