Minnesota Vacation Recap

Minnesota might not seem like a glitzy vacation destination to a lot of people but it was number one on Callie's list. You see, Callie's BFF, Meilani Felix, resides in Anoka, Minnesota, about 20 minutes north of Minneapolis, with her Mom, Felicia and her grandparents. Meilani attended Callie's school the past 2 years but moved back to Minnesota indefinitely this past March. Minnesota also boasts Major League Baseball's newest crown jewel, Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, in it's first year of existence.

We flew Delta out of LAX on Wednesday morning, July 15th. Felicia and Meilani were waiting for us at the airport. They took us to lunch at the Turtle Bread Company on Chicago Ave. As if Callie and Meilani had to reaffirm their friendship, they both ordered the same thing, a margherita grilled cheese sandwich on fresh artisan bread. While we enjoyed lunch by a window, the Minnesota skies opened up. This was no California shower storm, it was a deluge, but by the time we finished lunch and bought some ice cream, the rain had disappeared as quickly as it came.

After checking into our hotel, the Sheraton Midtown, Felicia gave us a driving tour of Minneapolis including the Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, our first glimpse of Target Field, and Felicia's alma mater, the University of Minnesota. Our tour concluded in the other twin city, St. Paul, where we saw the Excel Energy Center, home of the NHL's Minnesota Wild and the State Capitol building. Felicia dropped us off at the Science Museum of Minnesota because Meilani had soccer practice and Callie and I had a date with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are on loan to the Science Museum of Minnesota. The Scrolls are over 2000 years old. They were found in caves along the Dead Sea in 1947 and are considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time, certainly of the religious variety. Up close, they aren't that exciting. For one thing, they're not written in English and it's difficult to read them since they're written on little pieces of parchment and kept under extremely low lighting in order to protect them.

I sort of knew what bus to take to get back to the hotel from St. Paul but when I saw a taxi drive by, I asked how much he would charge us. The $20.00 cab ride was a bargain considering the bus was going to take an hour due to the 64 stops along the route. For dinner, we explored the Midtown Global Market housed in the old Sears building adjacent to our hotel. With a wide variety of options before us, we decided on noodles at Pham's Deli, not recommended.

The two weary Los Angelenos retired early in anticipation of seeing Meilani again Thursday morning. However, that plan fell through. Felicia hadn't felt very well when she picked us up and her worst fears were realized. She was too sick to get out of bed, much less take Meilani to Minneapolis, so Callie and I put off the mall and came up with a new plan. We decided to explore downtown Minneapolis and head to the Mill City Museum.

One of the best features of the Midtown Sheraton is a free shuttle within a 5 mile radius of the hotel. Our shuttle driver that Thursday morning was Mike. He was courteous while showing us Mall of America Field, formerly the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome, the home of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings and the former home of the Twins. Thankfully, Mike also showed us a parking garage, the Minneapolis Armory, which had been the Minneapolis Lakers home arena during the 1959-60 season, their last before moving to Los Angeles.

Mike also suggested we check out the Guthrie Theater, a beautiful building with some of the best views in Minneapolis of the Mississippi River, the Stone Arch Bridge and St. Anthony Falls. It was an absolutely incredible day and since the Guthrie is right next to the Mill City Museum, we took Mike up on his suggestion. The views were truly spectacular.

Before we explored the Mill City Museum, we peeked outside a courtyard and saw a few segues. Segues are those futuristic motorized scooters you might have seen a mall cop riding. Minneapolis offers a Segue Tour of the Mississippi River for $80 a person. I’d seen it advertised on the Internet and even though the tour is 2-3 hours, I was frugal and decided that wasn’t for me and Callie. But we could try out the Segues...for free. First Callie, then I, took short rides on a Segue. They change direction according to the pressure of your feet. Callie would have been fine. I don’t think I would have survived the 3 hour tour. I’m sure I would have ended up as just another piece of flotsam on the Mississippi.

Minneapolis is nicknamed the Mill City because the banks of the Mississippi were dotted with mills in the early part of the 20th century and those mills cranked out flour for the entire world. The museum used to be an actual mill. In fact, it used to be the largest and most technologically advanced mill of its time, but further advances made it obsolete in 1965 and the building was severely damaged by fire in 1991. The Minnesota Historical Society decided to clean up the old mill and turn it into a museum. The best part of the Mill City Museum is the Flour Tower elevator ride, an 8 story ride in an elevator cab which shows you different settings in the mill as it existed in its heyday and features voices of people who actually worked in the mill. Before leaving the museum, Callie and I were given a small piece of bread made in their baking lab. It was tasty and reminded us, it was time for lunch.

