The Twin Tities...Oops, Sorry, We Meant Twin Cities!
- Jun 12, 2023
- 4 min read
We don't want to mislead you. There are no Twin Tities in our blog...even without the twin tities, we had great fun in our Minneapolis and Saint Paul visits. We'd love to share!
We were ecstatic to make it to Minnesota. First, we've never been, and second, it's our last stop before we hit the Great Lakes. This visit most certainly stood up on it's own. We jumped back and forth between both cities like we were in Hamden-New Haven. For those of you not from CT they're very close. It was super-super cool and convenient. Hence, why they nicknamed them the Twin Cities.
It was about a five hour drive there so our first day was kind of shot after that. We had three more full days so there was no pressure. We had our plan in place. Our RV Campground was a pretty State Park called Lake Elmo Reserve. It was private, very green, very natural, and with lots of lakes. We had a great spot for a campfire.
Our first stop was Downtown Minneapolis and our first attempt at St Anthony Falls. These Falls were suppose to be pretty spectacular but from our viewpoint they were far from it. We learned later that we weren't at the right spot so our second visit to the Falls was much-much improved. We'll share those pics a bit later on.
Next stop was the Mall of America in Bloomington. It's about 15 minutes from both Twin Cities. We're not mall shoppers but this place was impressive. Gigantic! They had a miniature golf course and an Amusement Park along with every store and mall restaurant you ever heard of. Plus, it had food court options, so huge, how high was it? They divided them into north, south, east and west. It was ridiculous, and, all different at the same time. It was very easy to get lost but we kept it pretty much together. We navigated it like we've navigated America.
That night we went to Target Field and caught a Twins-Cubs game (In Minneapolis). Before the game we went to an eatery a block away from the stadium. We each had our two beer maximum at Trax Burgers and Bar in an attempt to avoid the $15-$20 beers at the ballpark. We should have known that wasn't going to be the solution when they had no prices on their draft beer list. Ha! Good theory, the execution needed some work. The food and service were both surprisingly very good.
The Minnesota State Capitol and Saint Paul Cathedral (both in St Paul) were just up the avenue from one another. First, we went to the church and then a 2pm tour of the Capitol building. Our tour guide was passionate, very knowledgeable and personable which always adds a nice touch to the visit.
We did an unexciting driving tour of the Governor's Residence (below), Lake Como and Regional Park before heading back to downtown Minneapolis again. We saw Kramarczuks sausage being sold at the ballpark so when we ran into their restaurant and deli and we went in. We bought some sausage, Periogis, and whole grain mustard for home. Yum! What a great investment in ourselves.
In one of our many downtown excursions we decided to walk the Mississippi Mile. We scouted it out the day before. It was a walk across a Stone Arch Bridge to St Anthony's Falls, Lock and Dam. Damn! It was a powerful man-made water system created by the US Army Corp and American Society of Civil Engineers. The only waterfall on the entire Mississippi River and unbeknownst to us a National Historical sight. Boom! Another national passport stamp for us. We are always grateful for those unexpected additions to our passport book .
Our last visit in the Twin Cities was to Minihaha Park and Falls. After finally finding a place to park we strolled down to the Falls. The park was expansive and well attended. The Falls were pretty and had an intensity to them. We have a bad habit of comparing waterfalls to others we've seen... this one was cute. It had some personality.
We did hit a couple Breweries worth mentioning. First was Saint Paul Brewing which was had an eclectic courtyard that would best be described as an art space created from old, worn, junky furniture. It was very cool! The second, was the Wabasha Brewing Company. We sat at the bar for this one and had an informative and helpful bartender assist us with our ordering. We liked our options enough we both had a tasting.
We were enamored with our visit to Minnesota. Maybe because we never thought we'd ever get to see a Minnesota. It was kind of a midwest trophy for us. Initially, we thought it would be much different than it was. It was wonderful! We thoroughly enjoyed the visit!
Our next writing is going to include our visits to three different states. In nine days we went to Duluth Minnesota and the states of Wisconsin and Michigan. We also hit two magnificent National Lakeshores, and all, where on Lake Superior. Thanks for following our journey as it is winding down. Visits # 134, 135 and #136 out of our 148 stops are up next...please stay tuned. Thanks for reading down this far. Much appreciation!
Kathy and Brad
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