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Last night, we agreed with my husband to spend a few days in MSP over Memorial day, to see it for real. Join a "recon" with some nice rec activities that your city/area has to offer. My ideal would be to look on vrbo or similar to see if we can rent a condo or a house in one of the neighborhoods (or hotel at worst) so we are in the middle of a neighborhood and see its real life. WOuld rent bikes so we can bike around, too. We would probably look at something like arrive in MSP on Tue night and leave Monday morning/midday. We would like to be in a neighborhood so we can walk to the rec center, have kids play at the playground or at the field by the local school, get a swim pass to local pool, grab a coffeee in local coffee shop etc.
From what you all said above we should Linden Hills, Uptown, Edina and St Louis Park as places to look to stay for the couple days. Any other areas come to mind? I have no idea how muc rental options there will be so want to have neighborhoods on my list to check !
Golfgal, thanks for the suggestion of Stillwater, it really looks beautiful and we will make sure to do a day trip there. And, I am so relieved there are downhill ski areas even if modest and I must say that Lutsen looks absolutely beautiful.
What activities would you suggest for the 4-5 days? Our kids are 9/7/4, very adventurous so they are good with outdoors recreation as well as museums and culture.
There is a wonderful Children's Museum in St. Paul as well as the Science Museum. Fort Snelling has a living museum on weekends in the summer and probably has a bigger event over Memorial Day weekend. Obviously the biggest attraction is the Mall of America. The Minnesota Zoo is worth going to. There is a smaller, free zoo, Como Zoo as well. If the weather is warm enough, the Waterpark in Eagan, Cascade Bay, is fun otherwise there is a large, indoor waterpark near the Mall of America. There are parks and playgrounds all over the place so finding a place to just run around won't be an issue.
As for neighborhoods, don't limit yourself to just those 3 areas or you are really going to miss out on some of the best places in MN to live. Contrary to what some of the city dwellers here believe, you can find all of those things in most of the suburbs as well, as well as far better schools, well Edina and SLP are suburbs with good schools, but all of the suburbs have neighborhoods like what you want. The hard part is just knowing where your husband will work. You don't want to live in SLP if he is working at 3M, for example.
The bike sharing program in Minneapolis is top-notch and pretty cheap. Check out NiceRideMN.org for details. You can also take bikes aboard any bus or LRT train. The Blue Line LRT runs from downtown Minneapolis to the Mall of America. However you'll miss the grand opening of the Green Line by a few weeks. This is the new line that connects the two downtowns.
Do not miss the area around the St. Anthony waterfall in downtown Minneapolis. There are biking and walking paths, the Stone Arch bridge, the Guthrie Theater as well as the Mill City Museum in the area. The falls are why Minneapolis exists and it's cool to see the old mill ruins.
I lived in Glen Echo MD for about 18 months and I agree - the summers here are far better than in DC! And there is something weird in the air around the Potomac. I never had allergies but something there irritates the heck out of my sinuses
Some people never would think of the Twin Cities as particularly "Romantic" but they really are magical at times. Walking around the lakes at sunset or watching a fierce thunderstorm move across the western prairies with towering clouds is quite a sight. And in the midst of a metro of 3.5 million you can get away from it all on hiking paths along the riverfront that are just a mile or two from either downtown. The lakes are clean and a few have beaches. Motorized boats are prohibited on lakes in the Minneapolis city limits so paddling a canoe, kayak or windsurfing is the best way to tour the chain of lakes if you want to be on the water.
Here's a pic I took a few years ago showing the river and downtown Minneapolis:
Last edited by Astron1000; 02-09-2014 at 10:13 AM..
Last night, we agreed with my husband to spend a few days in MSP over Memorial day, to see it for real. Join a "recon" with some nice rec activities that your city/area has to offer. My ideal would be to look on vrbo or similar to see if we can rent a condo or a house in one of the neighborhoods (or hotel at worst) so we are in the middle of a neighborhood and see its real life. WOuld rent bikes so we can bike around, too. We would probably look at something like arrive in MSP on Tue night and leave Monday morning/midday. We would like to be in a neighborhood so we can walk to the rec center, have kids play at the playground or at the field by the local school, get a swim pass to local pool, grab a coffeee in local coffee shop etc.