Cal and I enjoy the the TV show "Man Vs Food" and a while ago we'd seen an episode where Adam, the show's host, visited Minneapolis. The scene that stuck with us was filmed in Matt's Bar, home of the Juicy Lucy. A Juicy Lucy is a cheeseburger but the wrinkle is that the cheese is cooked completely enclosed between 2 beef patties. The hotel shuttle picked us up as we walked down Portland Ave and took us directly to Matt's. Our excitement was palpable. Matt's was nice and cool inside and we took seats at bar stools right in front of the grill. There's a brief moment of panic when you bite into a Juicy Lucy because the cheese oozes out and it's hot but it's also delicious. We were hooked and we walked out knowing we'd be regulars if Matt's Bar were to open up a Burbank location.

We walked back to the hotel in order to digest our Lucy's and we awaited Meilani's arrival. Felicia's close friend, Royal, was kind enough to pick Meilani up from Anoka and bring her to us in Minneapolis. When they arrived, Royal happily agreed to take the three of us to the Walker Art Center adjacent to the Minnesota Scultpure Garden. The Sculpture Garden houses a variety of sculptures including a giant spoon with a giant cherry resting in it which has become somewhat of a Minnesota icon.

Before we entered the actual Art Center, we noticed a group of people congregating outside the entrance next to a wide expanse of lawn which featured artists constructing two hanging egg-like cocoons made of sticks that you could actually climb into. Both Callie and Meilani did but they soon noticed other folks sitting at a table drawing pictures. Anyone was welcome to help build the stick huts and anyone was welcome to sit and draw. The folks who ran this Thursday night get together at the Art Center also had a fun bean bag tossing game, soccer balls, and hula hoops for the kids, all of which Callie and Meilani sampled.

An hour or two later, we found the inside of the Art Center filled with works of art which varied from paintings and sculptures to seat cushions decorated into elaborate maps. The girls wandered through the museum so happy just to be together. They loved an exhibit where you took your shoes off, went inside a dark room and hung in a hammock.

We called the hotel shuttle to pick us up but we were too late to have dinner at the Midtown Global Market, which shuts down at 8pm, so we grabbed a bite at Los Ocampo, a Mexican place close to the Sheraton before the 3 of us went to bed, tired and happy.

I wish I could accurately describe the giddiness of the two tweens on Thursday morning when we set out for Mall of America. They were practically holding hands and jumping up and down. This is why we'd scrapped the Mall plan the day before. Callie wanted to enjoy the mall with Meilani. I'm not much of a shopper. Despite the fact I grew up going to the Sherman Oaks Galleria and its less famous but still there cousin, The Fashion Square, I'm not really a mall guy. I knew they'd be happy but the girls sheer ebullience caught me by surprise. I love when my daughter surprises me. The last time was when I walked into her room and saw a picture of Taylor Lautner, the Twilight werewolf, he of the six pack abs, with no shirt, on her wall. Ah, Parenthood. There's a light rail train that runs along Hiawatha Ave which runs from Target Field to the Mall of the America. We had the hotel shuttle take us to the Lake St/Midtown station and took the train South for about 25 minutes and we were there. I kid you not. Callie and Meilani sprinted the last 30 yards into the mall.

While on the train, Callie had noticed an advertisement for the aquarium at the Mall of America, Underwater Adventures. We saved $9.00 by showing our Twins' tickets. The aquarium is basically a long winding path with tanks on every side of you, very similar to the Shark Exhibit at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas.

Next was the amusement park. It was humongous. Rollercoasters everywhere, 3 or 4 of them intertwined but with the tracks multi-colored so you could keep track of the path of the coaster you were considering. The girls settled on the Pepsi Orange Streak, a thrill ride. I waited for them.

After some mall food, lunch and dessert, we hit the shops. We probably covered a tenth of the mall, window shopping and looking for a photo booth for the girls, but after 3-4 hours of the Mall of America, it was time to head back to the hotel, the bff's didn't even put up a fight. We still had a Twins game to go to that night, not to mention pizza before the game at the locally famous Pizza Luce in the Warehouse District around the corner from Target Field.

Before going on vacation, I always research the destination city on the Internet beforehand. One of my surefire certain googles is "best pizza in....". Pizza Luce popped up right away in Minneapolis. I have a high school friend, Brian Lucewicz, who's been called "Luce" for years, so Pizza Luce had me at the name.

Another close high school friend, Carl Randazzo, has been living in Minnesota for years along with his wife, Terri and their 2 sons, CJ and John. They were meeting us at Pizza Luce! There I was, sipping a draft Blue Moon leaving a message for Brian Lucewicz when Carl and the gang walked in. A better looking, more fit, family of four would be hard to find. Carl had been an all-league linebacker in high school and he still looked the part. We relived the past over beer and pizza. We made fun of high school friends not present but later admitted to them we'd been talking smack behind their backs. In short, we had a great time, a warm reunion that felt like we'd seen each other last week instead of 15 years ago.

