Minnesota

Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota

Fly into the St. Paul/Minneapolis airport, take the light rail into Bloomington and enter the world of Mall of America!  With more stores than you can imagine in three stories, an amusement park, aquarium, movie theaters, restaurants  and hotels, you can spend your vacation in just this one spot.   The St. Paul/Minneapolis metropolitan area embraces a number of surrounding smaller towns including Bloomington.  Within the metropolitan area are the homes of 60% of the people of Minnesota.  Night life, museums, art galleries and more are found along with many local neighborhood festivities.   

You can find do-it-yourself breweries or enjoy one of the many local breweries or wineries, find a feast at a large selection of restaurants, visit a museum or an art gallery, attend a theatrical production or relax in a neighborhood park.  Of course, this is just the frosting on the cake.  Like the hidden prize inside a cake, Minnesota can surprise you with the variety of landscapes and things to do. 

 Leave the city life behind and enjoy one of the many scenic byways, especially enjoyable from the seat of a motorcycle.  Try the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway to enjoy birding, biking, hiking and fishing.  The Paul Bunyan State Trail boasts 70 miles of paved trail for inline skating and biking.  (Paul Bunyan is the hero of American lumbering industry folklore.)

St. Paul Cathedral, built of Minnesota granite

 Minnesota is called the land of 10,000 lakes; actually there are over 11,000 lakes.   Lake Superior forms a portion of the Minnesota border so fishing and other water sports are plentiful.  The Mississippi River begins in the area that is now Itasca State Park and grows as it moves south through the state.  The Great River Road is a state and national byway that follows the Mississippi River for 575 miles from its headwaters south to its border with Iowa.  The Mississippi River Trail for bikers also follows a similar route.

Minnesota was settled by many immigrants from European countries, especially Scandinavian and German settlers who came to farm, run dairies or work in the lumber or mining industries.   Many descendents of these original pioneers remain in Minnesota.  You can visit Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead to learn about the Scandinavian influence in the history of Minnesota.  There you can see replicas of a Viking ship and a stave church.  The Twin Cities host an annual Deutsche Tage (German Days) in early summer.  

Mayo Clinic Building - Rpchester

 Bordering on Canada, Minnesota is one of those states with enough winter weather for many outdoor winter sports.  Ice fishing is popular and it is possible to rent an ice fishing hut.  There are many miles of snowmobile trails.  Down hill skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, hockey and ice skating are all available and popular sports.

I have only touched on a few of the many places to see and things to do here.  My favorite memories of Minnesota are of tractor riding at a relative’s farm, seeing the beginnings of the Mississippi River from my seat on an Amtrak train ride, exploring the Mall of America shopping for a gift for a new great niece.  To make your own memories of Minnesota, log on to their website at http://exploreminnesota.com/index.aspx