In which weekend diversion options prove limited in Rochester MN

When you're on the road and you have to spend the weekend somewhere, it becomes important that you find things to fill your time that don't include lying on the bed in the hotel room and watching TV for 16 hours. As I needed to find diversion in southern Minnesota, I had been thinking about the weekend for the previous four or five days.

I had a couple of offers. "Come to our show on Friday night." "You can crash at our house in Minneapolis for the weekend. Bring your laundry." Well, I don't like country music that much, and am not comfortable imposing on folks, and so neither of these offers seemed likely. The traffic manager at the station where I was working saved me with Friday night tickets to the old-time rock'n'roll show at the local historic theatre. Options for Saturday and Sunday seemed to be shopping.

I'm not a great shopper. I really don't like it very much, because I'm indecisive. I can't make up my mind. I hate buying shoes and purses. But shopping seems to be a decent way to spend a weekend away from home, and so I bravely sallied forth. I did have a few needs after all, and a couple of "wants".

I don't like malls very much either. Too many people. Too much stimulation. I usually head straight for the store most likely to contain the object of need or desire, and then head out the nearest mall exit. On the other hand, what else is one to do in July in southern Minnesota?

So on Saturday I went to the mall in Rochester, MN, and did a little shopping. It took an hour and a half, but I walked away with three new bras that fit. What an ordeal. I took my new Ecco shoes to the cobbler for stretching, and also picked up a couple of new summer bottoms from Catherine's. Since I'd spent so much on Saturday, I really didn't anticipate spending much at the Mall of America on Sunday.

Sunday found me driving the 70 miles up to Minneapolis to the Mall of America. It is, well, a big mall. It has all the usual stuff in it. If you combine Park Meadows, Cherry Creek and Southglenn malls, got rid of the duplicates and added more shoe stores, and sprinkled in a handful of specialty stores you'd have the Mall of America. It doesn't cover so much real estate as airspace - the thing is three or four stories high. I did pick up a couple of silver rings from one store, and some chocolates from the Lindt store. Oh, and two pairs of lace-cuffed anklets from the sock place. But that was it. Ate at Panda Express. Ho-hum. At least I got some exercise. The amusement park holds little appeal for me when I don't have a little boy to fete', and my co-worker had called to announce his arrival in Rochester, so I turned toward "home".

Home was an extended stay hotel. It was basic. Very basic. My room had a kitchenette, which was nice, but no dish soap. Oh, and housekeeping expressly refused to do the dishes during their once-weekly visits. And no hair dryer - I had to go buy one and then schlepp it back to Denver. Actually, I schlepped quite a bit of extra stuff back to Denver, because I needed it for living in the hotel, but didn't need the entire bottle of Dawn nor the entire roll of paper towel. I did leave several items with my coworker - he's staying there through the end of this week.

By Monday I discovered that I was ready to come home. I've had plenty of what Minnesota has to offer, thank you very much. I'm done.