Day 37: Driving into St. Paul, Minnesota.
St. Paul is one of the cities we had planned to visit during this leg of the trip besides Denver. Our plan so far has worked out quite well with decent weather all along the way. We have only needed to use the AC a couple of nights and finally here in Minnesota, we are turning on the furnace in the evening.
Our visit to St. Paul is to mainly visit some friends of ours who have moved from California back to the midwest where they are from. Just recently, they became new parents of a beautiful 3 year old girl they adopted from China. We have been anxious to meet her and so have the girls.
At just a couple of months older than Mila, they got along immediately. Our friends Chris and Jennifer are probably THE nicest people we know. They have to be to invite 5 road-weary gypsies into their home.
Actually today we were running a bit late in the morning. (Typical) By the time we got there, everyone was hungry for lunch so they took us to an amazing restaurant/bar in the area called the Strip Club.
The grass fed beef burger and the schnitzel were amazing. Marlene got a fried egg on top of the schnitzel and it had me wishing I had one on my burger as well.
There are tons of things to do in St. Paul, especially for kids. There is a great Science Museum as well as a nice Children’s museum. As we will be coming to stay closer to town after a few nights in Clear Lake, we decided to just take it easy today and head over the the downtown library.
The library in St. Paul had a huge children’s section that rivals many children’s museums.
The best thing is that it is completely free. I think we will have to come back another day and just camp out here for awhile.
St. Paul is known for being the birth place of both Charles Schulz and F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a city packed full of culture, arts and being on the Mississippi river, the inhabitants date all the way back to 400 A.D… If it didn’t snow so much in the winter time, it would actually be a great place to live.
We walked around downtown after the library and Chris and Jen gave us a little crash course of some of the notable landmarks. This is the original Hamm building built back in 1915. It is in the heart of the theater district and it has one of the most elaborate theaters in all of the upper midwest. It is of course named after Theodore Hamm, the brewer who established Hamm’s Brewery right here in St. Paul back in 1865.
They also took our girls to one of their daughter Cleo’s favorite places: Candyland.
Can you tell the girls were excited to be at Candyland? I have a feeling we will be coming back here.
over and out,
dan
Tags: Minnesota
| « Day 36: Three straight transit days to Minnesota Airstream Park. | Day 38: Chillaxing at the Minnesota Airstream Park. » |
September 11th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
So happy you made it to the Twin Cities, and as a TC native, you got it right! All the landmarks, Candyland, and most importantly, The Children’s Museum….you could spend an entire day there! Safe journey!
September 11th, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Thanks Lynda! We are moving closer to TC tomorrow. We are thinking about staying at Lake Elmo just to the west of St. Paul. Looking forward to doing more stuff in town!
September 12th, 2012 at 3:19 am
I lived just outside of St. Paul in Stillwater for 20 years – did what your doing know, that family thing – if you’d like any further tips on where to go, etc holler – I’m out all day today – doing the tourist thing on the Mall in D.C. (ps, was back in the Twin Cities in May for a good two months, so my info is up to date!) cheers
September 12th, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Thanks Nick! Have a good time in DC. If the weather stays warm enough we might make it there, too!