Friend Trip to Minneapolis!

When I was talking with friends about plans for the 4th of July holiday a few weeks ago and I told them that I was going to Minneapolis with my bestie, they would ask “Ummmmm why tho?” and honestly, I thought that was a valid question! I’d never been to Minnesota and was kind of ok with that… Like, why on earth did we pick Minneapolis for a VACATION when we could have gone anywhere?!?! But chose it we did, and y’all I’m so glad that’s where we spent a few days! My friend and I had the best time and did a TON of fun stuff together!!

First off, we stayed in the world’s best AirBnB! It was a loft in the Upper Loop neighborhood (by downtown) and it could not have been better for the two of us! The location was amazing, parking was included (my friend Kelsey drove her car), and we had a great view from the rooftop for fireworks on the 4th!

Kelsey was so sweet and picked me up from the airport, and it was hilarious that we wore basically the exact same thing!! Grey v-neck tee, denim, and a cross-body purse! After we got settled in to our lodgings, we headed down to the Mall of America to check it out! Everyone says that you need to see what it’s like because it’s HUGE and…. I suppose they were right, it was very large! But also… not as big as I was anticipating? We definitely made sure to go in the middle and check out the amusement park area – and we even rode a roller coaster! We only wanted to ride one… and we picked the perfect one! It took us on a little tour around the entire amusement area and was pretty fun!!

Next we went to get a Jucy Lucy – a cheese-filled burger that is THE thing to try when up in Minneapolis. And ummm yes it was DELICIOUS. So delicious, in fact, that we went to another restaurant the next night to try another one and compare. For science. Obviously. The best of the two was definitely the one we had the first night at Matt’s. The cheese was so darn good and it was the perfect “welcome to MN” meal!

Our first fill day on the trip was July 4th, and we made sure to have lots of fun stuff planned for the holiday! Kelsey REALLY wanted to go floating on the river (we were going to do it last year in NE but the water levels were too high) and so we finally got to do that! I really did NOT want to go floating on the river, but anything for my bestie! So we packed up her cooler and got in the car and drove over to Wisconsin to get in the river! It ended up being a lot more fun than I anticipated, even though the people we encountered while floating were not very friendly. We had good talks and got a good arm workout trying to navigate our tubes away from the banks! We only got “stuck” a few times, which was an overall win!

The weather was nice and warm and I didn’t even get a sunburn, which was a miracle!! The fact that it was cloudy for part of the time helped. Later that same day after we got back to our place and got cleaned up (nobody likes smelling like river and sunscreen) we headed out to the sculpture park to take a look at some art! I’d seen pictures of the giant spoon and cherry fountain and was so happy to see it in person!

 

The next day, we went back to the sculpture park area but went inside the art museum that is right next to it – the Walker Art Center! It’s a modern art museum and we walked thru the entire thing and it was good, but the REAL reason we went there was the fact that they had a mini-golf course on the roof. WHAT?!?!? How weird and random and amazing is that?!? When I saw it online before going, I knew that we HAD to go and play!! And it was actually very fun! We didn’t really keep score, except for one hole where I got a hole-in-one! Oh boy!!

The rest of Friday we spent more time outside (in the morning) by going for a little hike/walk at Minnehaha Falls (super cool to see but so muggy walking around – thankfully Kelsey brought bug spray!) and heading over to St. Paul for a fun dinner at Saint Dinette. It was a nicer restaurant (without being too crazy or expensive) and we got all dressed up for a fun night out – Kelsey loved her meal and I wasn’t hungry, so I just had some french fries which were… fine!

And finally, we got to our final day of the trip (really just a half day as I had to go to the airport and Kelsey had a long drive home) and we spent it doing more of the same – eating delicious food and spending time outside! We had the BEST brunch at Hen House Eatery in downtown Minneapolis (they had the world’s best cinnamon roll and I ate it so fast that I didn’t even get a picture of the huge thing!) and then we walked around Mill Ruins park.

And that was about it! Kelsey took me to the airport and after an almost 4 hour delay, I finally got to fly home. It was such a fun time with my friend and I was able to cross 2 more states off my list, so that is always exciting! Have you been to Minneapolis before? Did we miss out on anything super fun or exciting?!?