The big 3-0: Day three – Minneapolis

For those just joining “The big 3-0” story, fear not because I’ll catch you up! In the summer of 2018 I decided to celebrate turning 30 years old by spending 30 days in the USA!

I’ll put links to each respective day at the bottom of the post but for those that haven’t been following along, day two ended with me boarding a Greyhound bus and waving goodbye to Chicago.

I was sad to be leaving Chicago so soon. To have only had one night in the city is a bit of a travesty but I just couldn’t justify accommodation prices in the city; a city that has priced itself on par with the likes of London, Paris and New York City – madness!

That said, I still enjoyed my time in Chicago. It might have been a minimal amount of time but it’s a lovely city and one I’m sure I’ll return to, perhaps outside of a peak summer season to make it a little cheaper.

The wonderful thing about a trip such as this is that although you’re saying goodbye to one destination, it’s only because you’re heading on to your next. There was no need for me to be sad about leaving Chicago, the trip had barely even begun at this point and there was still plenty to look forward to!

So , time to look back to the end of day two! I boarded the bus in Chicago on Sunday evening and knew that come Monday morning I’d be in a new city and a new state. I’d chosen to do an overnight bus journey because I consider it to be dead travel time. It’s better to be on the move whilst you’re sleeping, opposed to losing time to explore in the day because you’ve wasted it traveling.

Fortunately I was able to doze off pretty quickly and get some sleep before we arrived at a stop somewhere in Wisconsin. There was very little wherever we were, presumably somewhere out of town, but one thing that did catch my eye was that big, yellow M shining in the night sky. I was tempted to go and get myself a “midnight snack” (it was probably closer to 2-3am).

However I figured it’d probably take me too long so I decided against it. Imagine my horror when the person that I’d been sat next to returned with food of his own! Maybe it’s just me but McDonald’s has its own distinctive smell too which made it all the more upsetting haha.

My disappointment subsided pretty quickly and I dozed off again. A few hours later I woke up with the sun rising over Minnesota, a beautiful first sight on my first visit to the state.

I’d arrived to a sunset in Chicago on day one and arrived to a sunrise in Minnesota and decided these are the only ways you should ever first see a new destination – both perfect!

We arrived in downtown Minneapolis at about 6:15am which meant that I could enjoy the city before it had properly woken up. I spotted a couple of cool-looking murals in a car park across the street. There were a couple of guys just loitering, which given the time of the morning seemed odd, so I steered clear of them and got a quick couple of photos before moving on.

I wandered for a little while as I tried to get my bearings with where things were. Although the downtown area of Minneapolis felt pretty compact so the reality is that it didn’t take very long, I didn’t need to be concerned about getting lost in the city haha.

Whilst perhaps smaller than some US cities, it is still a nice downtown area to wander through, particularly at that time of the morning with very few people or cars around. For the timebeing I had the city to myself and it left me with the opportunity of enjoying its street art and impressive pieces of architecture.

Having had a small glimpse of the city I switched my attention towards finding breakfast. This is perhaps one of the downfalls to my ‘wing it’ approach to traveling but I wasn’t really sure where to get breakfast from. Given how early it was there didn’t seem to be much open either. In the end I swung by my hotel which had a restaurant attached to it and ordered myself some pancakes accompanied with some tea.

Following on from breakfast I thought I’d try my luck at checking in early. I’d spent the night on a bus and more than anything I was craving a shower. Check in wasn’t supposed to be until 3pm, so credit to Best Western for getting me checked in so early in the day.

I’d planned to meet up with my friend Kayla, who hadn’t yet advised what time she’d be in Minneapolis, so I’ll admit I took the opportunity to have a quick nap whilst I waited to hear what our plans were for the day.

After freshening up Kayla met me at my hotel and we headed off to what is perhaps the most famous attraction in the area. On the outskirts of Minneapolis you’ll find the ‘Mall of America’ – a must visit if you find yourself in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis & St Paul).

Shopping malls are on a much bigger scale in the US, compared to most here in the UK, but the Mall of America goes that one step further and there is a wide range of things to do there. So much so infact that my friend Jaems at Time Zone Travelers recommends taking THREE DAYS to see everything that the Mall of America has to offer – read a more in-depth post about it here.

