Minneapolis is DOPE!

Upon arrival, parking difficulties caused Rob to take flight in our back seat while we drove around the city in search of parking and food.  At The Newsroom (yes, Kelly, the Newsroom, you would love it) Rob treated us (thank you again and again!) to a delicious dinner with great people watching.  Heading back to Rob’s apartment in the mill district on the twelfth floor (awesome view of the stadium, not so awesome elevator ride), we unfortunately discovered it is in fact a small world, but hey at least MSU outnumbered U of M alum for once. 

Celebrating the blessed holiday, Labor Day, we hit the bars, of course.  Surprisingly, not many other Minnesotans were out on the streets, except at the bars where our dance skills need to be greatly improved before entering.  After a fun night out on the town, we settled down for a night of cuddling on the air mattress. 

Early the next morning we got ready, coincidentally all repping the D wearing Tiger’s shirts, for a day of exploration.  First stop was the ruins of Minneapolis (yes ruins, in America, we were surprised too) that were remnants of old flourmills.  Apparently, back in the day (which was a Wednesday) these mills tended to explode – yikes!  One of the mills was converted into the Mill River Museum.  The architecture for the building was so cool!  Keeping the old walls and base of one of the mills they added a new glass structure to keep the structure safe and house most of the museum.  It was a great example of using modern design to showcase the past. 

Right next door, is the Guthrie Theatre, a very contemporary building with a great view.  After the security guard offered some great advice on touring the building and referred to us as Rob’s dates J but then brought up our recent loss to the Twins, we went up to the ninth floor to see the “Amber Room”.   We stepped off the elevator into a new, trippy world that was, indeed, amber.  The windows were yellow and made the space feel very surreal and the view of both sides of the river was amazing.  Then down to the fourth floor we ventured out onto the Endless Bridge that ends in mid-air towards the river.  Here, a child informed that his eyes were blue, and then launched into an explanation of the rest of his family’s eye colors.   Feeling very informed, we then set off in a new direction.

Laurel Village, across town, was home to the famous Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture.  We were surprised to see that the cherry sprouted water from its stem, which managed to get us wet during one of the few parts of the day it wasn’t raining.   The cherry and spoon was in a large sculpture garden that housed plenty of beautiful pieces. 

Next stop was back downtown as we found the world’s #1 Jameson pub, The Local, right next to a tequila bar (I think we belong in this city).  Unfortunately, the gelato shop was closed and so was Jamba Juice, but we got our exercise in for sure. 

After four hours of walking, we needed a quick power nap in Rob’s comfy man furniture.  Then we were right out to exploring again, this time in the car.   We crossed the bridge to walk around the dam in the river and fell in love with the historic district.  We then drove to the other side of town to see the beautiful homes that are integrated into downtown.  Soon, we were heading back to the apartment to be the three person welcoming committee for Rob’s new roommate, Pat.  By this time, the three of us were all wearing our MSU hoodies and, even though Pat went to U of M, he was wearing green and, therefore, allowed to come with us on “Eat Street” for a dope (bringing it back like parachute pants!) dinner of Vietnamese cuisine at Quang (pronunciation TBD).  The night was wrapped up by watching a couple movies on their new Target TV (“watching” is used loosely since no one made it through either movie).  When we woke up in the morning, we unfortunately missed saying goodbye to Rob, since he’s a grownup and has to go to work.  Time to hit the road again!