I grew up in Minnesota, the land of the indoor shopping mall, and return a few times each year to see family and friends. It seems each time I'm there I always end up in one of the several malls for some social time at one of the bars. Since there are so many malls there's always one centrally located that makes it a perfect gathering spot to spend the day. But, for many people, they fly in on a holiday just to shop.

The biggest mall in the country, the Mall of America, is definitely the big draw in the area for the shopping traveler. For me it's a great central location where I can catch up with friends and family over a few beers at one of the several restaurants. But, it's also a great place to take kids for a fun day out like I did with two of my nephews. There's so much to do there that it really isn't possible to do it all in one day.

We got a jump on the day, but it's never really early enough when you're dealing with 2.5 million square feet. And oh yeah, did I mention that there's been talk since the mall opened in 1992 of doing an expansion over to the Met Center lot where the North Stars used to play? I suppose it's only fitting since the mall currently sits on the old Met Stadium lot where the Twins and Vikings used to play.

And yes, home plate still sits where it was for the boys of summer.

Our first stop was a visit to the Underwater Adventures. The boys went to the Minnesota Zoo the day before and now they wanted to see this as well. It's a great attraction to the mall as there are tons of different fish, including sharks and rays, that you can see from an underwater tunnel with a moving walkway. There's also a little petting area and an interesting Minnesota outdoor trail that takes you down.

By the time we finished the tour it was time for lunch and then some mini golf. Of course with as big as the mall is there could very easily be a full sized golf course in it, but instead there's a nice 18-hole mini golf one that's perfect for kids. This overlooks the huge Nickelodeon themed amusement park that the mall is centered around. And oh, let us not forget the Lego Land that sits just below the giant movie theater complex too; all of this on top of the 500 plus stores that we only had about five minutes to duck into for books.

And yes, I could certainly go on and on listing all of the great things that are in the mall or the attractions that are talked about for an expansion. I guess when you live in a climate where the digits below zero in the winter can be greater than your age, regardless of how old you are, you know you need an indoor shopping mall to be able to escape the cabin fever feeling that can so easily set in. Yeah, sure, you betcha there are ice rinks and Minnesotans love their cold weather, but sometimes a different escape is needed.

Plus, holiday shopping isn't really possible without them unless you enjoy things like frostbite. I suppose that's why the world's first indoor shopping mall, Southdale Center, opened in nearby Edina in 1956. It was kind of became a necessity for the suburbanites of the times during the cold Minnesota winters. And yes, those can be every bit as brutal as you can imagine.