Where in the World is Susan Thompson?

Carlee and Grace, FaceTime with Susan

For your amusement and for the entertainment of Susan and Jacob, here are some fun facts I found online about Minneapolis and Minnesota:

The first open heart surgery and the first bone marrow transplant in the United States were done at the University of Minnesota.

The Mall of America in Bloomington is the size of 78 football fields --- 9.5 million square feet.

Minnesota Inventions: Masking tape, Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products, and Green Giant vegetables. (not bad except for the %*#^$*!! HMOs)

Minneapolis is home to the oldest continuously running theater (Old Log Theater) and the largest dinner theater (Chanhassan Dinner Theater) in the country.

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is the largest urban sculpture garden in the country.

Minneapolis’ famed skyway system connecting 52 blocks (nearly five miles) of downtown makes it possible to live, eat, work and shop without going outside.

Minneapolis has more golfers per capita than any other city in the country. (but it's hard to find your ball in the snow!)

The climate-controlled Metrodome is the only facility in the country to host a Super Bowl, a World Series and a NCAA Final Four Basketball Championship.

Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined.

The nation’s first Better Business Bureau was founded in Minneapolis in 1912.

The first Children's department in a Library is said to be that of the Minneapolis Public Library, which separated children's books from the rest of the collection in Dec. 1889.

The first Automatic Pop-up toaster was marketed in June 1926 by McGraw Electric Co. in Minneapolis under the name Toastmaster. The retail price was $13.50.

The first Intercollegiate Basketball game was played in Minnesota on February 9,1895.

In 1919 a Minneapolis factory turned out the nations first armored cars.

Candy maker Frank C. Mars of Minnesota introduced the Milky Way candy bar in 1923. Mars marketed the Snickers bar in 1930 and introduced the 5 cent Three Musketeers bar in 1937. The original 3 Musketeers bar contained 3 bars in one wrapper. Each with different flavor nougat.

A Jehovah's Witness was the first patient to receive a transfusion of artificial blood in 1979 at the University of Minnesota Hospital. He had refused a transfusion of real blood because of his religious beliefs.

Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state.

There are 201 Mud Lakes, 154 Long Lakes, and 123 Rice Lakes commonly named in Minnesota.

Minnesota's waters flow outward in three directions: north to Hudson Bay in Canada, east to the Atlantic Ocean, and south to the Gulf of Mexico.

Twin Cities-based Northwest Airlines was the first major airline to ban smoking on international flights.