Can you tell us if you want to live in the city or suburbs? There's an unfortunate tendency in this forum to invalidate a preference for city living but a lot of the things you value are better provided for in the city. You'll have to read a little bit between the lines in some of the advice you get here- there's a pretty pervasive anti-urban agenda to be wary of. Personally, I try to tailor my advice to what I can glean about what the person asking for advice wants than trying to nudge them towards what I prefer. Given that you're from DC and biking/transit are important to you it sounds like you might like living in Minneapolis or St. Paul.
The neighborhoods you mentioned are good ones, as are the surrounding ones. I'd strongly suggest finding the Minnehaha Parkway on a map of the city and biking it- you'll go by several different lakes and there are business nodes just off the parkway worth checking out. I almost forgot to mention that you'll also be able to visit Minnehaha Falls as well as the Mississippi River by following this same parkway!
Business nodes to check out on or near the Minnehaha Parkway would be the 50th & France neighborhood, Chicago avenue from 40th-54th street, Linden Hills (I believe Sheridan & 44th or so, if memory serves). I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. You may also want to catch the Midtown Greenway all the way from the river to Uptown- it's quite a long trip but flat the whole way and you'll go through some really great areas like the Lyn-Lake (Lyndale Avenue and Lake Street) neighborhood, all the way to Uptown.
You may also want to check out St. Paul, particularly the Highland Park area. Nearby Summit Avenue is a can't-miss as far as I'm concerned as it's lined with really gorgeous Victorian-era mansions and is on a bluff overlooking downtown St. Paul and terminates near the cathedral.
Thank you all for your very helpful replies. Just to clarify - I do not know if we want to live in city vs suburbs b/c I know NOTHING about MSP :-) The thing is we are currently figuring out where to go next and the options are 1/ move back to Europe which is my home but know that husband will not fit in as easily or 2/ move to MN simply since I have heard so much good about it and it combines small city with large city opportunities. I LOVE to have people around me - so a place where there is a community feel, and perhaps more transplants so it is easier to make friends. And a place as I mentioned where kids just go on their own to their activities without mom or dad having to drive them. I found over the years that in the end, it is the community and FRIENDS that make the difference.
But before we make the decision we have to see it with our own eyes, smell the air :-) so to speak, look around, get the feel, talk to people, you know waht I mean. So right now I think I want to focus on finding a rental for the week we will be there during Memorial Day, in a neighborhood that will give us a good FEEL of how MSP is in general. And will be close to activities - biking, lakes, museum. We will drive around of course so if we stay in city, will drive to suburbs and vice versa. SO please give me names of neighborhoods :-) I will pluck those into vrbo (or if you know of good local equivalent for short temr rentals) and do some searching!
I am getting a really good vibe of the internet for MSP but need to experience it of course in reality!
Unfortunately we will not be able to use the nicerideMN.org and thank you for the tip. We will need three kids bikes and if I remember right from seeing nice ride (or same style) in DC, they are all the same size. So a good place to rent bikes will be great though I am sure we can google it.
Thank you all. I cannot believe how incredibly helpful you all are!
Calhoun Bike Rental in Uptown MPLS seems to have a pretty wide variety of bikes for rent, as well as kids bikes and tagalongs. They also do tours, being right near the Chain of Lakes.
The neighborhoods in St. Paul are strong and very livable. Each is like a community of its own with hardware stores, grocery stores, coffee shops, etc. that you'll often run into your neighbors. I'd look at Highland Park, Macalester Groveland, and Crocus Hill. Drive the river roads on both sides of the Mississippi River.
