Let's Go Places (and Meet People!): St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

Let's pick up the story of MegaVacay 2024 where we left it last time.  We were headed somewhere four hours away from Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Specifically we're going across state lines to the twin cities of St. Paul & Minneapolis, Minnesota.  But why?

Why I went to St. Paul/Minneapolis

• Well, honestly because I just wanted to.  This is going back a bit in blogging history, but Jessie used to live there and she talked glowingly about running around a lake with a funny name.
• The only FLW action there is a museum exhibit.  I would never go to Minneapolis just to see a museum exhibit, but I didn't mind checking it off the list since I had other reasons to go.
• St. Paul is the state capitol...and where there are state capitols there are state capitol buildings to tour!
• I'm not sure if I've ever said this on the blog so I'll just say it now - my goal for the next ten years is to spend at least one night in each state and each province.  Might as well get Minnesota checked off the list!
• A Very Cool Blogger lives there.

With all of those talking points, it felt dumb to be so close and not to go to Minneapolis, so I went for it.  I rolled in on Monday night and left on Wednesday around noon.

When I looked for places to stay, I started with Airbnb.  One of the first hits was a funky looking apartment in St. Paul.  The price and the reviews were great, and it looked like it was close to the capitol building.  But something made me hesitate - it just looked a little too funky for my taste and I felt like there might be a catch.  My next move was to look at hotels, which gave me bland vibes.  Take a chance on FunkyVilla or sign up for BoringVille?

A voice in my head said to go for FunkyVilla.  I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I was going there.

 

Monday Night - Arrival

I got to St. Paul around 8 that night, and I was pretty tired after two consecutive days with longish drives.  Luckily the Airbnb was very close to the highway, so it was an easy drive.

And also luckily, the funky Airbnb was lovely.

The house is on the left, and St. Paul's Cathedral was right behind it.  As close as it was to downtown, it was a very lovely and walkable historic neighborhood.  My unit was in the basement - but it was the nicest basement that I have ever seen.  I knew from the reviews that the unit has been in business for a while, but everything looked new and fresh, like I was the first person who ever stayed there.

Tuesday - let's explore

I started with the Capitol Building.  It was an easy walk from the Airbnb, and I didn't have to worry about directions.  The Cathedral is a big ol' building with a dome, and the State Capitol is a big ol' building with a dome.

The Minnesota Historical Society offers free guided tours.  I showed up for the first tour of the day at 9:00 AM.

Capitol buildings are very ornate in general, but Minnesota kicks it up to the next level.  The idea was that just because we're out in the Midwest and everyone is saying "eh" it doesn't mean that we can't have the grandest of grand capitols.  The design is Minnesota Proud.

As interesting as the inside was, the best part of the tour was going out on the roof.  The weather was Absolutely Perfect and the views were to die for.

 

Here's the view of the cathedral from the Capitol...like I said I did not have to worry about getting lost.

After the tour, I made tracks for the Minneapolis Institute of Art.  They have a display with the hallway of a demolished FLW house and a few FLW artifacts.  Like I said it's nothing that you would go to Minneapolis just to see, but it's important enough to have made the list of public FLW sites.

The museum has room after room of period furnishings, so it was worth my time to visit.  My favorite part exhibit was the view of the city (yes the window with the city view is an exhibit).

As I was finishing up at the museum, I was getting hungry.  I knew that I would be having a good dinner that night, so I didn't want to have anything too outlandish for lunch.  I stopped at the museum cafe, where they had a refrigerator full of $10 sandwiches.  I liked the idea of a sandwich, but they didn't have anything that I wanted to trade a $10 bill for.  I got out my phone and looked at nearby delis.  

That's how I ended up at Caffrey's Deli and Sub Shop and with this delightful little number.  Same $10, not the same sandwich.  It was an elegantly simple arragnement of cheese and veggies with a drool worthy dressing and angelically soft bread.

Now it was time to go to the lake with a funny name.  When I see two consonants where I'm expecting at least one vowel to be between them, my brain doesn't know what to do with the information.  Bda Maka Ska...how do you even say that?

Strangely enough, it was my GPS that gave me the answer.  Ba-da-ma-ka-ska.  The easiest thing in the world to say once you know how.

I rolled Bikie McBikerson out of the car and we set off to explore.  There are separate pedestrian and biking lanes.  The bike path is one way traffic.  As soon as I took in the arrangement and started peddling, I remembered that Minneapolis usually ranks pretty high on the Healthiest US Cities list and I was beginning to understand why.

The trail around Bda Maka Ska is a bit more than three miles around.  I had enough time to do two laps before it was time to put the bike back in my car.  The next item on the agenda was a Cool Blogger Meetup.  So who do we know who's cool and lives in Minneapolis?  Lisa!

We started our meetup with a walk around the lake.  The three miles passed quickly, and then it was dinner time.  We walked a few blocks away from the lake to Kim's, which is a Korean restaurant.  We started with wine and a few appetizers to share.  The food was so good that I forgot to take pictures after the first bite, but let me talk you through what you're seeing here.  This is the cashew tofu dip - I think the gray stuff is seaweed coated in something yummy - it was very light and crunchy and the perfect vehicle for scooping up that dip.  We split the firecracker chicken for our entree.

There were thunderstorms in the forecast for the entire day, and by some stroke of luck the rain waited until we were inside to make an appearance.  I'm very glad that we didn't plan our day based on the forecast, because then we would have missed out on the lake.  As it was, Lisa was smart enough to have brought an umbrella, so no harm no foul.  Between the walk and dinner we spent about four hours together, and I'm sure we could have talked for another day or so.  Here's Lisa's side of the story;-)

(PS I'm aware that at this point I'm just being stubborn by not putting pictures of myself on the blog when I'm showing my face on other blogs and Instagram...what can I say, it's just my quirk).

Now granted the company was so good that it hardly mattered what we ate, but the food at Kim's was next level.  So I'm sad to tell you what happened next.  We were there on Tuesday, June 4th, and on Saturday, June 8th the restaurant was vandalized.  It's sad when bad things happen to people who make good food.

Wednesday - time to move on

Sigh, it was time for this part of the journey to end.  I worked for a few hours on Wednesday (my mornings were extra long on the trip because my internal alarm stayed on Eastern time), and then went for a stroll in the 'hood - the 'hood in the case being the famous Summit Avenue.

I stopped by Trader Joe's for some snacks and frozen dinners, because I knew that I would be having a few dinners in for the rest of the week, and that I wouldn't feel like cooking.  And with that my wheels were up for my next and final home base of the trip.  But that's a story for another day.

Who's been to Minneapolis?  Bda Maka Ska?  I feel like I barely scratched the surface of what St. Paul/Minneapolis has to offer.