Minneapolis

[Laurie]

My mom is going to Minneapolis next month, and she asked if I wanted to tag along. This was a day after Emily posted that Galactic Pizza link, so of course I said yes. I want Captain Awesome to deliver pizza to me. Besides, I don't get enough mother/daughter time with Mommy Dearest.

So, we're going to check out the Museum of Questionable Devices and the Walker Art Center (the latter of which is the reason we're going). What else is there to do, though? I guess there's that big mall, which might be interesting for one hour.

[Laurie]

C'mon! None of youse guys reside in the fair Twin Cities?

[buffcoat]

Some good friends of mine live in the TC, and I've visited them a few times, but I don't know much about the comic book/arts/hip music scene.

Here's what I did the last time I was up there:

-- Gambled at the steeplechase (hey, there are no horse tracks in North Carolina)
-- Gambled at the Indian casino (no table games in NC either)
-- Went to the shooting range and tried out the Springfield XD-9 while some other dudes had a collection of shotguns and high-powered rifles.  Suffice it to say, don't ever get a booth next to guys doing that.
-- Had some good sushi
-- Went to a Vikings preseason game and saw the odd Swastika design in the Metrodome ceiling (face value $40, our price $5 - probably could have gotten the guy down to a dollar for both, but I wasn't in the mood to be cruel)
-- Hung out downtown and ate at some places (one called the something News cafe - really helpful I know).  If you like soup, Minnesota is known for its mushroom wild rice soup.

Anyone headed to Minneapolis should head to the Mall of America for at least a bit.  Unfortunately, they've closed the General Mills World of Cereal, where I had my last bowl of "Boo-Berry" and checked out a bunch of Mexican cereals.  But the giant-ass Lego place is open and the sheer size of the place is interesting.

They are in the process of gentrifying the area around downtown and it has some interesting restaurants and clubs.

I'm told that the locals are afflicted with a condition called "Minnesota Ass," which is what happens when you can't go outside for five straight months.


The time before we drove over to Wisconsin and had "cheese curds."  If you've never had them, they may be the worst thing for you that you've never eaten.



This is a tremendously helpful list, I know.

[Laurie]

I'll actually be staying in the downtown area. I can't stay at a hotel with an ugly bedspread, so it either this or the Chambers. I opted for the former, as I don't want to stay in a hotel that hosts Damien Hirst's crap art. I HATE HIM.

For some reason, reviews of Graves 601 keeps saying it's expensive. It's really not. It's cheaper than a moderately nice hotel in New York, so I don't see what the big deal is. It was so inexpensive that I went for the "executive" room. I guess I'm just used to seeing hotel rooms go for $400-500 MINIMUM in SF and NYC, you know, so it's really weird to see a nice room go for considerably less.

[kenkwan]

-- Gambled at the steeplechase (hey, there are no horse tracks in North Carolina)
-- Gambled at the Indian casino (no table games in NC either)

Don't you hate when places don't have table games? I do. Preakness is this week, so here in MD there's talk of how we need to have slots to "save" horse racing in MD. I want table games, dammit! I want to talk trash with dealers, and interact with people. Slots are the worst.

[Laurie]

Sorry to be a downer, but horse racing is cruel.

[Josh]

Don't you hate when places don't have table games? I do. I want table games, dammit! I want to talk trash with dealers, and interact with people. Slots are the worst.

Couldn't agree more. There are these casino cruise boats that go out from Miami to int'l waters for a specified number of hours, but I can't imagine doing that. What do you do for the next 5 hours if you lose big in the first 20 minutes?

[kenkwan]

That's when I would go to the nickel slots, and drink on their dime.

[buffcoat]

Josh - I did one of those boats at the NC/SC border before they rewrote the law to make it illegal.  It was one of the most depressing experiences of my life. 

As Atlantic City is to Vegas, this boat was to Atlantic City.  Which is saying a lot.

[Fido]

Minneapolis is a pretty cool city in a reasonably cool state.  (At least, it's quite chilly.  It's also a place where Democrats outnumber Republicans, which is saying something).  You're on the right track with the Walker Museum, but I'd stay the hell away from the Mall of America, unless you groove on that sort of madness. 

You know what I would do?  Just explore, and take in the Minnesotaness. 

[johnfgillson]

I'm here in Minneapolis. There's some cool stuff to do but I don't get to do much of it because I work nights and weekends.

Check out First Ave. I guess for the history there. They have a good DJ there on Saturday nights called DJ SovietPanda that spins all things indie. But, I'd recommend seeing a band at 7th St. Entry which is in my opinion the coolest place to see a band. I saw Rocket From the Tombs there and was standing right in front of Richard Lloyd, Cheetah Chrome and David Thomas (well he was sitting). It's a very intimate setting. My wife says the women's bathroom is disgusting though... But yeah, First Ave. or 7th St. Entry which are in the same building. I've heard that the Xcel Energy Center is the best arena to see a show in America but I haven't ever come across a band that is playing there that I'm willing to pay over 50 bucks to see. But, I've heard it's amazing to see a show there.

