After a lovely time in Tennessee I drove to Chicago for a rowdy Halloween celebration with my grad school friend Cliff. Thanks Cliff for hosting me!
Then, before heading to Minnesota, I made a brief stop in Milwaukee to catch up with my college friend Dev. Thanks Dev for showing me around!
Minneapolis was a scenic, calm city with lots of bridges. It was the coldest place I had visited so far on my trip and I was lucky to catch their first snow of the year!
Some highlights:
- Best cheeseburger
- Biggest mall
- Best theme park ride
Mill Ruins Park
I started my day with a visit to the Mississippi riverfront. A bit chilly but quite scenic!
Nicknamed Mill City, Minneapolis developed around St. Anthony Falls which powered much of its early industry. The 1800s/1900s saw a boom in flour milling as the city became the world’s flour milling capital, with 34 (!) mills taking advantage of the river. Mills for days!
Fun fact: both General Mills and Pillsbury (acquired by General Mills in 2001) were founded here.
I walked along the river to the self-explanatory Mill Ruins park, which commemorates the city’s rich milling history and features ruins of several abandoned mills.
A short walk away was the scenic Stone Arch Bridge, a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and Roman aqueduct impersonator.
Sculpture Garden
After the sweet mills I made my way downtown to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
One of the most well-known works featured here is the aptly named “Spoonbridge and Cherry,” a city symbol and an iconic representative of 20th century Pop Art. The artists compare the spoon’s raised bowl to the brow of a Viking ship, or a duck bobbing in a lake.
For me this sculpture brought back memories of Cherry on Top, a beloved frozen yogurt place from my college days. Unfortunately, just like some other fan favorites, it has since closed.
Minnehaha Falls
After admiring the thought-provoking sculptures I headed over to the most photographed site in Minnesota, Minnehaha Falls. To my surprise/delight, as soon as I stepped out of the car I was greeted by snow! This was the first (of many) Minneapolis snowfalls of the year, and the first (of many) on my trip.
Lunch
While it may seem like I had already done a full day’s worth of activities it was only lunchtime. Feeling productive and hungry I headed downtown to Hell’s Kitchen, which referred to neither the NYC neighborhood nor Gordon Ramsay’s TV show but a hip local restaurant.
Turns out Minneapolis is the birthplace of cheese-in-the-middle burgers (cheese inside the patty itself) called the Jucy Lucy. The name supposedly came from a customer who, after biting into the burger, exclaimed “Oooh, that’s one juicy lucy!”
I love cheese so of course I had to try this, and it exceeded my wildest expectations. Perfect treat for a snow day!
Mall of America
My final stop in Minnesota was the Mall of America, locally known as “MOA.” Opened in 1992 the MOA is not only the largest mall in the US and 5th largest in North America, but is big enough to fit 7 Yankee stadiums. As if the 500+ stores weren’t enough the MOA also features an indoor theme park, Nickelodeon Universe. Unbelievable!
I was sincerely impressed with this scale of human achievement. The size of this place is difficult to grasp since you can never see the whole thing at once. Exhausted after walking by an endless number of stores, I went on the FlyOver America/Canada 3D ride at the conveniently located indoor theme park.
The ride was an unbelievably immersive and thrilling experience; it was so good that I ended up doing both the US and Canada portions. The premise is that you’re suspended on a moving seat in front of a big screen that shows videos flying over scenic locations, such as Crater Lake or the Golden Gate Bridge. The screen is huge, the video quality and sound effects are realistic, and the seat moves around to give the impression that you’re actually flying. A truly impressive VR experience!
Flight 93 Memorial
While the MOA is mostly smiles, it also features a powerful 9/11 memorial dedicated to the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in rural PA. The memorial commemorates the courageous actions of the passengers who broke open the cockpit door and fought to take back the plane. The sculpture’s open door symbolically leads to a brighter and safer future, made possible by heroes such as those on Flight 93.
It was now time to head on West. Next up, South Dakota!
Mikhail's Travel Adventures 