Chilling in the Twin Cities
Random adventures on my last stop
The last stop of my cross-country adventure was the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. As you may have noticed, there is a general theme to my visits to larger metropolitan areas. I will go to a museum or art institution, stop at a bookstore or two, go to a few tourist spots, perhaps try a local brew and pizza, and go to a baseball game. My time in the Twin Cities was, unsurprisingly, no different.
I arrived at my friend Jason’s house in the suburbs, where I stayed the four nights, in the early afternoon. I had left Sioux Falls at my usual time (around 8:30 a.m.) and had not expected the trip to take long. That first day, I didn’t do much, just tried some good Neapolitan pizza at a local chain. My friend had also just arrived in town from Cleveland hours earlier (he did not drive across the country to do it, preferring to fly in), so it was a very relaxing day. The day was Aug. 1, the 31st day of my trip. After a month on the road, I also felt I deserved a day off.
Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Of course, I needed to visit at least one. I spent my first full day riding on a pontoon boat on one of the state’s largest lakes, Lake Minnetonka. It started out as one of the coldest days of my whole trip; I needed to wear a sweatshirt most of the ride, and there was no tanning for me. Though the ride was cool (literally and figuratively), it was nice to get out on the water, ogle at rich people’s houses, and enjoy a nice lunch.
I continued exploring nature later in the day by visiting the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, located just 10 minutes away from Jason’s house. I was blown away by the scale of the gardens. In just a few hours that he and I were there, I don’t think we explored even half of the land. While most of the flowers were in bloom, some were not, due to the season. If there’s one thing I would go back to the Twin Cities to see again, it would be those gardens. And I would go just to finish seeing the whole collection.
The following day, I met with a few of Jason’s high school friends. We started the day with Dutch pancakes and ended with American shopping. Pannekoeken Huis is a Dutch restaurant that serves breakfast all day and is favorably compared to IHOP (or is it IHOB?). Their signature dish is the titular Pannekoek, a thick pancake filled with sweet (fruit) or savory options. The delicious one I ordered was filled with bacon and served with a side of applesauce, for a true Dutch experience. Next door was a Half Price Books, which we went to immediately after. I would normally not frequent chain bookstores (indie all the way), but it’s hard to beat half price. After an hour of browsing (a normal amount of time for me), I bought a few books, including the one that inspired “Hamilton,” the musical.
We then met a mutual friend from Case Western Reserve University for lunch at a Caribbean restaurant. The food was excellent, even if I didn’t have too much an idea of what I ordered. (I never took Spanish). Then we moseyed over to a nearby Minneapolis coffee shop, known for their specialty drinks, Five Watt. I may have had better regular coffee (at Rising Star in Cleveland), but Five Watt’s signature drink was one of the best caffeinated beverages I’ve had. We then traveled to an iconic part of the Twin Cities, the Stone Arch Bridge. An engineering wonder, the bridge spans the Mississippi River and provides a great view of the Minneapolis skyline, including the Guthrie Theater and U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the 2018 Super Bowl.
Later that night, I visited the Mall of America, located near the MSP Airport on the outskirts of the metro area. The largest mall in the country, I wasn’t that impressed with it. Sure, there were loads of shops, more than I’d seen in any other mall, but I imagined the mall would be taller and larger. Though the amusement park was a nice touch.
The following day, Jason and I explored downtown Minneapolis. We visited the University of Minnesota campus after eating good (and spicy) Korean food. We walked around the sculpture garden outside the Walker Art Center and saw the most photographed item in the city: a spoon with a cherry (see below). It turns out that sculpture was created by the same people who also designed the FREE stamp in downtown Cleveland. Later, we went to St. Paul, which I was surprised to learn was much farther away.
The day before arriving in Minneapolis, I stayed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The only reason was to see an independent league baseball game, which I thought would be a unique opportunity. It turned out a few days later, I saw a game in the same league (the American Association) featuring the St. Paul Saints. The Sioux Falls Canaries, who are in a tie for last place, lost the game I attended, and it wasn’t even close. The final score was 8-4, but the Canaries were never in the game. Meanwhile, the Saints, who are tied for the division lead, won their game resoundingly.
The Saints are co-owned by Bill Murray and Mike Veeck, son of notorious entertainment pioneer Bill Veeck. (He was known for such promotions as 10 cent beer night, disco demolition night, and fireworks after home runs). It was probably one of most fun non-baseball experiences I’ve had at a baseball game. To start with, there was two public address (PA) announcers. Normally, PA announcers stay out of the action, but these guys would comment on the game and had witty rapport as well. Also, there were five “usher-tainers” who roamed the stands and riled up the crowd. And, a real pig would deliver balls to the umpire between innings. It would probably be accurate to say they put more effort into the entertainment than the baseball.
Of course, the baseball was exciting too. The Saints scored 10 runs in a rout of the Kansas City T-Bones. Former Cleveland Indians player Zach Walters had three hits and drove in three, and Burt Reynolds (not that one) hit third and drew three walks.
Overall, the Twin Cities were a great stop and my last one on the trip. On Sunday, Aug. 5, I drove 13 hours back to Cleveland. I arrived after sunset around 9:30 p.m. exhausted but relieved to be back. I was scheduled to work the next morning, so after recounting as much of my trip as possible, I went to bed. Somehow I had to go back to regular life after spending more than a month on the road.
Look for one more blog post summarizing all that I learned on this trip. No promises on a release date, but it will be in August.
