Minneapolis and the midwest were not anywhere on our radar for a vacation but when we were invited to a wedding in Rochester, MN we decided to give it a go. We camped in Minneapolis for just 3 days and found there was plenty to explore. We went in armed with ideas and, of course, found other treasures along the way. The first day we took in as much of the city as we could on a beautiful sunny day. We wandered through the Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens at Walker Center and exposed the kids to some art while enjoying the view ourselves. After a little more than an hour here, we drove past beautiful homes and a beach and landed in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Linden Hills is a quaint little neighborhood along the shores of Lake Harriet. Lake Harriet is surrounded by beautiful homes (old and new), gardens, and people enjoying the trails that wrap around the 2.7 miles of lake. The clean beautiful water is often covered in sailboats and pedal-boats on a nice day. In the summer, there is a flower garden within the park, free movies and a bandshell that has live music every night between Memorial Day and Labor Day and free movies. Linden Hills has shopping and restaurants and is where we found the best children's bookstore ever, Wild Rumpus. The store has a kid-sized door that welcomes you in to a fairytale. The ceiling is painted to appear to be splitting and displays of books and more surround you. Our favorite part was the fact that this store has many pets that you come across as you wander the aisles, including 2 rats under the floor in the "spooky shed", 2 chinchillas, 3 felines, 2 ferrets, a tarantula and birds (including 2 chickens). I suggest going to this place even if kids are not along on the trip. Linden Hills also has a toy store and more shops and restaurants. We grabbed yummy and healthy sandwiches at the Linden Hills Co-op before we got our "shop on". Last but not least, make sure you take the kids to drop a note and/or a small gift for the Lake Harriet Elf that lives at the base of an ash tree on the southern shore of the lake.
We spent the fourth of July at Hyland Lake Park Reserve in Bloomington, just a short drive from the KOA where we were staying. The playground is affectionately known as Chutes & Ladders and is full of tubes, slides, soft bouncy ground, sand and a rope ladder to the top. The kids and grown-ups enjoyed the ups and downs for awhile before we headed to the other side of the park for a picnic lunch and some fishing. The playground, calm waters and green grass were enough for us but this park has much more to offer so be sure to check them out before you plan a trip. Most of the lakes in this city also have free swimming beaches and the kids took advantage of that for a bit during our stay.
We finished off the trip with the obligatory Mall of America! We did not do a whole lot of shopping but instead spent our time riding the rides at Nickelodeon Universe and building Lego towers at the Lego Store. We were cheap and ate at camp while we visited but I'm sure Minneapolis has a trove of good food to taste. If a trip to Minneapolis were to present itself in the future there are so many new spots and restaurants I would want to check out but the 3 days there were very well spent! Let us know at Stowaway if you are heading to the Twin Cities, we would be happy to help with all your plans and reservations.