If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed that I’ve written several posts about Minneapolis/St. Paul recently. These were inspired by my first ever visit to Minnesota. There was a lot more to our visit that I wanted to tell you about, but none of these things had enough substance on its own to constitute a post. So what follows is kind of an “everything but the kitchen sink” entry for those of you who might visit the area.
I’ll start off with the thing that shaped this area and gave people a reason to stick around: the Mississippi River. Technically, this river starts at Lake Itasca, 219 miles NNW of Minneapolis. But in the twin cities area, the river flows through a gorge consisting of high limestone bluffs, and it does a funny little zig zag, so quite often you hear locals refer to the river’s south or north bank, which sounded really strange to my ears, given the fact that I always envisioned it as a wide, straight, north/south ambling river, as it tends to be in the southern US.
The primary reason that white men felt the desire to drive the Dakota Sioux out of their rightful territory and establish the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul was this river. Rivers, especially those that go through a gorge, are prime spots for mills and power generation. And the mills were conveniently supplied with grain from western Minnesota and trees from northern Minnesota. The trees traveled down the river to the mills, even after railroads were established. According to Wikipedia, due to the hazards of milling, the area became a thriving center for the manufacture of artificial limbs as well.
This section of the river is also home to the Mississippi National River & Recreation Area, a 72 mile long river park, and it provides opportunities for fishing, boating, bird-watching, bicycling and hiking. There are several visitor centers and museums as well. The head of navigation (the farthest spot north of a river’s mouth that can be navigated by ships) is somewhere up in here, depending on the size of the ship.
Within the park, we visited Minnehaha Falls, a 53-foot waterfall right inside the city. It’s not on the Mississippi River, but rather on Minnehaha Creek, which then flows into the nearby Mississippi. The setting is so natural that it was hard to believe it was within a metro area that is currently home to 3.6 million people.
If Minnehaha sounds familiar to you, you’re probably thinking of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, called the Song of Hiawatha, with its most famous lines, “By the shores of Gitche Gumee / By the shining Big-Sea-Water”. It’s the tragic story of Hiawatha’s love for a woman named Minnehaha. In fact, you can see a bronze statue of them near the falls. This poem is rather controversial in modern times, because it helped establish the image of the “noble savage” within American culture, and that allowed people to view Indians as things of the past rather than living people of the present. But, hey, it’s a catchy poem if you can overlook its blatant racism.
On to less watery subject matter.
I didn’t know much about Minneapolis prior to my visit, but I did know one thing: I wanted to see the statue of Mary Tyler Moore. I grew up watching the endless reruns of the Dick Van Dyke show, which was already looking quaint to me just 14 years later. But I absolutely loved the more contemporary Mary Tyler Moore Show, which took place in Minneapolis, because it taught me that a woman could survive on her own. Independence was possible, and being childfree was not only possible, but something that I wanted for myself very, very badly, despite all the cultural pressure to be fruitful. Mary Richards was my hero.
According to this article, when Mary Tyler Moore died in 2017, the woman who created this statue died two days later, which also happened to be the day when 150 fans gathered at the statue to throw their hats in the air and sing the theme song for the show as a tribute to the actress. Sometimes coincidences make the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
Back in St. Paul, we became very intrigued with the 5 miles of footbridges downtown, which cover 47 city blocks. It’s called St. Paul’s Pedestrian Skyway. If your city has harsh winters, I’m sure it’s quite nice to be able to go practically anywhere without having to step foot outside. You could definitely do that in this city. I can see how it would be easy to get lost in this labyrinth, but fortunately there is an app for that.
At one point, our maze-ish explorations lead us to the George Latimer Central Library, which turned out to be a great thing, because they were having a book sale, and I was able to weigh my suitcase down with a bunch of wonderful children’s books for my little free library for only 50 cents each. I enjoy exploring libraries, and this one seemed like it would be a great place to hide out in when the snow is falling.
Back in our car, we enjoyed driving around the residential areas, especially those with Victorian houses. You can see a lot of particularly gorgeous ones on Summit Avenue, but more modest ones can be found all over the place. The historic architecture of St. Paul is pretty stunning in general. Churches, office buildings, pretty much everything has the kind of character that Seattle is losing thanks to its love affair with what I call “Shipping Container Chic.” If St. Paul could get rid of the snow and mosquitos, I’d leave Seattle in a heartbeat.
At one point we took a lovely walk on Harriet Island, on the Mississippi River. It’s often a venue for small concerts. I was delighted to see that the stage looked like a drawbridge.
We also stopped by the Bell Museum, which is a natural history museum chock full of dioramas, fossils, and rocks galore.
During our traditional after dark drive, we visited the gorgeous Cathedral of St. Paul. I’d love to go inside someday. We also went by the Capitol Building, which has a beauty all its own, but it’s a bit more intimidating.
I was pleasantly surprised by Minneapolis/St. Paul. I’m sure much of that was due to the fact that we visited after their brutal winter, but before their brutal mosquito season. The weather was mild and there was much to do and see, especially for someone who is interested in contemporary art and historical architecture. I also believe that rivers that go through cities add a certain ambience that you can’t get any other way. And having a waterfall in the center of it all is a bonus.
The only complaint I have about the area is that their tourist venues, almost without exception, don’t have postcards or refrigerator magnets for sale. I’ve never experienced that in any of my other travels in the past 40 years. Even the Mall of America, the capitalist mecca for anyone wishing to take leave of their cash, only had a few, very generic options. I was stunned.
I get that there’s this “Minnesota nice” factor going on. Maybe they didn’t want to bother us by tempting us with those types of souvenirs. Maybe they thought mugs and t-shirts are somehow more polite. But their economy missed out on quite a bit of our revenue by not giving us those options. You big city Minnesotans may want to rethink that. Just sayin’.
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