Sadly we had just the one day at the Mall of America but we made sure to pack in as much as we could. The first thing we saw was the theme park within the mall.

No, you didn’t misread that! The Mall of America is that big that it has its own theme park with numerous different rides to enjoy!

I don’t think either of us had any intention on riding anything but it was still pretty cool to look around. This is of course just one section of the mall, we moved on and explored further and there seems to be an infinite number of shops and restaurants on offer spread over numerous floors.

I don’t think it’d take much to get lost in here and if you genuinely enjoy shopping it must be a dream location with pretty much anything you could wish for to be here. Having had a thorough look around I picked up some souvenirs and we made our way over to the Mall of America aquarium.

I’m not sure how it compares to Dubai’s own aquarium mall but nonetheless it was still a bit of a novelty visit – how many aquariums in the world call a shopping mall home? Not many I suspect.

So we paid the aquarium a visit. I’m sure ordinarily it’d be a fun place to explore but I think I’m just a bit tired out when it comes to aquariums so this felt a little under-whelming. I don’t know if I’d just prefer to see the fish in the wild/ocean or whether I’ve just been to too many now that my enthusiasm has disappeared – a “seen one fish, seen them all” type attitude. As far as the US goes I’d place this ahead of Dallas’ aquarium but still behind Atlanta’s.

Quite a few hours had passed by the time we came out of the aquarium. We’d covered pretty much every inch of the mall by the time we called it a day. The Mall of America really is a full-day outing at the very least.

The plan was for Kayla to stay in town for the duration of my time in Minneapolis but sadly she got called in to work which cut our time short and meant she had to drive back to Wisconsin that evening.

It was unfortunate we weren’t able to hang out longer but sometimes life gets in the way, it just feels a little more inconvenient when it disrupts plans with long-distance friends that you don’t get to see very often. Kayla dropped me back at my hotel, we said our goodbyes and then I was left to ponder what to do given the sudden change of plans.

I chilled out at my hotel for a little while and then headed out for dinner. A few places tempted me but for some reason I opted for this greasy little diner which appealed for some reason. I think I was just in the mood for a burger and this ticked the right boxes.

I figured I’d then go and find a bar to enjoy myself for the evening. Directly opposite my hotel was a brewery called Finnegans which looked like a good place to spend the night and sample some of the local beer. Neighbouring state Wisconsin is (supposedly) known for its beer, and proud of it, so I was intrigued to see how Minnesota would compare – I have to say it didn’t disappoint.

I found myself a place at the bar and ordered myself an IPA of some sort. It wasn’t very busy when I first walked in but within a couple of minutes it had suddenly filled up and it seemed that “the band” were first in line for a drink.

In my day one post I had joked that Chicago had welcomed my arrival with a firework display and it appeared I was due further American hospitality in Minneapolis. I turn up at this quiet bar and a band pops out of nowhere ready to put on a show for me, strange but I wasn’t going to complain!

They were a jazz band and were quickly performing on the stage in the corner which set a really nice mood in the place. The brewery itself had a good selection of beers on tap and the barman was friendly so I don’t think I could have picked a better spot for my first night in Minneapolis.

The biggest compliment I could pay the place is that I don’t feel like I was there for very long. In my head I wasn’t out very late but looking back with hindsight, I turned up before the band started and left after they’d finished playing.

I was one of the last customers out of the door so I was obviously content and comfortable and didn’t really acknowledge how long I must have been sat in this bar.

Fortunately my hotel was literally only across the road so it was a very short walk back to my hotel, where I proceeded to immediately crash in to bed and fall asleep.

My reason for visiting Minneapolis will become clear in day four but there was something about Minnesota that I’d instantly warmed to. I couldn’t tell you what it was and I won’t pretend Minneapolis is the most glamorous city to visit. However it’s somewhere I was at ease and it just felt like my kind of place. It was a promising start and there was more to come in day four!

Stay tuned for that!

Jason

P.S – You can catch up on the previous days below!
Day one – Chicago bound
Day two – exploring Chicago