A Weekend In Minneapolis

Link to "A Weekend in Minneapolis" video

Overview

Having Minneapolis be the first city I spent the weekend traveling in ended up being a very good decision. Being that it is the city that I grew up in, it offered a good way for me to learn how to structure the weekend. The whole point of these weekend adventures is to showcase how to get away for a weekend, spend as little money as possible all without ever taking any time off of work. I set a couple rules in place for myself. For example, I have to work a full 40-hour work week, I can’t take more than a half day off on Friday, and I must return to work (or be back and ready) by no later than 9:00am Monday morning. The whole reason this idea came up is because of my love for travel. Between talking to friends and overhearing conversations I have found that some people view travel as a big adventure that needs intricate plans, lots of money, and the OK from your boss to miss work. These little “mini vacations” aim to disprove those theories and open up people’s eyes and show them how to have an amazing weekend without breaking the bank or taking any time off of work.

One of my ways to save money was to revamp how I did my accommodations. I decided to use couchsurfing.org as a way to meet new people AND cut costs. For those who don’t know, couchsurfing.org is a free website that allows you to find people in the area that you are traveling to who have couch space (or a spare bedroom if you are lucky) to let you crash for a night or more. It’s free to stay with people, and is a great way to learn a new city!

I traveled with two backpacks. The larger travel backpack is where I kept all my clothes, toiletries, and any other necessities for the weekend. The smaller backpack is where I kept all of my camera and equipment. I brought along with me two GoPros (one that I borrowed from a friend), a Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ70, a variety of accessories and GoPro mounts, and I also used my iPhone when I wanted to be more discreet or when time was limited with filming.

Seeing as though my first weekend adventure took place near home, I had to work a little harder to structure it in a way that would not allow me to use anything I wouldn’t have had access to if I were traveling to a city (i.e. no car, can’t stay at home, etc.).

At 5:00pm on Friday afternoon, I drove from my home in Eden Prairie, MN to 28^th Avenue (a light rail station that offers overnight parking in their ramp for FREE!). I chose this location because the light rail also services both major airports in Minneapolis, so anyone flying in would have access to a very similar starting point.

Since there is a mix of people who would do this sort of weekend travel alone vs. with a friend, girlfriend/boyfriend, or group of friends I also allowed myself to be joined by friends throughout the weekend as well as visited sites by myself. It ended up being a fantastic way to portray the different dynamics of traveling alone and with people.

Friday

1)   Mall of America ($2.25 for Light-rail ride)

I took the light rail from 28^th Avenue to the Mall of America (only 1 stop and could be easily walked to save money if need be) where I met up with my friends Colin, Dan, and his girlfriend Julie. It was tough to decide how to act with cameras on us so often, but I decided that I would just let the cameras roll, act normal and whatever happens, happens. After all, the weekend is all about me having as much fun as I can and recording it to share with others. The Mall (as most people from the area will refer to the Mall of America in particular) is some place I don’t go very often. I’m a guy, and I hate shopping. I just want to buy something and be done! That’s why I was surprised that I made it 4 hours there and never once got bored. For people that love shopping, or just want to see all the crazy and unique stores, the Mall is a place that will leave you satisfied. Also if you’re a girl (or guy) who loves shoes, the biggest DSW I’ve ever seen in a mall (or anywhere) is here. My girlfriend and I went there once and I hated it, which means you will probably love it.

2)   Mirror Maze ($4.00)

After strolling around and visiting some shops, the 4 of us headed up to the mirror maze. We actually found a Groupon for this. They normally charge $8 which I think is pretty steep, but the Groupon is BOGO. They are one of the largest mirror mazes in the world at 2500sq feet, and they allow you to go through it as many times as you want with no additional charge (without leaving the general area in between).

3)   Dick’s Last Resort (Dinner - $12.70 with tip)

After some more shops it was time for dinner. Dick’s Last Resort is a place I had heard of but never been. Apparently it’s one of those places that offers terrible service on purpose. I saw the waitress at the table next to us like the customers’ spoons. I don’t know about that. I think there is a line between bad service and spreading measles. Our waitress threw straws at us, wrote mean phrases about us on paper and turned them into hats, berated us about our cameras, and actually took one and ran around with it. They serve mainly seafood, but I got a sampler platter to share with Dan and Julie that I thought was excellent while Colin got the fish.

