It's bad when the only way you can see your husband is to travel to the city he's in! By the time August rolled around, he had already been to Minneapolis 3 times this year. Having been 3 times already, Kevin really liked the city and wanted to show me around. Well, the Minnesota State Fair was in late August and we decided to fly in the weekend before the fair so I could explore the city too...and soak up some time before he was there the remaining 9 days and I was at home missing him.
The trip started out great with a surprise upgrade to first class, complements of Kevin. Sneaky, sneaky little lover!
Check out the sky! WOW!
We arrived in Minneapolis around 9pm (10pm Eastern Time) and took the tram to downtown to walk to the hotel, check in and relax!
The next day, it was time for adventure! We walked from the hotel to the Walker Art Museum to check out their sculpture garden. On the walk over, we found this cute little park with a pond and a great view of the Basilica. Kevin worked the Basilica Block Party earlier this summer, so it was cool for me to catch a glimpse of the Basilica! The little park reminded me of Central Park.
We were only interested in the Walker Sculpture Garden, so we headed there in the direction of the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry.
We may have had a little fun!
Next was an Uber ride to Lake Harriett. I originally read about the Chain of Lakes before we left home and wanted to paddle boat or canoe/kayak on Lake of the Isles and from there to Lake Calhoun. However, the only address I could find was for Lake Harriett and our Uber driver didn't know any better. So, there we were. And I soon realized that the lakes were not connected by water. Oops!
Luckily Lake Harriett has Bread and Pickle, a really cute place where we had lunch. And after fueling up, we paddled around the Lake. Except, as soon as we got in the paddle boat, we realized it was going to be a lot of work on our legs and we were tired, so we really just sat in the boat in the water and drifted for most of the time!
On our walk away from the lake, we saw the Lake Harriett Streetcar and took a little rest on the bench in front until our Uber arrived to take us back to the hotel.
After resting a lot (Kevin was a little sick) and showering, we made it out that evening to the Guthrie Theater for My Fair Lady. We had dinner at the theater and enjoyed walking out on the Endless Bridge, with great views of the Mississippi River, before the play.
Afterwards, we walked down on Stone Arch Bridge before heading back to the hotel. The mill signs lighting up the night were so pretty from the water!
Sunday, it was time for baseball. We wanted to go to Minnehaha Falls in the morning, but decided to go back to Stone Arch Bridge in the daylight to be able to read about the history of the area. Kevin really just wanted a large boat to go through the lock. It never happened. :( (Sad face)
After leaving Stone Arch Bridge, we made our way to Target Field for the Twins game. Unfortunately, with a sunny sky and nothing on the radar, the game was delayed about 40 minutes from the start. Bad move Twins, bad move! Then, once the game started, so did the rain. We had ponchos, so we suited up and sat in the rain. It was pretty fun! The rain got a little more intense and they called another rain delay and covered the field. We finally left our seats to take a break on dry land. I checked the radar and it looked BAD! Like torrential rain for the next few hours. So, we called it too and made our way back to the hotel to rest. Somehow, there was no more rain for the remainder of the day. Oh well! Another ballpark checked off the list! We watched the game on tv and napped.
For dinner we took another Uber over to Cedar Avenue to Matt's Bar, home of the Jucy Lucy. The line was out the door, so we waited for awhile. We finally got seats at the bar and ordered. I was particularly impressed with our mini beers for $2.50 and the fries were AMAZING. I was very underwhelmed with the Jucy Lucy (cheese in the middle of two hamburger patties smashed together). It burnt my tongue and the cheese was really runny and greasy. I wanted a sharp cheddar bite and there was none. Oh well. Fries-best I've ever eaten!
After dinner we headed back downtown to the hotel and went to bed fairly early in anticipation of our 4:30am/5am wake up.
Kevin came to the airport with me on the tram and dropped me off at security. I flew home to spend 9 days missing him. He picked up a rental car, packed up his bags at the hotel and went back to the airport later to pick up co-workers when they landed and head north to their hotel for the fair.
It was a GREAT weekend and the perfect place to explore! I'd love to go back to Minneapolis! Next time we may venture out to St. Paul and the Mall of America. We'll also probably try out the 5-8 Club for their Juicy Lucy and visit Minnehaha Falls.
