SHORT - SECTION FOUR
Updated: Aug 11
MOA BOUND
RECOMMENDED TIME WINDOW: 4:45pm - 5:26pm
WALKING DISTANCE: .5 MILE
Our second transportation section.
For those with personal cars or taking Rideshare:
Personal cars: Put “Mall of America Transit Station” into your Map App. Once at the mall, DO NOT go into the Transit Station, that is for buses and trains only. Just north of the Transit Station on 24th Ave. S is the entrance to the EAST RAMP. Take that entrance and meet back up with us on the first floor by SEA LIFE.
Rideshare: Get picked up in the same roundabout next to Sea Salt you got dropped off in. Ask your driver to drop you off at the East Ramp Entrance. Go inside and meet back up at SEA LIFE, which is right inside the entrance.
Our watches/phones should read 4:45pm for the current time.
Time to leave this awesome park. We’ve only seen a portion of it. It is the main hub of the aforementioned Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, so there are plenty of amazing places connected to this park. Alas, that is not for us today.
Onward!!!
We’ll backtrack the path that we used to come to the falls from the train station.
A refresher in reverse:
A to B
Turn to the right of the falls and head back up to the bridge spanning the falls’ top. Go up the stairs into the flat open area. Head on the diagonal path back to the path that runs along S Minnehaha Dr. Pass the “Princess Depot” and the Stevens House, back toward the little parking lot we first saw upon entering Minnehaha Park.
Cross S Minnehaha Dr. and then Hiawatha Avenue back to the 50th St./Minnehaha Park Station.
We’re going to be catching the 5:06 train.
Since we’ve got our Day Passes, no need to purchase anything from the kiosks. All we have to do is wait.
If we happen to miss the 5:06 train, or we’re early, remember that trains come through every 12 minutes.
Also, remember we’re going Southbound, so be on the side of the platform nearest the Tipsy Steer. If early, now would be a good time to take a read through of the "On the Train" section so that we can watch for the things coming up and just relax and take a break.
ON THE TRAIN This portion of the Light Rail goes to the very end of the Blue Line. It also has some really cool things that we’ll pass through and by.
However, there’s one landmark of note that I don’t want to butter up as it is quite dark but poignant. Extremely relevant to current/recent events.
After we pass the Veteran’s Hospital and its concurrent train station, the tracks angle off to the left as we traverse an overpass spanning the Hwy 62 crosstown freeway.
The square dark grey building off to the left next to the freeway is the Whipple Federal Building.
This is the headquarters for ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, especially brought to public attention during Operation Metro Surge and after. It used to primarily be a Federal service building for Immigration, but it also holds the Department of Veterans Affairs, Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
This last has been cause for many protests. Even before Metro Surge, protests would occur on the regular. But protests have gotten larger and more prominent, for good reason, since the Surge began.
This is the main detention facility where suspected illegal immigrants and legal American citizens are detained. Only 25.8% of detainees have been found with any illegal conduct on their record. In February 2026, it was found that there was a “2,450% increase in people without a criminal record being detained by ICE since Trump took office in January 2025.” (Minneapolis-St.Paul Magazine) Conditions inside are extremely questionable. Most detainees spend a couple days to a week here before being let out without family or anyone to pick them up or sent to other facilities and eventually potentially deported out of the country.
It’s a controversial location with many implications on our current state of politics and democracy, to say the least. But I feel it’s good to be informed about it rather than not.
As we approach Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, we’ll angle down into the ground, tunneling under the tarmac. We don’t have underground trains here except for this stretch, so we’re not used to these elements. It always makes me excited to come down this portion of track!
Airport travelers take note: this is where you’ll eventually get off for TERMINAL 1. The next stop, coming out of the tunnel, is TERMINAL 2.
Once past Terminal 2, we find ourselves going past Fort Snelling National Cemetery on our left. The cemetery “covers 436.3 acres, and as of June, 2024 had over 260,000 interments”. (Fort Snelling National Cemetery Wikipedia)
Past the cemetery, we will find ourselves in the city of Bloomington. We’ll pass through a number of smaller stations, modern apartment and corporate buildings, hotels, before slowing down to a crawl, turning ever so slowly into the Mall of America Transit Station. Once at the Mall of America Transit station, we will have reached the end of the line for the train! We’ve reached our final destination!!!
Information gathered for this section, and if further reading is desired, these sources were used:
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