Alice Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 We're going to a wedding in Northwest Wisconsin in June. The cheapest direct flights were into Minneapolis so we're going to fly in and out of there and spend a few days on each end of the trip in the city. Any suggestions for places to stay or things to do? (And anyone who's there who wants to do a house-exchange for a home in the suburbs of Washington DC for a week in June? :) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soph the vet Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Hi Alice, We live in the Twin Cities so where would you like to start? What kind of things does your family like to do, we have it all here :D! We are the land of 13,000 lakes so outdoor water activities are abundant. Tons of public parks and playgrounds. How old are your kids? Museums are abundant here as well, the Children's museum and Science museum are very good and both are in downtown St. Paul. The airport is on the south side of the Cities, in Eagan. The Mall of America and IKEA are right there for shopping buffs. There is also the "Water Park of America" near the airport which is part of a hotel, never been there, but it is brand new. On the way to northwest WI (what town will you be in?) you may be able to go through Taylors Falls (canoeing) or Interstate Park (hiking, beautiful bluffs - not for toddlers:)) June is blackfly season in northern MN and WI so be prepared to be bitten. If you are looking for something specific let me know and I can find things for you. I'll check back after school today to see if you've posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks Soph! We have two boys..age 4 1/2 and 18 months at the time of travel. My husband is an architect and typically plans our vacations..there will certainly be a list of buildings he wants to look at. :) We had heard the Children's Museum and Science Museum were good and were planning on going to those. My 4 yr old loves dinosaurs and anything with animals. We do like outdoor activities but are planning on doing some hiking and sightseeing on Madeline Island when we are in Wisconsin. We're kind of thinking the Twin Cities will be more of a "city" kind of vacation. Our overall plan is to fly in on a Wed and spend most of the day Wed and Thurs in the Minneapolis/St. Paul. Friday we'll drive up to the wedding (in Ashland, Wisconsin) and there is a rehearsal dinner/cookout that evening. Saturday we plan on going to Madeline Island and the wedding is late that afternono. Sunday we'll drive back down and have part of the day Sun and all day Mon before flying home on Tues. So we really have 1 1/2 days on each end of the trip. It's not a lot of time I know. Any suggestions are great...especially for places to stay or places to eat. We tend to like to try and travel not in chain hotels and eat in good local places. Other tips on things like great parks or playgrounds would be great. When we've traveled with kids before we found that we had to have a certain amount of "free range" time for every museum we did. :) Is Mall of Ameria worth our time at all? I'm not that interested except I've heard the Legoland store is really cool and I do have a boy who loves Legos. I also think he might be amazed at the roller coaster in the mall...but I'm not sure it's really worth the trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks Soph! We have two boys..age 4 1/2 and 18 months at the time of travel. My husband is an architect and typically plans our vacations..there will certainly be a list of buildings he wants to look at. :) We had heard the Children's Museum and Science Museum were good and were planning on going to those. My 4 yr old loves dinosaurs and anything with animals. We do like outdoor activities but are planning on doing some hiking and sightseeing on Madeline Island when we are in Wisconsin. We're kind of thinking the Twin Cities will be more of a "city" kind of vacation. Our overall plan is to fly in on a Wed and spend most of the day Wed and Thurs in the Minneapolis/St. Paul. Friday we'll drive up to the wedding (in Ashland, Wisconsin) and there is a rehearsal dinner/cookout that evening. Saturday we plan on going to Madeline Island and the wedding is late that afternono. Sunday we'll drive back down and have part of the day Sun and all day Mon before flying home on Tues. So we really have 1 1/2 days on each end of the trip. It's not a lot of time I know. Any suggestions are great...especially for places to stay or places to eat. We tend to like to try and travel not in chain hotels and eat in good local places. Other tips on things like great parks or playgrounds would be great. When we've traveled with kids before we found that we had to have a certain amount of "free range" time for every museum we did. :) Is Mall of Ameria worth our time at all? I'm not that interested except I've heard the Legoland store is really cool and I do have a boy who loves Legos. I also think he might be amazed at the roller coaster in the mall...but I'm not sure it's really worth the trip. They used to have an aquarium at the Mall of America that was really fun. My boys still talk about the aquarium and the Children's Museum (my oldest was 6 at the time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey in TX Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 We spent some time in MN a couple years ago. Our best family experience was the BWCA in Ely, MN. It's a few hours north of Mnpls, but had a really inexpensive resort on the MN-Canadian border. They have fishing, kayaking, swimming, hiking, and hydroplane rides. We'll return b/c it was such a great family bonding time :) Mall of America is a must, as well. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chai Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 I'm more familiar with the St. Paul side. The children's museum would be perfect for your childrens ages. The science museum is great but it is directed at a slightly older child. (My dd really started to enjoy that when she was 5-6.) However, they have an room with dinosaurs that your ds might like. Como Zoo is a great, free, zoo with lots to do. There is also a small amusement park attached that is geared toward younger children. The park next to it is huge and has lots of room for running around and excellent picnic spots. A great place to go for restaurants is Grand Avenue. I love the Grand Ole Creamery for ice cream. I don't know lots of good kid-friendly restaurants, but I really like Cafe Latte. It is casual place with good salads, sandwiches and desserts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soph the vet Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 I second Chai on Cafe Latte, on corner of Grand and Victoria. Kid friendly restaurants around the Cities would include Rainforest Cafe (in Mall of America), Old Spaghetti Factory in Minneapolis, Perkins, Good Earth. If you go to the Mall of America on a weekday it is very doable and there are some interesting shops like Al's Farm Store and Legoland. There is a merry go round for the younger kids. The rollercoaster is too big for your kids but it is fun to watch. They also have a 2 story mini-golf. I also second Chai's suggestion of Como Park and Zoo. There is a free zoo, a conservatory, a lake to walk around. Very busy on summer weekends. A place you might want to