The Walker is definitely a cool place. MIA is good too as well as The Science Museum of MN. For semi-cheap eats check out Sawatdee which has pretty good Thai food. I guess there are a couple other Thai places in the cities that some people think are better but I've been a fan of Sawatdee for years.

Twins games are the cheapest sports tickets around and you get to watch a pretty good team at the same time but you are inside. The Saints play in St. Paul at Midway stadium which is more of a relaxed outdoor setting watching an Independent League team co-owned by Bill Purrey.

There's Brave New Workshop for comedy theater (Although I've heard their current show isn't very good but I'm sure that run will be done by the time you are here). They usually are pretty good though. It's not comedy sports, don't worry.

There's a few things. I can't think of anything else. I don't know much about the bar scene since I don't really have money to go bar hopping these days, so I can only recommend little dives around the U of M campus which I haven't been to since I graduated. The Mall of America is about 15-20 miuntes outside of Mpls. in Bloomington. I went there for the first time when I was a kid so I don't know if it's that big of a deal to go there or not. I think anybody who lives around New York isn't going to be that impressed.

[Laurie]

I live in Miami, which is home to one of the most outrageously expensive malls ever. I laugh at your Short Hills Mall, New Jersey. Talbots? HA! Bal Harbour would not stoop to that level. The only shop I can afford there is Lulu Couture, and EVEN THEN, it's outrageously expensive. I'm sorry, Yohji Yamamoto, but I am not spending $300-400 on a pair of ADIDAS SNEAKERS, but I would gladly spend 10 times that on one of those super hot motorcycle jackets you did for Fall '07. You know, if I had the cash, which I really don't. The silver antler jewelery, I can afford that, though, which pleases me. The tacky Custo Barcelona jackets that retail for well over a $1000? Not so much. The Greedy Genius strawberry shortcake sneakers on sale for $80? Ring me up, please. Uh, you get the picture. It's kind of hit and miss with that store. Same deal with Intermix, which is actually more affordable most of the time if you try to ignore all of the Missoni and Stella McCartney, the latter of which is pretty easy to do. I mean, c'mon, why would I want to wear a romper? It's kind of like Miami's version of Kitson's, what with La Lohan and people of her ilk hitting it up whenever they're in town. I do believe that is a picture of LiLo at the bottom of the page for some reason. They must have given her free Chloé bags or something in exchange for the right to use her picture on their website, I'm sure.

So, as far as shopping at MoA goes, I will probably not be floored by anything. I am a fan of rollercoasters, though, so it might be worthy as a passing diversion.

ALSO, there's a HOT DOG ON A STICK! I have never been to one of those. I will probably get a lemonade or something there and try not to laugh at the girls' uniforms, because I'm sure it's humiliating enough, you know?

[johnfgillson]

Yeah, those stores are nowhere to be found in the MOA. Except Gap and Banana Republic. It's pretty much everything you'd find at a mall in the suburbs plus a whole lot of niche stores and clearance stores. Then add an amusement park and a bunch of crappy resteraunts and a cineplex and you've got the MOA. It's pretty much the burbs wrapped up into one handy building. It's better than the sprawl malls popping up all over Minnesota though.

Are you going to be able to get out of the downtown area? Because there is a lot to do outside in the summer months. You can rent a sailboat I think in Stillwater or have a guide take you out. There's plenty of scenic areas but you have to drive about an hour to get to them. Stillwater's not even that great but it is within driving distance. The best places are farther north but they are about 4-5 hours away.

That's one of the weird things about MN. Most people have this idea that it is this scenic state filled with lakes and trees and then come visit Minneapolis where it doesn't exist for a 100 mile radius. There are lakes in the suburbs but not nice ones. A lot of people think we are this extremely liberal state as well but the radius shrinks even more for that perception. Minneapolis is very liberal but the outstate people are very conservative. It's like MN is a donut and Minneapolis is the blue state hole surrounded by a red state. Luckily not many people live in that red state and for the most part MN votes democrat. Except we elected a Republican governer, who's a big dick, for his second term this past November. Plus, that red state surrounding the donut hole get representatives which cause a lot of things not to get done including coming up with a budget plan quite frequently and having to close down state run services deemed non essential.

[buffcoat]

Yeah, Mall of America is not ritzy in the least.  It does have a store called "As Seen on TV!", where you can buy stuff that, um, they sell on tv.

And it has those water massage things - only 7 bucks for 10 minutes.

[johnfgillson]

Yeah, Mall of America is not ritzy in the least.  It does have a store called "As Seen on TV!", where you can buy stuff that, um, they sell on tv.

And it has those water massage things - only 7 bucks for 10 minutes.

I think the As Seen on TV store is one of the only store I really like at MOA. That and H+M. You actually get to see the products up close and realize they really do suck. But once in awhile you're surprised and say, hey, I could actually use that. That said, I've never bought anything there...

Those water massage things are at almost every conventional mall around here now. Somebody must be using them. But MOA did have the place where you can buy a bed for 30 minutes to take a nap. Does that still exist? I just could never see anybody ever doing that, but then again I never could see anybody jumping into a bed of water and getting a massage in the middle of a mall either.