Road trip Illinois/Wisconsin/Minnesota/?? (Minneapolis, Duluth: rent, home, buy)

[the_gruffalo]

I've asked this on the travel forum, asking here as well since I might get more local information.

We have to travel to Minneapolis in June, and were thinking of combining this with a road trip, 4-5 days. I am looking for options from the West, Yellowstone onward - its about 5-6 hours of driving a day which we know we can do - we love long road trips.

However, I'm also trying to come up with options from the east, with Chicago as a planned stop. I saw there are some boat cruises in the Wisconsin Dells area which take you past some really interesting rock formations. If we want to visit Chicago, and slowly wind our way towards Minneapolis, what are some (or many) interesting places to visit in this area? We are flying from San Francisco, so we can start from anywhere (as long as I can buy airline tickets and rent a car!)

We like long drives, open spaces, hiking, boat rides, big cities, museums - and if a trip can mix up all of these, all the better.

[Rhody2Mn]

If you're coming from the East (Chicago area), I would suggest driving through the Lake Pepin vicinity. Lake Pepin is where the Mississippi River widens and it forms the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. You won't find any big cities but the drive is beautiful and there are numerous quaint small towns on both sides of the river. https://visitlakepepin.org/

For more of a city experience, Madison Wisconsin is worth a stop on your way from Chicago to Minneapolis. https://www.visitmadison.com/downtown/

It's likely not along your route, but since you are open to long drives, if you are willing to make a three hour drive from Minneapolis I would highly recommend visiting Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior. You will find gorgeous water views along Highway 61 along with numerous parks and places for outdoor adventure seekers. https://northshorevisitor.com/

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[the_gruffalo]

Thanks - I will look at the Lake Pepin area. I should have mentioned this - I don't want to go up to Duluth. I studied there, and was there just a couple of years ago (drove through a lot of Minnesota then) - I've trying to visit places we haven't been to.

[601halfdozen0theother]

If you want an atypical road trip from Chi to the Twin Cities, how about this?

Take 90 to 20, going west, and stop at Galena, IL . US Grant's home, lead mining heritage, and a fun tourist town. https://www.visitgalena.org/

Then go across the river to Dubuque and do the Mississippi River Museum https://www.rivermuseum.com/

Then wind up on little roads to Mineral Point Wisconsin - one of the WI Historical Society's sites, full of Cornish heritage. I love Mineral Point. https://www.mineralpoint.com/histori...tectural-tours

Boop over to Decorah, IA to see Vesterheim, the Norwegian American museum/historic site https://vesterheim.org/

Then wind up to Lake Pepin, WI as the previous poster said.

A very Midwestern trip, full of museums and historic sites and pretty little towns. Nice B&Bs and cute little restaurants in each of these places.

Though actually, the trip from Yellowstone to Devil's Tower to the Black Hills and Badlands to Medora and Teddy Roosevelt National Park and then over to yucky ole Mpls/StP is probably the more classic American trip.

[the_gruffalo]

Thanks for those suggestions! What if we start east of Chicago - say in Michigan or Ohio?

[601halfdozen0theother]

In Indiana there's Conner Prairie north of Indianapolis, which is an excellent historic site https://www.connerprairie.org/. Indianapolis has the Eiteljorg Museum, which is pretty good https://eiteljorg.org/ . There's also the covered bridge region in Parke County, IN, which is a lovely trip. https://www.coveredbridges.com/covered-bridges.

Forgot to mention Kline Creek Farm in west Chi - I've never been there but have known people who worked there. https://www.dupageforest.org/kline-creek-farm. And there's the Garfield Farm museum too http://www.garfieldfarm.org/

I can't help you east of Indiana.

[Grant Ames]

Originally Posted by the_gruffalo

I've asked this on the travel forum, asking here as well since I might get more local information.

We have to travel to Minneapolis in June, and were thinking of combining this with a road trip, 4-5 days. I am looking for options from the West, Yellowstone onward - its about 5-6 hours of driving a day which we know we can do - we love long road trips.

However, I'm also trying to come up with options from the east, with Chicago as a planned stop. I saw there are some boat cruises in the Wisconsin Dells area which take you past some really interesting rock formations. If we want to visit Chicago, and slowly wind our way towards Minneapolis, what are some (or many) interesting places to visit in this area? We are flying from San Francisco, so we can start from anywhere (as long as I can buy airline tickets and rent a car!)

We like long drives, open spaces, hiking, boat rides, big cities, museums - and if a trip can mix up all of these, all the better.

The Minneapolis Institute of Art is an exceptional museum. And admission is free.

https://new.artsmia.org/

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United States. Its permanent collection includes world-famous works that embody the highest levels of artistic achievement, spanning about 20,000 years and representing the world’s diverse cultures across six continents. The museum has seven curatorial areas: Arts of Africa & the Americas; Contemporary Art; Decorative Arts, Textiles & Sculpture; Asian Art; Paintings; Photography and New Media; and Prints and Drawings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnea...stitute_of_Art

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by Grant Ames

The Minneapolis Institute of Art is an exceptional museum. And admission is free.

https://new.artsmia.org/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnea...stitute_of_Art

If you enjoy pinball, there is a pinball bar a block from the museum called Tilt.

[Okey Dokie]

Wisconsin Dells is a tourist trap of enormous proportions, but the boat ride up the river is nice. Baraboo, Wisconsin is home to Circus World Museum and Devils Lake State Park, a geologic wonder from the glacial age. The free ferry across the Wisconsin River at Merrimac is fun but be aware the wait can be long in the summer.

[CARas2020]

Go through South Bend , IN. The Notre Dame campus is actually quite beautiful. If you stay in Chicago maybe go to a baseball game at Wrigley Field.