As discussed in the Summer of (work) travel post, I had a ton of travel for work this year. That included a trip to Minneapolis for our Healthcare retreat that would be Tuesday-Thursday and then on Sunday I would be flying back to Minneapolis on Sunday for internal inspection (also in Minneapolis). I've wanted Shantel to come to Minneapolis some time with me and we decided this was the perfect opportunity because then my flight would be covered, plus instead of covering me flying home and back, my work would cover the hotel cost and rental car cost (about $700). I have been to Minneapolis 10-15 times, however, other than going to the twins baseball games and going to the Mall of America, I really had not seen the city very much. I was really excited and we had some great things planned.
Shantel flew out Wednesday night and go there pretty late and then stayed in my room with me. I got up early the next morning and went to my conference. Shantel got up and went to a cool bookstore in downtown Minneapolis and to the Minneapolis Temple.
My conference ended at 3 pm and Shantel came to pick me up and we headed up to Duluth Minnesota. We were excited to be able to go up to Lake Superior and spend all day Friday hiking in that area.
That evening we went and walked around Lake Superior. There was a beautiful boardwalk and there were a couple of lighthouses and a lift bridge. We also grabbed dinner at a Mexican restaurant and Shantel had some of the most delicious tacos she has ever had.
That night we went across the bridge and went to a Wal-mart in Wisconsin in our first ever visit to the state and got some food for the couple of days.
In the morning we got up early and headed to Gooseberry Falls State Park to do the Fifth Falls Hike. It was a beautiful hike and area and we loved it.
After the hike we went to visit Split Rock lighthouse and hiked down from the lighthouse to Lake Superior. We loved sitting on the rocky beach of Lake Superior and I even got to dip my feet into the lake. We hiked along the rocky beach and then back up to split rock. The lighthouse was beautiful and was really interesting to hear about the history of the lighthouse. One of our biggest jokes is that we had a beautiful view of the lighthouse, but it is so little in the background. However, then as we hiked, it kept getting closer and the view for the picture was even better so we kept taking another picture so you could finally see the lighthouse. Then would go further and then realize it was an even better picture, it was really funny.
After Split rock and headed back towards Duluth and stopped for lunch at Betty's Pies (recommended by someone who lives in Minnesota). We got some good food, but were most excited for the pies and ended up ordering two pies each, one for eating at the restaurant and one to eat later. The pie was fabulous and we would definitely recommend.
Our next stop was to Amnicon Falls State Park in Wisconsin. We wanted to make sure to go and do and see something in Wisconsin since it was our first trip to Wisconsin (new state for both us, plus Minnesota was a new state for Shantel). There was not a lot in Wisconsin unless you drove a few hours away and unfortunately we did not have quite that much time, but we found this little state park with a fun little hike and enjoyed it and marked Wisconsin on our list of states we've visited together.
After the falls we headed back to Minneapolis. We did not want to spend a ton of time at the Mall of America, but thought it was at least worth crossing off the list (I've been a few times we our conference was at an attached hotel). Our favorite thing was the lights in the ceiling.
That night we headed to our hotel in St. Paul which was a beautiful hotel called Celeste de St. Paul. It was a nunnery that was converted into a hotel. It was very beautiful. One of our favorite things was they had beautiful china for us to eat breakfast including little hot chocolate cups. After breakfast we went and did sealings at the Minneapolis Temple and had such a beautiful experience.
After the temple we headed to Stillwater Minnesota to see the famous Stillwater lift bridge. There was a festival going on, so there were a lot of food booths and we got food and walked across the bridge. It was so cool because we got to see the lift bridge in action multiple times. Then we walked across to the Wisconsin side and back.
I think the hiking day was probably our favorite things of the whole trip, but this next thing was probably second. We took a river boat tour on the Mississippi that went up and down the river. It was really nice to sit on the boat and so beautiful. We got to go see the Stone Arch bridge. The most interest part is that we actually got to travel through one of the locks in order to get up to the stone arch bridge. We went in to the cement barrier and then watched as the water filled the area and the boat rose up and then we got to travel back and see the process in reverse.
On the boat tour we saw the Weisman Art Musueum on the University of Minnesota campus and learned it was designed by Frank Gehry who is one of Shantel's favorite architects. We decided we should go to it, so after our boat tour we walked across the bridge on the University of Minnesota campus and made a quick trip to the museum (more for the building than the art inside).
After our boat tour we stopped at Bogarts Donuts to try their donuts. Then we went to Carbone's Pizza for dinner. It was really delicious and was fun because a band set up near the end of our meal and so they started playing music just as we were finishing up. It was super fun.
We went back to our hotel and then walked over to the Minnesota State Capital building.
Our last day was Sunday and we went to the Minnehaha Falls art festival. The falls were beautiful. It was really really busy, but once we got further away from the festival and the falls it was actually a really pleasant walk down to the Mississippi river.
We finished our trip by going to lunch at the Rusty Taco and getting Birria tacos. Then we went over to the stone arch bridge and walked over the bridge and around the area downtown a bit.
We had a really incredible time and it was fun to really to see so many different things in Minnesota. Shantel dropped me off at my hotel downtown and then headed off to the airport to fly home.
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