I had also asked Jamie, over at Minnesota Girl in LA  to write-up a post for me since I am visiting her home state of Minnesota right now! Here is her wonderful post about fun things to do and see if you are ever in the state of 10,000 lakes… Minnesota!! 🙂

Erin asked me to write about my favorite Minnesota places since she’s out visiting there right now.  Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to sit down and think about some of my favorite places from the state I grew up in.

I grew up in the Twin Cities area, to be more specific, the southern suburbs.  Think Lakeville, Apple Valley, Eagan, Burnsville area, or south of St. Paul.  
Some of my all-time favorite places in Minnesota were:

1. Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Just being able to walk along these gardens during the winter or even the spring time to see what artists would create, or more so, try to pin point what they were thinking was enjoyable for me.  And of course, the iconic Cherry in the Spoon Picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Cherry and the Spoon

2. Lake Calhoun

I loved to rollerblade, and often, during the summer I would go to one of the popular Minnesota lakes to rollerblade around.  Lake Calhoun became my favorite the year before I decided to move away, but Lake Nokomis was another favorite of mine.

 

3. Cosetta’s Italian Deli

I love Italian, and one of my favorite restaurants to visit in Downtown St. Paul was Cosetta’s.  It was a very well-known restaurant and deli, and no matter what time of the day it was there was line for their food.  They also had a shop where you could take home some of your favorites.  

 

4. My favorite museums included the St. Paul History museum, The Science Museum, and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

5. Mall of America

The biggest mall in the United States was the Mall of America.  This mall even had an indoor amusement park inside, what isn’t there to love about it?  I use to take the bus after school to just hang out at the mall.  Most likely I was a huge part of the reason why a curfew time of 7pm was given to children under 16 years old of age every Friday and Saturday evening.  

 

6. St. Anthony Falls

It was just a truly beautiful area along Minneapolis to walk along, and of course see the hydraulic falls in action.

 

7. Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling Area

These places were pretty close to one another although they were usually different visits.  The Minnehaha Falls area is a very beautiful area, and of course I loved driving around the houses in the area because they were a sign of the times, and the houses had a ton of character.  

 

 

 

 

 

Fort Snelling Area

8. Grand Ave.

This place had some pretty great shops and boutiques to walk through with some great eateries.   You can’t go there without stopping in the Grand Ole Creamery.  Amazing ice cream served up for you.

 

9. Uptown

Another fun little area with shops and boutiques to walk and browse through.  

   10. The North Shore

During the weekends, if I could, I would love taking the 3 hour drive up north to head to Duluth, MN.  I loved looking out at Lake Superior, and of course driving even further north along the north shore.  This was truly my zen place of Minnesota.  I didn’t get up there often, but anytime I did I was instantly relaxed, and my stress disappeared.  These were just some of my favorite things to do in Minnesota, the place I grew up in.

 

 

 

 

 

North Shore