4)   Nickelodeon Universe ($17.37)

After that was my favorite part, Nickelodeon Universe (commonly referred to as “Camp Snoopy” before the transformation in 2006). We had found a coupon for this giving us 105 points for about $70. The good rides will run you 5-6 points per ride, so we ended up going on about 5 of them as a group, spending about 1 hour 15 minutes there total. Colin and I took the GoPros on the rides with us to get some unique shots. We were told along the way by some of the staff to not do this as it is a safety hazard. Therefore, I would not recommend whipping out any cameras mid plunge on “The Fairly Odd Coaster.” On the Orange Streak we actually entered part of the Log Flume’s cave and saw some old Minnesota Twins memorabilia. There is a chair that marks where Harmon Killebrew hit a 522-foot home run. Since the Mall of America is actually where the old home of the Twins stadium used to be (Met Stadium) they erected this memorial which is said to be the exact distance from home plate that the home run was hit (Home plate is also at the mall).

5)   The Chatterbox Pub ($8.75 including Light-rail)

My next and last stop for the evening was the Chatterbox, a bar with three locations in the metro area. I chose the one which is about a 15 minute walk from the light rail off of the 38^th Avenue stop. I was accompanied here with the crew from the Mall as well as my girlfriend, Dana who met us here. I chose this bar because of all the arcade, video, and board games they have to offer. This location has an NES and a Playstation 2 with several games for free use. They also have several arcade games (Paper Boy, Donkey Kong, and Frogger) that cost 25 cents/game. This bar actually doesn’t have a liquor license so they only sell beer and wine, but they also make a darn good strawberry lemonade sangria (because I'm classy). Although I didn’t order any food, I snagged a couple bites of Dana’s meal and I got to taste some of the best sweet potato fries I’ve ever had. They came with a seasoned sour cream and a kind of sweet caramel-y dipping sauce. I would highly recommend.  After a little bit, my couch surfing host, Ryan, met me there along with his roommate and another one of his friends. I got to talk to/get to know them all a little bit before we sat down and fired up Duck Hunt on the NES. Getting close to bar close (2:00am) we started packing up and Ryan called an Uber Taxi to come pick us up. This was my first time in an Uber vehicle. The guy was super nice, offering us gum, water, and a port to charge our cell phones ("In case we couldn’t wait the 10 minute drive and needed to respond to some tinder messages"). Ryan, nice guy that he is, refused to let me help pay for the cab. Ryan and his roommate led me up to their apartment in Northeast Minneapolis where they let me crash on the futon in their bonus room. I quickly got situated and turned out the lights somewhere around 2:30 desperate for some sleep as I was getting up around 7:30 in the morning to start all over again!

Saturday

Getting Ready

After about 5 hours of sleep, I actually woke up feeling pretty rested. Ryan had offered me some of his breakfast foods, and since I was eating out for lunch and dinner, I decided to demolish the box of Cocoa Puffs in the pantry. The morning started out with a lot of heavy rain putting a damper on my biking plans. I kept an eye on the radar and hung around the apartment for about an hour until it started to lighten up some. Biking around Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’ve come up with so many excuses in the past (mostly me being lazy) that I was determined to not let a little rain stop me now.

6)   Bike Riding ($7.50)

I left Ryan’s apartment and walked downtown to find one of the bike rental stations. Minneapolis has a system of bike rentals that are docked throughout the city. I downloaded the “Nice Ride” app on my phone while walking to see where the docks were and how many bikes were available. After finding a bike, I rode the rest of the way to Lake Calhoun where Dana met me. I was happy to find that the rain didn’t deter her from coming out either. Even though it was only about a 3-4 mile ride from when I got the bike to reaching the lakes, I still felt exhausted. I couldn’t even make it to the location where I actually wanted to do the biking without wearing myself out! The bike rental system is available for day rentals but the system gets a lot cheaper if you are an annual pass holder ($85 for the year). For me it cost $6 to have the bike for 24 hours. There was also a usage charge. $0 for the first half hour and $1.50 for each additional half hour. However, there is an easy way to avoid this fee.  If you check your bike into any dock before your time hits a half hour, you can immediately check it out again at no cost and avoid the fee. With so many dock stations in the area, this is pretty easy to do. As for the actual ride Dana and I took a spin around Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun. The trails were extremely nice and the lakes were beautiful. I was a little upset about the rain, but I’ve never done this bike ride before and despite the weather it was still one of my favorite things from the weekend. I would highly recommend this trip if you get a nice day out as the sights are amazing. However, beware, on a normal day the area is packed with other bicyclist, picnickers, and other park goers. Even though it was a rainy morning, there were still 20-30 people we passed running and biking.