So right now I think I want to focus on finding a rental for the week we will be there during Memorial Day, in a neighborhood that will give us a good FEEL of how MSP is in general. And will be close to activities - biking, lakes, museum. We will drive around of course so if we stay in city, will drive to suburbs and vice versa. SO please give me names of neighborhoods :-) I will pluck those into vrbo (or if you know of good local equivalent for short temr rentals) and do some searching!
OK- just an FYI, I can only give you advice about Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods not because I'm pushing my preference on you but because I can only advise about things I know well. I looked at VRBO to see how they delineate different areas of Minneapolis so I'll interpret what I saw as best I can for you. I am not mentioning any suburb because I don't know most suburbs very well (however, I would recommend considering St. Louis Park from what I know about it). My recommendations are based on the "nexus" you mention- biking, lakes, museum.
Let's first start with basics about biking in Minneapolis- Bike Maps | Bike Walk Twin Cities provides some good information - click on what appeals to you.
Looking at this map, orient yourself on the river which runs roughly diagonally through the city. Look particularly at the grid that runs off-kilter with the rest of the city, almost in the dead-center of the map and running along the river. It looks dense, doesn't it? That's because it is: it's downtown Minneapolis and is the most built-up part of the Twin Cities, typified by skyscrapers. You'll note two major avenues running along the outskirts of this grid: Hennepin and Washington. Hennepin is the avenue I think you'll most want to be familiar with when orienting yourself in Minneapolis. It's unfortunately a little hard to follow on this map. Running south from the river, follow it southwest on the map- look for Lake Calhoun in the southwest quadrant of the map and note that Hennepin runs pretty close to it. That in my opinion will be a good kernel of your visit to Minneapolis. Starting from downtown, here are some of the things you will see-
Along the riverside (east of Hennepin and just off Washington) is the Guthrie theater. Do visit this - it is a large theater complex and is architecturally significant and open to the public even if you are not going to the theater. There is a cantilevered bridge overlooking the Mississippi River and the Stone Arch Bridge extending off the back of the theater. Though you will not want to bike on either Hennepin or Washington Avenues since you have children you'll notice (the thick green line) a bike trail along the river, so you can bike a little at least. This is a great area for sight-seeing.
VRBO keywords for this area: downtown, North Loop
Follow Hennepin Avenue southwest (this would be a drive, not a bike ride). Where Hennepin intersects with interstate 94, you'll encounter three things:
1) The Walker Art Center (contemporary art museum, highly regarded by the art community world-wide)
2) The Sculpture Garden
3) The basilica
Continue south until you get to Franklin Avenue (running East-West on your map). As you go south from Franklin, you start getting into the area of Minneapolis we vaguely define as "Uptown". This is another great area to visit. As you can see, several lakes (Isles, Calhoun, Harriet) are just to the west). Again, note the thick green lines- these are all bike paths and as you can see the lakes are connected. Uptown is a major business area, buildings are in general 2-3 stories high. There is also a lot of (expensive) housing around here. This area is full of restaurants and a mix of local independent stores but also a lot of chains.
VRBO keywords for this area: Uptown, Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Lowry Hill, Kenwood
Other areas to check out would of course be the neighborhoods around the lakes. If you locate Lake Harriet and look just left of it, you'll see Sheridan/Upton avenues. This is the Linden Hills neighborhood, also possessing a healthy small business (almost no chains) area. It's residential and upper-middle class. Good schools, clean, and quite safe for a city.
Skipping along, look for Lake Harriet. You'll note a bike trail leading from its southeast corner and running eastward. You'll see it labeled Minnehaha Pkwy/Grand Rounds. This is Minnehaha Creek. Following it eastward, you'll pass by Lake Nokomis, continue on and you'll cross the Hiawatha LRT Trail. Just east of that, you'll reach Minnehaha Falls which are a can't-miss, and very near the river. If you started your visit in downtown, you could bring your bikes on the train and get off at the 46th or 50th street station and make your way to the Falls and the river if you like. Again, watch for the bike trails on the map. Bringing your bikes on the train is easy. All along the Minnehaha Parkway are (again) upper middle-class neighborhoods. Businesses are sparse (it's more residential) but there are some nodes (Nicollet, Chicago Avenue).
