Size may not be everything, but the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is big enough to keep you and your family entertained and educated for several days if you so choose. Eighty thousand paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints and more await you but it is not just the numbers that are amazing. You will cover 4,000 years of world history in the most immersive way possible by walking through exhibits that, rather that being filled with display cases, are themselves styled after period rooms. You are entering a time period rather than looking at it from the outside. Play ball—or at least watch it at Target Park, the home of the state’s major-league baseball team, the Minnesota Twins. There is a fantastic view of the Minneapolis skyline from the stands, and of course watching the game is always a fun family activity. If you are not in town when a game is on, take the two hour tour of the stadium anyway: it is filled with great baseball lore, facts and figures and stories that you will long remember of past and present Twins players.
If you want a quiet afternoon or evening stroll, head over to Lake Harriet. At 7 p.m. on summer evenings you are likely to hear a concert from the band shell; but even if there is no music, this quiet unassuming lake is a favorite with the locals and will probably become yours as well. You can walk, run or cycle around the lake itself and enjoy some of the beautiful older homes that surround it. You can also swim here (there are two beaches) or fly a kite in the open area between the lake and the rose gardens. As a reward for finding the elf door, why not take your children out to a play? Located since 1965 in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Children’s Theatre is bound to have something exciting going on whenever you are here, as its “season” stretches all the way around the calendar. Productions are accessible to the youngest audience members, and adaptations of classic stories and fairytales complement favorites by Philip Pullman, Eric Carle and other beloved storytellers. If you would like to save some of that theater experience for yourself, then plan a night at the Guthrie Theater, a world-renowned incubator for the best actors, directors and playwrights and an extraordinary venue for all types of productions. A proscenium theater, a thrust theater and an experimental theater all offer top-notch performances, and a date night here will give you memories to last a lifetime.
Minneapolis is known as the Mill Capital of the World, and you will learn all about that past when you visit the Mill City Museum and see how processing flour helped feed the nation. Learn about the history of the mills, the changes brought about both by new industrial technologies and industrial accidents, and how the area is being redeveloped. Make sure that you climb the tower so you can watch how the water was channeled to make the mill run. Learn about this vibrant city’s past and enjoy its present as you and your family check out these various activities.
Museums, baseball lore, a window onto life in the mills along with some of the best theater in the world for children and adults alike will all make your Minnesota vacation one you will not soon forget. Be sure to stay at one of the hotels in Minneapolis listed above. Book now!