The Randazzos walked us right to the turnstiles of Target Field. We posed for some pictures along the way, one of me crouching like a catcher behind Harmon Killebrew, while walking toward the stadium via the 6th St ramp. From the outside, Target Field is checkered squares of various shades of brown. From the inside, it's immaculate and it has that new stadium smell we all love, in this case pork chops on a stick, Kramarczuk's sausages, juicy lucy's, Cuban sandwiches, and more overwhelmed our olfactory senses.

Our seats had been bought months before. We were 16 rows behind home plate. Francisco Liriano pitched the twins to victory and hometown hero, Joe Mauer, had a couple of RBI's. On the way to the mall, I'd asked Callie and Meilani if they could name a Twin and Meilani came through with Mauer. He's the defending AL MVP and a former #1 overall pick of the Twins out of nearby Cretin-Derham High School in St. Paul. The number of Mauer jerseys in the crowd was staggering. Callie wore the Twins t-shirt Meilani had sent her weeks before.

Meilani stayed a second night with us at the hotel. I let the girls sleep in Saturday morning because of the late night at the ballgame and the fact Meilani's soccer team, the Vipers, had a semi-final match up against crosstown rival, Blaine at 5pm.

When they did wake up, the 3 of us enjoyed a complimentary breakfast in the hotel restaurant, due to a couple of lapses in service, before setting out for Minnehaha Falls via the light rail. Minnehaha creek runs from Lake Minnetonka to the Mississippi and features the 53 foot falls. It's only about a 5-10 minute walk from the light rail station and it's well worth the time.

There we were gazing wondrously at the Falls from about 60 feet away after going down a set of stairs, when Meilani noticed a big spider hiding in a drain pipe. Now, there were other people close by admiring the Falls and anyone leaning their posterior against the wall near this pipe would have been at serious risk so we found a long stick, and I insisted it be a looooong stick. The first couple of submissions were duly rejected. I gently nudged the spider out of the pipe onto the ground. Callie and Meilani squealed which caused the other 10 tourists viewing the Falls to turn and look at the spider. From where I stood, I saw maybe 15 people gesticulating, ooohing and aaahing, with 100% of their focus and attention on this giant spider with the Minnehaha Falls, in all their incredible natural beauty, serving as a backdrop. It was a moment I'll never forget. For a good half a minute no one gave a hoot about the Falls they'd come to see. To be fair, the spider was huge. I half expected Hagrid of Harry Potter fame to walk up and make sure we didn't harm it(we didn't).

The plan for us to get to Anoka and Meilani to her soccer game was to hop on the light rail to Target Field and take the North Star line to Anoka. The only problem was I'd misread the schedule on the Internet and the train to Anoka didn't leave til almost 2 hours later than I had thought. Luckily, I realized my mistake right away and it was Royal again to the rescue. He picked us up, cool as the other side of the pillow, and took us to Anoka.

Felicia's parents' house in Anoka is more like a mansion. It's literally a stone's throw from the mighty Mississippi. However, we stayed inside because the skies outside were black and foreboding. The game would actually be delayed by a lightning storm. Parents and players were asked to return to their cars for about 20 minutes so there would be fewer human beings outside for the bolts of lightning to strike.

Amazingly, the skies cleared a bit and the game started about 45 minutes late. The Vipers finally put away a feisty Blaine squad after twice taking leads only to have Blaine tie the game. Meilani's solid midfield play was a key to the victory and Callie, who had bonded with the Vipers during the lightning delay, watched every minute in breathless anticipation.

Felicia drove us to Noodles and Co. for the post game, good bye meal. Callie and I first discovered Noodles and Co in Colorado last summer. When we learned there was one in Encinitas, we shared a memorable family dinner there in late 2009, including my Dad. The Wisconsin Mac N Cheese is fantastic and Callie likes the pad thai too but she doesn't like saying good bye to her best friend. Royal was taking us back to Minneapolis and a few tears fell when we parted from Meilani and Felicia, who had done so much for us during our stay.

However, our vacation wasn't quite over yet. On the way to Minneapolis in Royal's truck, Felicia called to tell us a tornado was going to hit Anoka in a few minutes. What? I was just there an hour or so ago for a girls' soccer game! It was true. Felicia, her Mom, and Meilani all went down to the storm cellar while Royal calmly drove us back to the Mill City. North Minneapolis took a bit of a beating that night. Our hotel was in South Minneapolis but we watched the skies from our hotel room while we packed. I worried a little bit about our flight in the morning but we made it home fine.

We had a wonderful time. Thank you to Felicia, Royal, Meilani, and the Randazzos for making us feel at home in the Twin Cities.