What are some interesting things to see/do in Minneapolis? Cars, bicycles, culture, history, people, food? I will be passing through for a couple days.
What are some interesting things to see/do in Minneapolis? Cars, bicycles, culture, history, people, food? I will be passing through for a couple days.
There's a really nice sculpture park near town, if the weather is nice. Ask about the cherry bridge and they'll tell you where to find the park. In the park, there's a small conservatory-type building, and inside that is a giant glass fish sculpture by Frank Gehry. It's pretty cool to see.
You can go have lunch at the atrium restaurant that featured in the opening of Mary Tyler Moore. Other than that, I got nothing. There are some decent local beers, but I can't remember any of their names.
Depending on when you're around- there's stuff to do. The MN State fair opened today, and will be running through Labor day. Widely regarded as one of the best state fairs anywhere, there is that.
Wednesday night we have a "local" car meet at the Sonic in Bloomington, which is straight down 35w from Minneapolis- and worth the trip. Lots of stance kids, but you meet some cool people, see some fast stuff... We recently had a UGR Gallardo show up, last night there was a blown tri-five right next to an Oni LS430.... it takes all kinds.
There's a couple of zoos.... Como is free, MN Zoo is hella expensive, but also doesn't look like a sad inner city zoo. There is also the Underwater World (or whatever the hell they call it these days, it changes regularly for some reason) at the Mall of America. You have to go to the mall, but it's pretty cool. Sharks and fish and octopuses and stuff.
Minneapolis/St. Paul is also one of the most supported bicycle communities in the nation, there's LBS's and trails for DAYS.
Food- it really depends on what you want to eat and how much you want to spend. We have a giant selection of everything- and if you want it deep fried and on a stick- again, state fair.
ValleyFair has a couple of really good rollercoasters, without feeling too forced like a six flags or a disney.
There's a few indoor Gokart tracks around-Prokart is the big name locally. I don't remember for sure, but I think it's kinda pricy, but they haul ass.
Beer- We have TWO places I can think of that you want to get your drink on at, The Muddy Pig and The Happy Gnome. Both have an amazing selection of micros/rare brews on tap. IIRC the Pig also has an excellent selection of scotch to choose from- though I'm not a giant scotch person so I generally head for whatever's on tap.
Arts wise- there's the Walker Art Center (where the spoon and cherry is) and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Walker's the modern art one where they might E36 M3 on a canvas and call it "deconstruction of last nights dinner" or something. MIA- typical classic art museum, some cool stuff.
There is also the Science Museum- that's a pretty good place to go if you want to get hands on with some stuff.... more geared towards the younger set, but it's still worthy. They also have IMAX, and it's badass.
The MN rennaisance festival is running right now- it's amusing. Lotsa busty ladies in corsets and stuff. Can be expensive, if you wanna get your eat and sip on too much. Lotsa shows running all throughout the day... I know a few people there.
Anything specific you're after? I'm in MN, obviously- I know some things.
Let us know what days you will be here and where you're staying, so we can suggest events. We're kind of past the car show season but there are still a number of events going on.
If you're going to be right in Minneapolis and like ethnic foods, Nicollet Avenue going south from downtown to about 28th street has one of just about every kind of cuisine you can imagine, and some you probably can't. http://www.minneapolis.org/partners-community/neighborhoods/eat-street
Also in that same area is the Minnesota Institute of Arts, and an interesting rock climbing place recently opened up called Vertical Endeavors. The sculpture garden mentioned above is next to the Walker Art Center, both are popular destinations: http://www.walkerart.org/
This is a great town for bicycling, there are tons of bike paths and trails and you can rent a bike on just about every corner. Bike path maps: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/bicycles/maps/index.htm Bike rental: https://secure.niceridemn.org/map/
Other cool museums include the Minnesota History Center and the Science Museum in St. Paul, and the Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis: http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org/ http://www.smm.org/ http://www.millcitymuseum.org/
The Minnesota State Fair opened today and runs through Labor Day, it's the second largest state fair in the country after Texas and is fun if you're into fairs, but after today it's supposed to be pretty hot and humid for the next week.
Oh and whatever you do, don't ask for a Lake St. Handshake. Or do it, but be prepared to shell out a few bucks and get genital warts.
