I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It is one of those places that no matter how hard I try to explain it, no one ever really understands just how small and remote it was. To put it in perspective, you should know that the closest fast food place was a Dairy Queen 20 miles away. The closest McDonalds or Wal-Mart was 80 miles away, and the nearest mall was three hours away. If you needed something from a grocery store after 5pm, you were out of luck. It was a completely different world than most people grow up in. Was it terrible? Not at all, it gave me an appreciation for convenience, and taught me the value of maximizing trips and time. Unfortunately, one lesson I didn’t learn is the value of going out and experiencing the place you live.
In the 15 years that I lived in Westby, I barely experienced anything. Granted I was a dumb high school kid, but there was a museum in a town 20 miles away, which though small and not overly impressive, was something that I should have checked out. There was a site called Writing Rock, which was a rock with pre-Columbus drawings on it. I vaguely remember going to see when I was very young, but never visited when the memory would have stuck. Sitting Bull was captured somewhere near my hometown yet I never bothered to try to visit that site.
I left for college in Grand Forks in 2001 failing to take advantage of my environment. Once again, I failed to experience 90% of what the city had to offer. I never attended the catfish tournament. I didn’t go see some of the best high school hockey in the country, and I only went ice fishing once. Why? I couldn’t tell you, but things are going to change.
This coming February I will have lived in the Minneapolis metro for 2 years. Yet I have hardly experienced anything that the cities have to offer. I’ve been to a Twins game and went to the Frozen Four. But haven’t seen the Timberwolves, the Lynx, the Wild, or the Saints. Let alone experienced the ridiculous amount of culture that is available. This is something that I’ve decided I have to remedy. I will no longer spend my weekends wondering what I could be doing. I’m going to get out and experience the city I live in. Even heading into Minneapolis or St. Paul to try out a new restaurant would be an improvement.
To kick-start my initiative, I plan to post a list of 50+ things that I want to accomplish in 2009 on New Years Day. Along with my post of things I should experience, I’m declaring my New Years resolution to be “Experience my city”. It may not be about improving my health or another generic resolution, but I will not be bored in the city I live in.
I would love your input, what do you think I should try and experience in 2009?
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1. Start with the Melsa Museum Adventure Pass available for check-out at your local library. You can see great places such as the The Museum of Russian Art, the Minnesota Streetcar Museum, and others. The entire list of places you can go is well worth your time and while some of the more popular ones (like the Minnesota Zoo) are usually checked out, the lesser known ones are generally available. If you utilize a lesser used library you will have better luck.
2. Burgers at King’s Place in Miesville and then baseball nearby.
3. Minnehaha Park and during their open season, the Sea Salt Eatery.
4. Spring Lake Park Reserve and Schaar’s Bluff just outside of Rosemount/Hastings. Absolutely gorgeous views of the Mississippi, tons of great places to get down into piles of rocks to explore and enjoy untouched beauty, and a really nice place to watch the sunset.
5. Tour the state capitol building in St Paul which offers amazing views of the entire city from the base of the dome.
Good luck!
Well you’ll have to wait until summer, but the Walker’s outdoor movie series at Loring Park is a good one to add to the list.
Speaking of outdoor movies, Solera does their rooftop movies during the summer too. BTW, I’m working on my own master list like this for one of the pages on my site, so I’m going to be paying special attention to these suggestions!
I think a trip to the Renaissance Festival is a MUST! http://renaissancefest.com/MRF/index.html It’s worth going just for the stage shows, but there’s also a ton of artist shops, great food, and wacky folks in costumes running around!
Rollerdome, roller girls, standing outside for 20 minutes in -20 waiting for a bus, snow day, the dog park near Minnehaha falls, Saints, State Fair (including watching animal judging in the collusium), show at First Ave, outdoor concerts on Pevey Plaza, Valleyfair, spending a Saturday at the Central Library reading periodicals near the windows, Autumn Brew Review, the Walker, MIA, Russian Art Museum, Mill City Museum, History Museum, tour of the Capital, being drunk, lost and frostbitten near 35th and 35th in S Mpls (or 40th and 40th, or 45th and 45th), Grumpy’s, Whitey’s, the Terminal, haircut at Aveda School, La Belle Vie, Vincent’s, Heartland, Solera, any number of awesome Mexican places, Bryn Mawr Garage Sale, Jucy Lucy, Holidazzle, Gay Pride, Dunn Brothers Coffee, sledding at Theo Wirth, hatin’ on the weather.
