Minnesota- Don't Cha Know

Turns out I did in fact NOT know very much about Minnesota. Beyond the Bobby's World's mom's accent, the Mall of America, and snow, I really didn't know too much. We aren't big shoppers lately since we live in the RV, so no need to spend any time at the Mall of America. So, now what?

Wine and Plan: First, we stopped at a vineyard on Harvest Host to plan our time here. We stayed at Next Chapter Winery, ordered 2 flights, and started to plan. The couple next to us was asking our server about Harvest Host, so we explained to them what it was and how much we like it. Then, they returned the favor and gave us some great suggestions for what to see and do in Minnesota. Best place to get advice is from locals! But back to the winery... We were excited to get to a winery that didn't have all sweet wines like we have in Florida. We liked all except one of the wines we tried (no surprise, it was a sweet wine), and the grounds were so pretty. They have weddings most weekends while the weather is nice, and I could see why.

Minneapolis: Now that we've seen a bunch of big cities, I don't really need to spend much time in big cities unless they have something unique. So, we made sure to see the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and Minnehaha Falls while in Minneapolis.

1. The sculpture garden was a neat, 30-45 minute stop. Parking is tough, but we found a spot on the street eventually. They have a pay to park lot, but it looked like they were setting up for a pretty large wedding and the trucks took up a large portion of the lot spaces.

2. Minnehaha Falls was worth the stop. It's about 10 minutes from the sculpture garden. We parked on the street right outside of it and it was a 2 minute walk to the falls. You could walk to the bottom and spend more time there if you wanted, or grab lunch at Sea Salt which overlooks the falls, but we only spent about 15 minutes here.

Duluth: Because we didn't spend a lot of time in Minneapolis, and didn't even go into St. Paul, we headed north to Duluth to check out the smaller downtown and do the MN-61 Scenic North Shore Drive. Well, part of it.

1. Canal Park in Duluth was very nice. We were able to park outside of Canal Park Brewing at a paid to park lot. It was a tight fit, but we made it work. I think it was $5 for 3 hours. Not bad. Canal Park Brewing seemed like a pretty popular place according to reviews. We were able to get an outside seat right away. This part of the city has a boardwalk along the water and it lead us to Fitger's. Fitger's is a whole building with shopping, restaurants, and a hotel. I would imagine in the Minnesota winters this is very necessary because it's still summer and when the sun went down it got pretty chilly by the water. The whole building is dog friendly, but to eat with her we had to sit outside (which is normal and expected). We ate with Lucy outside at Fitger's Brewhouse. They are famous for their wild rice vegetarian burger... sold! It was really good! I know, you probably think I am crazy getting a meatless burger in the midwest.

After sleeping at a nearby Wal-Mart we were set for our Scenic North Shore drive the next morning. We only did a small part of it, but were able to hit:

1. Russ Kendall's. I really wanted to try the smoked fish, but the thought of that smell in the "house"made us go with the beef jerky.

2. A cute farmer's market

3. Betty's Pies We went to the to-go counter and the server said their most popular was the Great Lakes Crunch Pie- so that's what we got! I'm not a huge dessert person, but it was really good with large pieces of fruit in it.

4. The Gitchie Gami trail- the bridge is NOT good for someone afraid of heights, but the views were beautiful.

Gooseberry Falls would have been our next stop, but we decided to turn around and head toward our next adventure. If you do this we found this website helpful: HERE

Oh... and the food here according to one site is the tater tot hot dish... check that off the list. 7/10 would eat again