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Showing posts with the label Mall of America
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After Jolly’s Drive Inn , Heather, Teddy, and I drove back to West Chester, Ohio, to the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting. It was quite an impressive place, and we had a private tour with Bob. This non-profit is a museum constructed in the original Voice of America Bethany Relay Station. It was opened during World War II and operated from 1944-1994. In addition to the memorabilia and historic information provided on VOA, the rooms go on to explain how local Powel Crosley Jr.’s broadcasts led to his interest in investing in radio and television design. The stories within the walls as well as materials in the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting are fascinating. I strongly recommend finding time to visit this place. It is also wheelchair accessible. I had no problem wheeling through all of it. Our schedule had us back at the hotel for a two-hour rest, but as often happens on these media trips, we were running late all day. We just had enough time for me to put...

Mall of America Tour and American Queen Embarkation

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My friend, Lynn, and I had a good night’s sleep at the Radison Blu Mall of America , but we knew we had a very full day ahead. It started with breakfast in the hotel’s conference room with the other passengers to be on our American Queen voyage. Everyone was friendly and we were all excited to be embarking on this journey in the afternoon. River cruises work differently than ocean liners when it comes to check-in. Since there is no cruise port for everyone to gather in and check-in, it’s done in the hotel. This was pretty much the only thing in our weeklong trip that was disorganized. They used temporary workers in the port and we would later learn that most of the information we were given was wrong. Everyone tried to keep their cool and figured they’d straighten things (like dinner seatings and excursions) on the ship. When I found out I would have a free day in the Minneapolis area I wanted to finally visit Paisley Park, Prince’s former home. I thought it would work out, bu...

Heading to the American Queen on the Mississippi

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Like most of the world, I haven’t taken any big trips the last few years. Getting on an airplane or a cruise ship has not seemed like a good idea for someone who is immunocompromised. An opportunity came up that made me rethink this. American Queen Voyages is not your usual cruise line. The majority of their cruises are wholly within the United States (a few stop in Canada). Their ships are all small and they have four riverboats with wide open areas so you are not ever waiting on lines for food or disembarking with thousands of people. I was offered a cruise that was entirely in the Midwest, so if there were any health issues, I could be home within a few hours drive. I have to confess that it was also nice to not have to worry about tropical storms and rough waters as we would only be on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The ship I was heading to is the America Queen, christened by godmother Priscilla Presley in 1995, and refurbished 12 years later. It’s the largest of th...