consider staying if you don't like hotel chains is at a B&B in Stillwater - there are many there, right on the ST. Croix river. It is on your way to Ashland, about 30 minutes east of downtown St. Paul. Depending on when in June you are arriving, there may be outdoor art festivals going on. Another outdoor tourist attraction in the heart of Minneapolis is Minnehaha Falls, a somewhat large waterfall and park with bike/walking trails where you can rent a four person carriage that you pedal to move! Fun for families. Look on a map, decide where you are staying and I can probably give more specific recommendations if you narrow down which part of the metro area you want to be in. It is a big area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks so much everyone! The zoo and park sound great. My son loves our zoo here in DC...we go a lot. I'll check out Stillwater for B&B's but so far it's been hard to fine one that will take two kids. Understandable from their point of view. Or they are way more than we want to spend. I think we'll likely end up staying at a Holiday Inn (yes, I know it's a chain) which we found that is apparently a few blocks from the science/children's museums. It's got the best price by far and sounds fairly convenient to things we want to do. Thanks for all the recommendations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneJ Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 You might try the Staybridge Suites (still part of the HI chain). The rooms are larger, they have a breakfast buffet, and they serve supper on Tues, Wed, and Thurs--all as part of the room rate. I've stayed at the one in Eagan and it was nice. Plus it has a full kitchen so that would help keep cost down (there is a Cub foods right across the street). St Paul is a straight shot up I-35E from there--about 15 minutes unless you try to drive during rush hour. My brother and his wife live in St Paul and we spent almost a week at the Staybridge while DH worked in Apple Valley a few weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battlemaiden Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 The hike from Taylors Falls to Stillwater is lovely and very child friendly. The bonus is at the end there is the BEST little bakery. We often camped at Taylors Falls and then walked into town for hot chocolate and baked goods. You will find the Como Park zoo very limited if that is what you leaning towards. Then again it's free, there is a carousel nearby, and the park itself is lovely. The larger zoo is a little bit out of the way but fantastic! As for accomodations, have you looked into cabins at state parks? We stay in state park cabins quite frequently now, but we rarely did then so I don't know what's available. It would be an adventure. Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battlemaiden Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 I had another thought. Would you be willing to contact one of the local homeschooling organizations and ask if there is a family who would do a trade in hosting your family. Since you live in the DC area this may really be possible. When we lived in Como Park we attended a church called Grace Church Roseville. They had a very organized homeschooling group and perhaps they would have some ideas. Just a thought. Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 Jo- Thanks for the church contact. We'll try it to see if anyone is looking for a housesitter or home exchange or something. We're definitely open to that idea...and looked briefly on craigslist but we have very unflexible travel dates since it's a wedding. Plus we're traveling mid-week to mid-week which is a little weird for some. My husband loved this idea. Before we were married we drove cross-country to a different wedding in his family (he has a LOT of cousins :)) and we were able to stay pretty much the whole time with friends or distant connections (grandparents of friends, parents of one of his high school friends). There were two places we didn't know anyone and needed somewhere to stay and he wrote local churches in our denomination and found people willing to take us in...one in Wyoming and one in Spearfish, South Dakota. I was a little wary but in the end those two places were incredibly memorable. The people were so gracious and amazing. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion and the name of the church. We'll try it! Alice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 The only place I've ever been there is the Mall of the Americas, which has theme parks, etc. inside it. It's nice to go to in the winter. I don't know that I'd want to spend lots of time there during their beautiful summers, though..... Regena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tami Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Here are a few ideas for you. Free: Hike at Three Rivers parks - especially Hyland Lake Park with the HUGE play structure. Rent paddle boats or canoes for a small fee Como Zoo Minneapolis Institute of Arts Walk at Lake Calhoun or other area lakes (try Three Rivers Park district) Browse the shops at Nicollet Mall in Mpls or browse at Mall of America Historical things: Minnesota History Museum Fort Snelling - there are homeschool happenings there Oliver Kelley Farm and happenings at Minnesota Historical Society's other sites (run a Google) Science: Science Museum of Minnesota Children's Museum Minnesota Zoo Fun for Kids: Camp Snoopy at Mall of America Legoland at Mall of America pretty much anything at Mall of America!!! Waterpark of America (foul weather) or Valley Fair! (if it's warm) Swim at Cascade Bay in Eagan (if it's warm!) Drive up to the Duluth/North Shore area and explore Canal Park, the Lighthouse, and Gooseberry Falls VIsit the Red Balloon Book Store and all the Victorian shops on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. Stop at Bread and Chocolate for lunch! Take a tour of the State Capital Ice Skate at The Depot I would recommend staying at the Staybridge Mall of America. I believe it has an Edina or Bloomington address. It is a few minutes drive from the Mall, but the suites are large, there is a kitchenette, and the breakfast is fantastic! Hope you enjoy your visit. Minnesota's weather is unpredictable in June, and it is usually rainy. Pack for both warm and cool weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 Wow! Thanks Tami. I'm printing out your suggestions as we speak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soph the vet Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 I had another thought. Would you be willing to contact one of the local homeschooling organizations and ask if there is a family who would do a trade in hosting your family. Since you live in the DC area this may really be possible. When we lived in Como Park we attended a church called Grace Church Roseville. They had a very organized homeschooling group and perhaps they would have some ideas. Just a thought. Jo The local homeschool group is MACHE (Minnesota Assoc. of Christian Home Educators) and their website is Mache.org We were just in DC last fall or I might consider the swap. However if Jo is really in Hawaii maybe she would go for a swap with us? Today? It is 16 below zero right now :eek:!!LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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