Minneapolis Trip Introduction

Once a year Frank and I vacation for one week with two couples from our college days. This year we joined John & Sue and Joe & Margaret in Minneapolis for September 15–22, 2018. We stayed in an Airbnb rental house just south of the Mississippi  River, less than five miles from the Saint Anthony Falls, the only waterfalls on the entire Mississippi River. Our first Saturday night, after the September 15 airport pickups, we went out to dinner and then settled into our rental and planned the attractions we wanted to see during the next six days. Margaret, Joe, and Sue pose in front of our home base. A long walkway up from the sidewalk leads to a generously-set-back, black, front door entry.

A view of the entry looking back from within shows a comfortable L-shaped couch seating area, a dining table off to the left that would seat six, and a fairly modern kitchen in the far back right corner. The dining table got much use for games of Sequence or doing a jigsaw puzzle. 

Here is that table in use one night for the start of assembling a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

The kitchen had a step up area and stools at counter height. The house was a somewhat modern design with multiple split levels. Each of us couples had a bedroom at a different level with our own private bath and roomy walk-in closet.

Our first night there we ate out at a restaurant called The Lowry.

We came home satiated, tired but wired from a day of travel, and set out to plan our week's activities. We did not finalize our itinerary that night but the map below indicates what we did wind up doing on which day. Some rainy weather affected final determinations. The map encompasses an area approximately 11 miles wide and 8 miles high. Had our route been ordered as on the map, the total distance was less than 40 miles, one way. After the map is a color-coordinated list of the points of interest we visited. Details of each of those will be described in a series of Wander Or Ponder blog posts.

Sunday 9/16

Mississippi River Cruise, Saint Anthony Falls, Mary Tyler Moore Statue,
Minnesota Street Car Museum, Chain of Lakes Drive, Dinner Applebee’s

Monday 9/17

Minnehaha Falls, Surly Brewery, 

Twin City Model Railroad Museum, Grocery Store Salad Dinner

Tuesday 9/18

American Swedish Institute, Turnblad Mansion, 

Glad Creations Quilts, Sequence, Spaghetti Dinner at Home

Wednesday 9/19

Mill City Museum, Jigsaw Puzzle, Sequence, Dinner at The Lowry

Thursday 9/20

Mall of America, Amusement Rides, Escape room - The Heist, Rainforest Cafe

Friday 9/21

Minnesota History Center, Sequence, Dinner A Night to Remember

Saturday 9/22

Minnesota Airport Light Rail, Tram, Reading

On Saturday morning September 22, Frank and I had said our goodbyes and were en route to the airport via Uber when I realized we had forgotten to take a final group photo in front of the house. I texted John and asked him to do so and this final selfie image is the result. All are still smiling and speaking to each other so we must have had a great time!