Round trip through Florida
What do to when in the United States? Have an action packed week full of fun! This summer I visited my family in Minnesota, USA.
View the video for an all-time American vacation with shooting guns, driving ATV’s, revving the Mustang, cruising in the Corvette, rollin’ on the Harley Davidson, balancing the jet skis and extreme tubing. America, fuck yeah!
Full story: Flying into Minneapolis with my Dad, my sister Louise and myself to stay with our aunt and uncle for the week. Plus we also got to hang out with our cousins and their kids. One big family get together. The last time I was here was in 2002, now 21 years later it was about time for a catch up!
Saturday: shooting
First on the agenda was driving to the cabin up North. When I told my uncle that shooting guns was on the top of my bucket list, he was thrilled to show me his collection and brought a bunch of rifles along for target practice. Plus some TNT to blow up some stuff too 😀
The evenings we spend by the fire under the clear starry night. It was astonishing how many stars I could see.
During the day we did all sorts of other fun stuff, like riding and racing with the ATV’s and going on the river with the platoon boat, of course I could drive everything too!
Sunday: Duluth
From the cabin we drove the scenic North shore of Lake Superior to Gooseberry Falls. On the way back we stopped at “Grandma’s” in Duluth for drinks and snacks before driving home.
Monday: shopping
It was time to shop till we drop. First to the Twin Cities Premium Outlet Mall for some good outlet deals on premium brands. All 3 of us bought a Michael Kors bag. Next stop was the famous Mall of America, and finished at the Rosedale Mall. Although I’m not a big spender, I did buy more than I thought I would.
Tuesday: State Fair
Visiting the Minnesota State Fair was seeing Americans at its finest. Fat sloppy people on electric scooters. The annual fair attracts more than 150,000 visitors per day. According to my cousin, people come here to try out all the different food. It was amusing but a lot to process.
Wednesday: Stillwater & super cars
A relaxing day with the oldies by exploring the limberjack town Stillwater along the St Croix river. During the trolley tour we learned some American history, as I never knew what the “Underground Railroad” was.
Back home our uncle let us drive his precious Mustang and Corvette. He was impressed that Louise and I could drive the manual transmission of the Mustang, which is nothing special for us Europeans. With the automatic Corvette we planked it by putting the pedal to the metal for a bit, vroommm.
Thursday: jet skiing
With 28°C it was perfect weather to go on the water. Our cousin Anthony and his wife Cherry took us with their 2 jet skis to the lake. One was a sit-down jetski, easy to ride and great for tubing. The second was the stand-up jetski which is a bit tricky to balance at first but so much more fun.
Friday: Harley Davidson
First was one last shopping spree with our grandniece Asha, and in the afternoon my uncle Scott and I went driving on his Harley Davidsons, both on our own bike. In the state of Minnesota I could even drive without a helmet, so I enjoyed the ride with the wind through my hair.
Saturday: last day jet skiing and going home
On this last sunny day with 35°C we definitely needed to go on the lake again. This time I felt more confident on the stand-up jetski. My cousin’s son Devin also joined the fun. We went tubing and challenged each other to keep our hands in the air. Anthony who drove the jetski accepted our challenge and did everything to get us off the tube. We skidded across the water while he was going 80 km/h until we eventually fell off. At the end of the day I got on the plane with sore legs and big bruises on my butt, but it was definitely worth it! Devin texted: “Let’s do this each time you come over.” It’s on!
Chain restaurants
When in America we had to try out several chain restaurants, we checked off: Applebee’s, Dairy Queen, Perkins (delicious strawberry glazed french toast for breakfast), Denny’s, Hooters, Olive Garden, Carbone’s pizza, Cheesecake Factory and Jersey Mike’s subs.
Related posts
Zo leuk om contact te hebben met familie en je verhaal met de foto’s een herinnering om niet te vergeten.