No Shopping for Me, Please
By Michele Bogue Appelgate


I’m a woman and I don’t like shopping. There I said it – so let the tomatoes fly.

Usually, when I tell another woman that I dislike shopping, the conversation comes to a dead halt
and she wrinkles her face in disbelief. “What did you say?” I might as well have said that I hate
chocolate.  Don’t worry – I’m not crazy.

But seriously – I do not look forward to any shopping trips. Men can’t believe it either. They usually
ask me to repeat that phrase in front of their wives. I don’t dare.

Some women have the “S” Gene (the shopping gene) and some don’t. I was born without that gene.
I think that’s one of the things my husband loves most about me. I’m OK with it, too. I have found
that I can lead a perfectly normal life without the S Gene.

Some women get full use of their S Gene. I have a friend who makes an annual trip with her friends
to Bloomington, Minnesota, just outside of Minneapolis, to shop for an entire weekend! For her, it’s a
four-hour drive each way. They get a hotel nearby and spend the entire weekend going back and
forth from their hotel to the Mall of America.














I always said she was crazy. But maybe I was harsh in my judgment.

My husband and I recently took our teenagers to Minneapolis to spend the day shopping and
hanging out together. For us, it’s only a two-hour drive each way. That’s not so bad. We have made
many trips to Minneapolis to watch the Minnesota Twins baseball games. This time, the kids really
wanted to go to the Mall of America for the day. They had only been there once, when they were
under 10. We spent most of that day playing Lego’s at Lego Land and riding the rides at Camp
Snoopy, which is now called The Park at Mall of America (MOA).

The Park at MOA is the largest indoor family theme park in the United States. It’s a large indoor
atrium with amusement park rides, including a Ferris Wheel, water log ride and many other fun
attractions.
















But on this trip, the kids were definitely into the shopping. It’s all about the sports shoes and cool
clothes now. With more than 520 stores to choose from, we knew we had to begin walking fast to
make an impact. We had dinner reservations in downtown Minneapolis that evening. We were
meeting my parents at our favorite Japanese restaurant. It would be the first visit for the kids and
the first time my parents have ever tried Japanese food.

So we put our sneakers to good use and we cruised through The Mall of America as fast as we could.
Here are just some of the highlights about this amazing mall. I have to admit, I was having a pretty
good time on this shopping trips.  














Continued next page.
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