7)   Sebastian Joe's ($3.77)

After our bike ride, Dana and I stopped over at Sebastian Joe's (one block off of Lake Harriet) for some ice cream. I had been here once before on a date and absolutely loved the shop and its unique flavors. Walking there we passed a neighborhood book exchange, something Dana knew all about but I had never seen before. For those like me who didn’t know. It’s basically “take a penny, leave a penny” for books. Seems like a really cool way to find new books AND get to know your neighbors. As for the ice cream shop, it’s a cool, local shop that offers many “normal” flavors with a couple weird ones thrown in. The other time I was here I tried a garlic flavored one; it was quite baffling tasting that. I kept that theme going this time with something new. Dana got a chocolate and pretzel flavored ice cream (with chunks) and I tried the Surly Bender which is beer flavored with a hint of chocolate. This was truly a unique flavor. The beer flavor wasn’t too overpowering but it kind of tasted like there was carbonation IN the ice cream. Here is their full list of flavors (changes daily).

8)   Skyway ($3.50 bus ride)

After the ice cream I decided to forgo the trolley ride I had originally planned ($2 one-way) between Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun in favor of returning to Ryan’s apartment to change clothes. After that, I met up with Colin downtown to explore the skyway a little. The skyway connects nearly the entire downtown area with walkways on the 2^nd floor of most buildings. It’s great in the winter time as you don’t need to leave the warmth of inside to go to lunch, get your hair cut, run an errand to

Target, or shop for anything you would in a mall. During the workweek the skyway is packed and all the restaurants are raking in the cash. On the weekend less shops are open and the fast food restaurants close while most of the sit down ones remain open.

9)   Hell’s Kitchen (Lunch - $17.35 with tip)

I didn’t know where I wanted to eat today, but after spotting Hell’s Kitchen during our walk through the Skyway, I knew that is what I wanted. Hell’s Kitchen is known for their amazing breakfast food as well as their sandwiches. They make their own peanut butter and have their own ketchup as well. If you end up falling in love with either they also sell bottles of both for you to take home. It’s got dimmer lighting and is air conditioned very well in the summer time (a very relaxing atmosphere on a hot summer day). The service was excellent and there are plenty of unique new things to try on the menu. I got the Ham and Pear Crisp Sandwich. It came with lots of cheese and the added sweetness of the pears to the ham was a very flavorful mix. Since I’m all about trying new things this weekend, this option was something I couldn’t pass up. Make sure when entering/exiting the restaurant that you take a look up on the staircase and check out the chandelier made out of knives!

10)   Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA – Free)

After lunch, Colin and I made our way to the MIA. It’s just a few miles South of downtown which made it a pretty easy walk (about 40 minutes). We got there with a little over 2 hours left until they closed. The MIA has free admission (for everything except specialty exhibits within) and have a box for donations in the foyer. I hadn’t been to the MIA since I was in grade school on a field trip, so it was cool to make a trip back. I’m not too huge on the arts, but Minneapolis is a breeding ground for artists of all sorts, so there was no way I could really skip something like this and get the full experience of Minneapolis. The MIA is filled with mostly old artifacts from around the world. I found the first floor was mainly Asian pieces of art while the upper floor was American and European art. For those of you who really like the older discoveries like this, the MIA would definitely be a great place to visit. However, if you like more modern art, the Walker Art Center (near downtown) offers a large collection of various pieces (many of which change or rotate). I would suggest stopping by and seeing one of these two locations when in town. My personal suggestion would be the Walker, but it all depends on what type of art is most appealing to you. The Walker Art Center is free the first weekend of every month as well as the 3rd Thursday.