Watching bridges collapse......why else would they have camera's set up to watch them?
I think they have a pretty big mall there. 
the best thing to do in Minneapolis is to drive out of Minneapolis... an hour in any direction will do, but it's kind of flat and boring if you go south or southwest..
Black Forest for German Food. It's Greek To Me for the obvious. Summit Brewery.
It's been 20+ years. That's all I got.
dunno if Uncle Hugo's book store is still open, fwiw...
Black Forest is still here (it's about two blocks from my house), as is It's Greek to Me. The brother of the owner of that restaurant has his own Greek place named Christo's, which is just down the block from the Black Forest.
Besides Summit, about a kajillion microbreweries and brewpubs have opened up in the last few years - there's no shortage of good beer here, it's kind of hard to keep up with them all.
Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction and Uncle Edgar's Mystery bookstores are still here, in the same place. Another good bookstore is Once Upon a Crime; they all have websites for those who are interested.
If I was stuck in a hotel downtown, I'd drive the long way up Lake street, cross the Mississippi, turn on Snelling and head to the state fair for some type of fried meat on a stick, beer and maybe a small sundae. Take another long way down University past U of M to get back downtown. Then, maybe go uptown, look at a lake, get more beer.
If you're from the midwest, looking at a bunch of old brick houses will be boring, so I'd skip the city tour and do a lake bicycle ride and get the burger stuffed with cheese at 5-8 Club on Cedar ave, and beer.
The streets are very griddy and consistent, so it's hard to get lost.
Isn't MN like WI? Beer and various stuffed meat products are the only thing important there....
Ranger50 wrote: Isn't MN like WI? Beer and various stuffed meat products are the only thing important there....
Yes, except we have most of our teeth and we can actually BUY the good fireworks wisconsin sells. For most of the metro area, Wisconsin is another suburb. I've drive to WI before to go get rum, because I needed it for pie and the liquor stores are closed in MN.
TucoRamirez wrote: If I was stuck in a hotel downtown, I'd drive the long way up Lake street, cross the Mississippi, turn on Snelling and head to the state fair for some type of fried meat on a stick, beer and maybe a small sundae. Take another long way down University past U of M to get back downtown. Then, maybe go uptown, look at a lake, get more beer. If you're from the midwest, looking at a bunch of old brick houses will be boring, so I'd skip the city tour and do a lake bicycle ride and get the burger stuffed with cheese at 5-8 Club on Cedar ave, and beer. The streets are very griddy and consistent, so it's hard to get lost.
berkeley the 5-8. Matt's bar is a few blocks north of it on Cedar, and where the Jucy Lucy is properly made.
Oh, and gay marriage is legal here now, so if you got a husband you need marryin', bring em along.
Matt's for the juicy lucy then.
If somebody invites you over for some hot dish, run away, fast.
Ain't nothin wrong with hotdish!
At the risk of treading on the "can I eat this fish?" thread, if you haven't had any good Northern or Walleye Pike a trip to the Cities might be a chance to make up on that. Dunno where you'd go, though.
mndsm wrote: Ain't nothin wrong with hotdish!
made properly, tater tot hotdish is the best... food... evar...
Thanks for the suggestions - we ended heading out of town, to the west. We did check out a few things first, though. Nice town, kinda similar to Seattle in some ways. :)
procainestart wrote: Thanks for the suggestions - we ended heading out of town, to the west. We did check out a few things first, though. Nice town, kinda similar to Seattle in some ways. :)
whereabouts to the west? i grew up an hour west...
novaderrik wrote:procainestart wrote: Thanks for the suggestions - we ended heading out of town, to the west. We did check out a few things first, though. Nice town, kinda similar to Seattle in some ways. :)whereabouts to the west? i grew up an hour west...
He just got out of Minnesota entirely......
novaderrik wrote:procainestart wrote: Thanks for the suggestions - we ended heading out of town, to the west. We did check out a few things first, though. Nice town, kinda similar to Seattle in some ways. :)whereabouts to the west? i grew up an hour west...
I'm with my dad, who grew up in Excelsior, so we've been around Minnetonka. He lived there ~50 years ago, when it wasn't so swanky (I saw two Maseratis and two Ferraris today).
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