There we were, in the midst of our mystery trip, driving towards Minneapolis with nary a clue of what would await us. While lesser individuals might find themselves going crazy at the prospect of not having any kind of agenda or itinerary, not us. Especially when we knew one would shortly be coming our way courtesy of our friends at Whym. Sure enough, when our phones vibrated in unison at 11:31 am, it could only mean one thing. Our itinerary had come!
First, we would be heading to the Radisson Blu Minneapolis Downtown to check in by 2:30 pm. After that, we had a 3:00 pm "lunch time" reservation at Pizza Luce, home to Minnesota's best pizza. While I can't confirm the validity of their claim, I can say that the Italian Sausage, Onion, and garlic pizza that Bethany and I shared was pretty good. After that, it was time to explore more of downtown Minneapolis before eating dinner at 7:30.
On this evening, we spent our time exploring the Skyway and the Riverfront areas. For those that don't know, Minneapolis is really, really, really, really, really cold in winter. Therefore, an intricate series of above ground tunnels have been constructed linking almost the entire downtown area together. While it's super cool and handy, it's also incredibly easy to get lost in the winding tunnels. On more than one occasion, we found ourselves heading the wrong direction. Unfortunately, the Skyway system is only open on weekdays so it was closed during most of our visit.
Our second highlight of the evening was visiting the Riverfront District. I don't know if this is common knowledge or not, but Minneapolis is actually home to St. Anthony Falls, the only waterfall on the Mississippi River. Nowhere is it more viewable than from the middle of the Stone Arch Bridge, a beautiful, old railroad bridge made out of stone connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul. After finishing up our sightseeing, we hopped in the car and headed over to St. Paul for a casual dinner of fish and chips at The Anchor.
Saturday morning began with a quick breakfast of blueberry muffins from the Radisson Blu's restaurant before walking to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden located at Walker Art Center. After walking the mile from our hotel to the Sculpture Garden, Bethany and I began culturing ourselves by gazing at each and every piece of art while attempting to discern what the artist was communicating. My favorite was honestly the massive cherry in a spoon sitting in a small pond. Apparently it's quite famous and somewhat of a Minnesota landmark. Who knew?
After seeing all that the Sculpture Garden had to offer, we headed to the roof of the Art Center for some rooftop mini golf. Now, this isn't your ordinary mini golf. For one thing, each of the ten holes has a very artistic slant. Also, it's not exactly an easy course. Nowhere is that more visible than the tenth hole titled "Piece of Cake" which took me 27 attempts to complete. Yes, you read that right; 27. After we finished up our round of mini golf, we headed back to the hotel for a short break before enjoying a lunch of boiled shrimp at the Smack Shack. A fun part of our lunch is that we were able to sit in the bar area and watch our hometown Royals play the Twins IN Minneapolis! A nice coincidence if there ever was one.
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| So NOT a "Piece of Cake" |
That afternoon, it was time for us to leave the downtown area behind and enjoy a little nature at the Chain of Lakes. It's no secret that Minnesota is known for its lakes and one of the most famous is undoubtedly Bde Maka Ska. Bethany and I spent a couple of hours wandering around the lake taking in all of the sights. One downside to this time is that all of our walking over the previous two days had taken a toll of my left foot resulting in pain whenever I took a step. Therefore, our travel was slow-moving but still fun. Our final scheduled stop for the day was Barbette, a French bistro. If you know Bethany and I, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that we've never eaten French food. However, we were more than willing to experiment. For the record, my duck was fantastic even if I mainly ordered it as my own little tribute to Minneapolis's own Gordon Bombay and the Mighty Ducks.
Sunday was arguably my favorite day of our trip. We started the morning off by heading to Minnehaha Falls which was honestly one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The eponymous falls is a 53 foot waterfall that was absolutely breathtaking. Despite the continued soreness of my foot, we managed to wander down to the base of the falls and explore some hiking trails running along Minnehaha Creek. After tiring of the falls, Bethany and I went off itinerary to find some letterboxes at Wirth Park. While we only found three of four, that was more than enough to officially count Minnesota as the 24th state we have found a letterbox in.
It was around this time that Whym texted us with the answer to a special surprise on our itinerary. While we had known all along that there was a surprise scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1, we didn't know for sure what it would be. Low and behold, Whym had gotten us tickets to that afternoon's Twins-Royals game at Target Field! I'd be lying if I said this wasn't my favorite part of the trip. Not only were we getting to see the Royals play in a different city, but we had seats three rows behind their dugout! Honestly these were the best seats I have ever had at any ball game and it's going to take a lot for anything to beat this experience. Don't worry though, Kauffman Stadium is still my favorite MLB stadium.
While we were at the game, Whym treated us to one additional surprise in the form of tickets to the Fly Over America ride at the Mall of America. The downside to the whole thing was that we had to wait in line for close to an hour to ride it but it was definitely worth it. The ride is essentially a motion ride set to an IMAX screen complete with mist hitting riders in the face when flying through a "cloud" and the smell of sunscreen accompanied by images of Hawaii beaches.
After finishing our ride, Bethany and I quickly explored the mall, only taking a little time out to pick out a gift for Ellie and Ethan. After leaving the mall, we traveled back to St. Paul to our dinner reservations at the Handsome Hog. In case you're wondering, this was our best meal of the entire trip! Bethany enjoyed a massive slice of brisket while I gorged myself on a pork chop large enough for two. After that, it was time to head back to the hotel for our last night in Minneapolis.
While Whym had provided us with a laundry list of potential activities for our final morning in Minneapolis, they unfortunately forgot that Monday was Memorial Day. Therefore, most of their suggestions were closed. Instead, we decided to drive over to U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings, so that I could get some pictures of the Viking ship outside. After that, we made one final stop at Sebastian Joe's for some early morning milkshakes before leaving early so that we could surprise the kids by getting home early.
If someone was to ask me if our Whym trip was worth the expense, I would wholeheartedly say yes. While we could have certainly done everything on our list on our own, we never would have had the cool experiences that Whym provided. For one thing, we never would have stayed in a downtown hotel within walking distance of everything or paid for third row seats at a Royals game. The whole mystery concept of the trip is also a perk that goes without saying. Honestly, Bethany and I had a good enough experience that we've already discussed doing another Whym trip for our 15th anniversary in a few years. We just want to make sure we see some place new next time...obviously.
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