11)   Foshay Tower ($5 with student ID)

This was one of my favorite stops. Colin stayed at the MIA while I moved on to the Foshay Tower to catch a glimpse of Minneapolis from a bird’s eye view. With a student ID you can get a ticket in the lobby for $5 to ride the elevator up to the top floor. On the top floor is a small museum detailing the history of the tower. The Foshay used to be the tallest building in Minneapolis, but that record is now held by the IDS tower. I was hoping for a bright sunny day to view the city, but the sky had lightened up enough to make it a really cool stop! There are a couple shots that I took of my home town (Bloomington) that I was able to see about 10 miles away. Definitely worth a stop for $5. It’s $8 if you aren’t a student and is still worth it depending on how tight you are booked.

12)   Loring Park (Free)

A park right on the edge of downtown that connects the downtown and uptown areas. It’s a full size park with tennis and basketball courts and some beautiful fountains. It’s a great place to eat lunch (some restaurants line the park) or to stretch your legs. The squirrels in this area are so accustomed to humans that they will basically run right up to you and give you a hug. It’s a cool spot to walk through on your way to the sculpture garden but nothing you really need to go out of your way to see.

13)   Sculpture Garden (Free)

Proms, weddings, class trips, everyone comes here to take pictures in front of the famous spoon and cherry. The sculpture garden is a wide open garden with several larger pieces. On a nice day, this is usually pretty busy, so it might be tough to get a picture without anybody in it. You could probably spend a good hour here checking out the art pieces, and walking the grounds. The Walker Art Center is directly adjacent to the sculpture garden and has a little cafe inside if you get hungry.

14)   Bryant Lake Bowl ($32.37: $12 dinner, $5.37 bowling, $15 theater)

Bowling alley, restaurant, bar, theater. This little spot in the middle of Uptown has everything! I originally came here for the food and a drink and maybe bowling, and just decided to make a night of it. The food itself I found to be very good. I shared the fish special with Dana who joined me for dinner. While I thought the food was good, it wasn’t a huge quantity, so we ordered a big slice of carrot cake afterwards to fill our bellies, and it was absolutely delicious. They have a good array of beers and their own specialty cocktails as well. As for the bowling portion, we reserved a lane when we got there so we were all good to go after dinner. Games were $5 a piece with $2 for shoe rentals (I own shoes so I brought them in my backpack to save a little money). It’s old school, so you have to keep track of your score yourself on the sheets that they provide, but that adds to the charm of this place. It’s smaller (I think 8 lanes) but fits perfectly with the style of the location. While bowling, we looked at the schedule for who was performing at the theater tonight. It was a show called “A Drinking Game - Minnesota.” It was actually a pretty entertaining show. There were about 10 people who were doing a live-read of Jurassic Park. Anytime they said one of the buzz words they passed out prior to the show, the audience would take a drink (this rule also applied to the performers). Additionally, anytime a performer said another’s name, that person had to take a drink. About half way through everyone on stage was pretty far gone, and the audience was getting there too. I didn’t record any part of this show to devalue what they were doing (and not to get in anyone’s way) which is why you won’t see it in the video. Since theater is also a big part of Minneapolis (Guthrie, Orpheum, State, etc.) it was very nice to catch a show. While in the cities I would suggest seeing some type of theater (even just an amateur one like this!)

15)   Uptown (Free)

We got out of the show shortly after midnight and wandered around the nearby Uptown area for a little while. This is the area where mainly college-aged kids live and hang out. The streets are packed with pedestrians at night time. The Cafeteria and Stella’s are a couple more popular bars. The Cafeteria serves a chicken and waffles meal that is delicious. Stella’s is a seafood restaurant with a rooftop bar that gets very busy in the summer time. Rooftop bars are a great way to have a couple drinks on a warm Minnesota evening. During the day, there are shops and restaurants that you can occupy yourself for hours with. Seeing as though I already met my quota of drinks for the night, I decided to head back to Ryan’s apartment to gear up for Sunday.