I stopped writing and came up with more…
Aquetenial parade, Cinco de Mayo in St. Paul, seeing Coleman so drunk he can’t stand, (seeing Coleman lose a Senate seat?) Milk carton boat races, the lock and dams along the Mississippi, Stone Arch Bridge, hatin’ on Mall of America, Camp Snoopy or whatever it is called, Light Rail, Vacation somewhere warm in Jan/Feb/March, Minnesota Orchestra, Fringe Fest, Guthrie, picnic at one of the Regional Parks (I like Baker the best), Fort Snelling historical tour, paddleboat on Mississippi, waterskiing or hanging out at “the lake” or “up north”, asking what would Wellstone do, Uptown bar hopping, walk across the Maroon (pink) bridge at the U, driving both River Roads or biking them, Brookdale, Southdale, Ridgedale, Rosedale, Unidale…
I’m starting to think my list is going to expand to 100+ at this rate. Thank you all for your suggestions.
Alright,
In Saint Paul you really should attend the Opera, the Orchestra,a Wild game, and stop in at the St.Paul Grill’s bar for a drink afterwards while the traffic dies down.
I’d expand beyond the T.C. and say you need to spend a weekend in Duluth,drive on the skyline during the day and night, drive park point and hang out on the dunes, check out unger tower, and visit Jay Cooke State Park which is on this side of the cities near Carlton.
If you have time a drive up to Two Harbors along the shore is a requirement and head as far north as time allows. Gooseberry Falls is a happy time compromise.
If you can get to all of these things before July I’ll be damn impressed and you’ll be damn happy.
Have you ever seen (or even heard of) the Kensington Runestone? It is not known if it is 100% authentic or a hoax, but recent research has found compelling scientific evidence that points to authenticity.
IF it is real, it is proof that there were Viking explorers in Minnesota in the mid 14th Century.
IF it is a hoax, it is none-the-less important to Minnesota history because of the controversy it sparked, but the new evidence by far outweighs the old crumbling accusations of hoaxery. Still, they’re not entirely sure about it either way.
The runic inscription on the stone tells a dramatic story, and a secret message has been found in the words as well. The stone is on display in Alexandria, MN at a museum which shows you the evidence, and lets YOU decide if it’s real or not.
You can also go to the field in Kensington where a replica of the stone marks the spot where the original was discovered in 1898.
After reading the 574 page book (released in 2006) which shows ALL of the evidence (for and against its authenticity) I personally feel that it might be authentic, though they are continuing their research and I’d still like more information.
You should check it out!
I heard that Punch Pizza was Meryl Streep’s favorite restaurant when she was in Saint Paul filming Prairie Home Companion, and it is excellent. They have two locations in Saint Paul now, one on Cleveland and one on Grand. Even the more ordinary pizzas are made delicious by hand-tossed crusts and wood fire ovens.
I will thrown in a recommendation to see the Science Museum in Saint Paul. It is both fun and interesting.
If you have the patience for a prissy city coffee shop (and this one is pretty prissy, but in an endearing way), check out Nina’s at Selby and Western in Saint Paul. It is named after Nina Clifford, who ran a brothel in the 30s that wasn’t too far away from the current site. The building is an old Victorian that was once the Angus Hotel. Nina’s has a staircase into Garrison Keillor’s bookstore downstairs. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s house is not far away, either, if you want to make a day of it – legend has it that his mother stayed in the Angus Hotel.
While not being an attraction in and of themselves, the skyways in downtown Saint Paul and Minneapolis are certainly odd and might be worth an afternoon if you can swing one during the work week. Minneapolis’s skyways are prettier and more extensive than Saint Paul’s. I don’t know if these are the only skyway systems of their kind, but they certainly make the Cities unique as compared to, well, Denver, or Nashville, or New York. The people watching is fantastic.
And I wanted to second the recommendation for Schaar’s Bluff. It’s interesting historically, it has a brand new visitor center – and what a stunning view.
Good for you for taking time to go on adventures!