VRBO Keywords: Minnehaha, creek
This is becoming a super-long post, so I'm just going to have to live with leaving so much out. I would say northeast Minneapolis (starting from downtown's skewed grid, crossing the river and going Northeast) is worth checking out. Some really great restaurants and even some charm in this area, but as you can see the bike trails are not as developed.
I hate to say this, but probably avoid north (starting at the skewed downtown grid, not crossing the river and going north/northwest). There's a lot of great stuff up there and some fantastic neighborhoods, but there's also some (relatively) dangerous areas and not much of a biking infrastructure. Many people are proud and defensive of north Minneapolis, and they are right to be so: there are some really great things there but I'm not comfortable recommending the area to strangers. I would TAKE someone with me because I know where to go, however.
Again, I know I've left out a huge amount, and I've only given you information about south/southwest Minneapolis, but given how much I've written I don't know that I can give you more info without writing a book. I strongly recommend familiarizing yourself with this map and if you see something on it that piques your curiosity, just mention it and I'll tell you what I know about it.
Incredible info. Thank you! I printed out the map - I think I know so much about Minneapolis Neighborhoods by now :-) I realized there are not that many vrbo rental options available so will need forward with booking asap. Why is St Paul so little represented in the replies? I dont want to touch a sore point...just curious. Here, there is always a competition between people who live in MD vs those that live in VA and so depends on who you talk to :-)
I imagine one can buy a multi-day pass for the light rail/bus system?
I am sure I will be back with more qs. Honestly - how bad are the mosquitoes? I am the type of person that attracts them - my husband or son get one or two bites and in the same time I have twenty. It is pretty mosquito infested here, esp after a rainy start of summer but I wonder how BAD can it get in MSP? Imagining that in the winter, one is stuck home b/c of temperatures and in the summer b/c of mosquitoes? Do pools/lakes treat/spray?
Incredible info. Thank you! I printed out the map - I think I know so much about Minneapolis Neighborhoods by now :-) I realized there are not that many vrbo rental options available so will need forward with booking asap. Why is St Paul so little represented in the replies? I dont want to touch a sore point...just curious. Here, there is always a competition between people who live in MD vs those that live in VA and so depends on who you talk to :-)
There's similar Minneapolis vs. St. Paul silliness, unfortunately. I'm not sure why there hasn't been much of a response from St. Paulites. Though I didn't cover St. Paul in my response I whole-heartedly endorse checking out several areas of St. Paul when you come visit - Summit Avenue, for example, is an absolute must for any Twin Cities visitor. The architecture in St. Paul is better than in Minneapolis- there are a lot more old and beautiful buildings there because St. Paul's has historically been poorer and luckily did not have the wherewithal to tear down as many old beauties when a terrible 'urban renewal' wave swept the country. Grand Avenue is one of the premiere restaurant neighborhoods in the entire Twin Cities, and downtown St. Paul is well worth the visit (if often rather sleepy...).
Quote:
I imagine one can buy a multi-day pass for the light rail/bus system?
I assume so, but I'm not sure. I get a monthly pass from my employer. Here is a link to the transit system's website.
I am sure I will be back with more qs. Honestly - how bad are the mosquitoes? I am the type of person that attracts them - my husband or son get one or two bites and in the same time I have twenty. It is pretty mosquito infested here, esp after a rainy start of summer but I wonder how BAD can it get in MSP? Imagining that in the winter, one is stuck home b/c of temperatures and in the summer b/c of mosquitoes? Do pools/lakes treat/spray?
It depends. If it's really wet and the 'mosquito growing season' gets long, it can get bad. However, I have found mosquitos to be a rather a non-issue most summers, and I take my dogs to a wooded dog park near where Minnehaha Creek meets with the Mississippi River almost daily when it is warm out. I don't recall having been especially bad these past years but 'bumper crops' are always a possibility.
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