Dealerships and Mirror Mazes Part 1

This past weekend Jeff and I traveled to Minnesota. Here's the story: 

 We set out at approximately 10pm on Thursday after a late dinner at Firehouse Brewing Co. They seriously have the best soup! Anyway, Jeff squeezed in a good couple hours of sleep before we left since he had also worked this same day we left. I, of course; did not as I was too, well, what was I? Ready?...yes, I was simply ready to hit the road and be there. Usually I tend to be more anxious/excited/stressed or something along those lines when it comes to bigger plans such as the ones we made for the weekend. The plan in whole was to get our Volvo repaired and trade it in for a truck Jeff found in the area that same day. That sounds a little silly but it'll make more sense in a minute. 

Jeff has been searching for a truck for quite sometime-as in about 2 years. Failing to find anything in Florida worth our time, we were content to stick with our little Volvo sedan while we settled in South Dakota. Recently he had started up his search for the perfect truck again. It was proving to be difficult (to find any affordable 4WD) and so he expanded his search to looking within 100 miles. Then 200, and finally 500 miles so he could get a decent result in his search. Which brings us to Minnesota! In addition to finding the truck in MN, it was necessary to travel there anyway because that is where the nearest Volvo dealership was located. (I still can't believe there is no Volvo dealership in all of SD.) And the only reason we went to the dealership to fix the car's problem was because this particular issue was covered under warranty. It was a little inconvenient that the car decided to act up as we were preparing to trade it in but it made sense to just take care of it for free rather than explain the issue while trying to get a good trade-in value at the truck's dealership. And to add to the pressing matter of fixing the car BEFORE trading it in, the Volvo service dept was closed on weekends, making it necessary that we arrive bright and early on Friday morning! But it all worked out and we arrived 15 minutes before they opened, got us a loaner from them for the day and they ensured it would be completed by 4pm! In the meantime, we were getting hungry, tired, and needed to find a good way to kill time. 

Food first. Which ended up being McDonald's (gagging sound implied). I forced down my no cheese sausage and egg biscuit while Jeff ate his breakfast burritos and we browsed the internet for what kind of trouble we could get into for the day. And then I saw it: The Mall of America!!!!! It was perfect! Jeff loves to aimlessly walk around places (the downtown square over and over, the beach, a sidewalk, the neighborhood) and I love to aimlessly shop around (even if it is window shopping). It was only about 8am at this point and the mall didn't open until 10am. So we drove to the mall, parked in the parking garage and snoozed until it opened :) Keep in mind, the last time I had any good sleep was Wednesday night. At least Jeff had a good nap before we left, while on the road, and now in the parking garage, lol. I must be a freak because I only slept about 20 minutes and I became restless again.

The mall opened a few minutes early. We walked in and I'm sure we had that big-eyes-glazed-over kind of look. He saw Oakley, Game Stop, Apple, and roller coasters. And I saw Fossil, Old Navy, Aveda, and roller coasters! Hand in hand our interests were pulled in about 30 different directions at one time so I'm sure we looked like fumbling fools as we tried not to clash paths. We agreed it was probably smarter to keep our fingers locked so we didn't lose each other anyway-it just made walking in a straight line rather difficult for a few minutes while we took it all in. We window shopped for a while and then headed for The Amazing Mirror Maze! For only $7 a person you can willingly guide yourself through the funniest, reflective maze you've ever tried. They give you plastic gloves so you don't smudge the mirrors because it is vital that you keep your hands up and in front of you AT ALL TIMES. We must have been in there for at least 20 minutes, laughing at the fact that we could see reflections of each other when we got separated and not knowing which one was the real person. At one point I was standing 2 feet away from Jeff watching him reach toward the reflection of me (thinking it was me) and I reached out to grab his arm. This was a strange reality-check sort of feeling for him I'm sure. Just when we thought we were getting the hang of not running into ourselves (by turning opposite your reflection), we'd turn ourselves into a corner of mirrors and have that momentary confused stare reflecting back at us, realizing we were looking at us! We finally found the exit (the true exit and not the reflection) and received stickers to prove we survived The Amazing Mirror Maze! :D

Next up was more window shopping followed by putt-putt golf. The course had a wilderness theme and was really cute with all those moose everywhere. Jeff kept hitting the ball just enough to where it would continue rolling to the next hole. Mine developed the boomerang effect and wouldn't roll anywhere except back to me! After some trash talking and goofing around we tallied the scores. Low and behold we tied! Too funny...We decided to skip the rides and save our money (plus we needed to get back to the dealership). We strolled by the Lego land area, saw Sponge-Bob Square Pant's Pineapple house and other interesting things. Finally, we got the call that the car was done at 2pm and we could pick it up.

It was at this point that I started getting that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. In part because we were on our way to buy a vehicle (which I have never done) and because I thought we were going to die on the way there. Traffic was sooo scarey and people were honking horns and cutting each other off...I wasn't sure if I was in New York or Atlanta-maybe a mix of both. Yes, I must have been in New Atlanta because it was just as dangerous as Minnesota... Eventually we made it safe and sound. And then the real fun began.