16)   Al’s Breakfast ($10 with tip)

I woke up around 8:00 Sunday morning and immediately made my way for Al’s breakfast. Certainly a walkable distance from NE Minneapolis (35 minutes), it seemed to take an eternity to get there with how hungry I was. The line was about 5 people out the door when I arrived. I hopped into it and had about a 50-60 minute wait until I was seated. Once inside it was amazing to see how truly small the restaurant was. This was a spot I had never heard of before but is apparently well known by college kids and families alike. Once I was seated at one of their (about 15) stools, I quickly grabbed a menu and picked something out. With literally people standing right behind you waiting for you to eat and move, there is definitely some pressure not to dawdle. I went with the bacon waffle which was very thick and filling. The waffle itself looked pretty small, but it had no problem leaving me full and ready to do some walking.

17a)   Stone Arch Bridge (Free)

I don’t think I’ve ever actually been on this bridge. I know that they do a cool fireworks display over the 4^th of July, but walking along it seemed very new to me. The view of St. Anthony Falls, the skyscrapers, and Mill City Museum was a pretty spectacular sight; a lot of people were out and about too. Minnesota paths usually having a walking portion and a biking portion. You can see in the video that bikers use the middle lanes on the bridge.

17b)   3^rd Street Bridge (Free)

Another new walk for me. This connects downtown to the heart of St. Anthony Main where there are some great views, parks, cafes, and just a fun atmosphere in general. I just came up here to get a different perspective and walk somewhere new. Being a bridge you also drive on, there was a lot less foot traffic.

17c)   Washington Ave Bridge (Free)

The main artery connecting downtown to NE Minneapolis, this bridge was built (in its original form) in 1884. There is an informational sign commemorating the bridge’s history as you cross north to the Nicollet Island Inn. Also boasting a great view of the city made this a fun walk back and forth from NE Minneapolis to downtown.

18)   Nicollet Mall (Free)

During the workweek this is a pretty busy place. There are a lot of business people out for lunch here during the summer. Every Thursday there is a farmers’ market that lines the street selling fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other locally grown foods. The street is closed to regular traffic and only allows buses and police officers to drive on it. On 7^th Street and Nicollet Mall you can find the Mary Tyler Moore Statue that I visited just outside of Macy’s

19)   Target Field ($24: $14 ticket, $5 peanuts, $5 Dip n Dots)

The Minnesota Twins new ballpark as of 2010, Target Field is located rightin downtown Minneapolis. I bought myself a ticket from Stub Hub and roamed around the stadium with Charlie sitting in different areas and enjoying the game and the excellent weather. We stopped by the Townball Tavern on the club level where they serve drinks, food, and have a deck out back. Day or night, the views are great as the stadium opens up facing downtown revealing Minneapolis’ beautiful skyline. I hope to get to see one major event like this in each city that I travel to; it seems to be a great way to immerse myself in the local culture.

20)   Minnehaha Falls (Free)

As I stated in the video, this is one of my favorite locations (for obvious reasons). Depending on the amount of recent rainfall, the falls can either be trickling or gushing as they are in the video. On rare occasions in the winter, the falls will completely freeze over like they did over the 2013-2014 winter. This is a video I took while exploring the frozen falls. If you like nature and you get a nice day, I would recommend this as one of my top things to do in Minneapolis.

21)   Matt’s Bar ($4)

Charlie, Dana, and I made the effort to try both restaurants that claimed to have invented the Juicy Lucy. I had never been to either one before so I was pretty excited to try them both out! Matt’s was very busy, but it was a Sunday evening in the middle of the dinner rush; also, it did not seem to be a very large restaurant. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes or so for a table, so all in all it wasn’t too bad. The three of us spilt one burger and fries. We were told to give the burger a bit to cool down so it didn’t splash us with lava-hot cheese when we cut into i. As you can see in the video, it was dripping and oozing with cheese immediately. I liked it very much, and it was tough to stop after just 1/3 of it!

22)   5-8 Club ($5.75 including Light-rail back to my car)

Just a couple of miles down the same road as Matt’s Bar is the 5-8 Club. Same routine here. We grabbed a spot outside on the patio and ordered our burger. A few minutes later we got our food and feasted again! Since we were still hungry from our first burger we were able to make a pretty fair comparison. If you are interested in hearing which burger we thought was the better one, you can check out the rest of the video clip here.

Cash Spending Summary:

Accommodations:                              $0 (Couch Surfing)

Travel:                                                $16.75

Attractions/Entertainment:                 $60.74

Food:                                                  $80.82

TOTAL:                                            $158.31