Mini Getaway to Minneapolis

Minneapolis area (Bloomington), Minnesota

Saturday, June 10, 2022 – June 12, 2022

Written May 25, 2025

Traveling from Fargo, North Dakota – Approx: a 3- 3/4-hour drive. Part of a longer trip that included: Denver, Colorado, Cheyenne, Wyoming, Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, Iowa Falls, Iowa, Fargo, North Dakota, and Bloomington/Minneapolis, Minnesota

A Brief Walk Down Memory Lane

My first visit to Minnesota was in 2012 for a conference in Minneapolis. I felt a lot of responsibility attending this conference and spent most of my evenings in my room writing notes and sending emails to colleagues sharing the information that I obtained for them. Of the things I did see, the “habitrails” as I call them intrigued me the most, the covered skyways that connected the hotels to each other. I also walked with colleagues to a piano bar and saw the Mary Tyler Moore statue on the way back. I knew there was much more to see, so Minneapolis was “earmarked” as a place I wanted to visit again.

Photo 1: Walkway (habitrail) attaching two buildings - 2012 Minneapolis

Photo 2: Mary Tyler Moore - 2012 Minneapolis

Photo 3: Walkway to cross over the street - 2012 Minneapolis

Bloomington Bound

Since we spent the early afternoon in Fargo, North Dakota our arrival in Minnesota was early evening. I reserved a room at the Radisson Blu Mall of America in Bloomington, MN for our two-night stay near Minneapolis. While I did toy with the idea of staying closer to the baseball stadium or in a more central part of Minneapolis or St. Paul, the Radisson ticked off more of my “boxes”. The airport was close, the stadium was within driving distance, it was attached to the Mall of America which meant there could be easy access to activities and food that could supplement our planned trip to watch the Twins play ball.

Finding the Mall of America was very easy. Most of our drive was on I-94 but once we got into the area we followed the signs for the mall. Entering the parking lot for the Radisson Blu from the mall roadway was a bit confusing. From the directions that we followed, it was difficult to see the hotel, even as we approached it, additionally the turn was right off the mall road so slowing down to grab my bearings wasn’t easy to do. Cars were darting in and out of the areas. I drove to the next parking lot opening and pulled into one of the parking stalls to catch my breath. I talked with my partner and compared notes on what we saw. I think I was just stressed from driving at that point, because once I turned around and drove back to the hotel entrance everything fell into place.

Checking in was also a bit chaotic. Since we used the parking garage, we entered from an upper level and could look down at the congestion of people surrounding the check-in area. There were children, extra adults, and lots of luggage about. I guess we arrived at the same time as a lot of others. It took us about 30 minutes to get our room key.

Photo 1: the lobby of the Radisson Blu hotel was a lot quieter later at night

Photo 2: hotel room at the Radisson Blue Mall of America

Photo 3: close up of the seating area in the lobby of the Radisson Blu hotel

Dinner Time

We were in our room by about 6:45PM, and after resting for about an hour decided to venture out to find food in the Mall of America.  The restaurant we chose was downstairs, and not very deep into the mall, but we couldn’t help ourselves because we saw giant LEGO builds as we walked further into the mall. As tall the two mall levels! We just had to look around and over the railing to the first level of the mall to see what the LEGOs were all about. It seems there is a LEGO store and LEGO imagination center in the mall. It was hard to not want to explore, but it was already 8:30PM, I didn’t want to be the last patrons in the restaurant, so we skedaddled to go eat.

The restaurant we chose was, 1^st Round Minnesota – (its permanently closed). It was on the main level of the mall, and as I mentioned, very close to the elevator that took us to the mall entrance of the hotel. I read that Juicy Lucy burger is the thing to eat in Minneapolis, so we ordered two of those and Poutine fries. 1^st Round Minnesota seemed like a sports bar, there were lots of televisions on the wall, but for a Friday night this restaurant was empty.  I don’t remember if we ordered any drinks. (Editor’s note I added the 1^st Round website in case you wanted to see more)

When we left the restaurant, most of the mall area was closed, including the LEGO activities on the first level. I am glad we delayed dinner to get some glimpses of the mall.

Photo 1: LEGO area in Mall of America - view from 2nd floor

Photo 2: LEGO area in Mall of America - view from 1st floor

Photo 3: inside 1st Round in Mall of America

Saturday Tourists

Saturday morning, we went back into the mall to grab something quickly for breakfast, I saw a coffee shop on our way to 1^st Round the night before, and felt that would be perfect, especially since it was already 11:00AM and we’d be leaving for the baseball game within the hour. Well, the coffee shop was closed. There weren’t any hours on the door, so I don’t know if it was permanently closed, just closed on Saturday (which I think would be weird), or closed at 11. Regardless, I was disappointed with myself for not foraging out of the hotel and into the mall earlier on my own to grab us food. I’d been up for hours.

As we looked around for alternatives, the mall was getting busier, and our options for breakfast were dwindling. We went back to our room and ate some of the snacks we’d collected on our travels. I mean, why pack it if we can just eat it. We left for the baseball game at around 12:00PM. See post: Minnesota Twins

Sadly, we didn’t see the Twins win, but we had fun at the game nonetheless! We left the stadium around 5:00PM and drove around the city a little bit. We saw the Mary Tyler Moore statue, but only from the car window. I didn’t see any parking nearby. We also saw a few big murals, one of which was a full likeness of Prince! (I like Prince.)

On our way back to the hotel, I drove to the airport. We’d be leaving in the dark the next morning, and I wanted an idea of where I’d be dropping off the car, etc. Ideally, I would have done this on the way to the stadium but hey, the task was done. That’s the important thing.

Photo 1: Entrance to the mall from Radisson Blu - Caribou Coffee on left

Photo 2: Approaching Minneapolis

Photo 3: Prince mural (it's only part of it)

More of the Mall of America

Next on the agenda, dinner. As we got closer to the hotel and mall I drove around the area to see if there was a restaurant or some place to stop that caught our eye. Nothing struck us, so back to the hotel we went. It was Saturday evening; we could explore the mall a bit more. 

My partner found Burger Burger. It was further into the mall, and in what I’d call “a food court alley”, there were lots of places to eat. This restaurant was more of a fast-food place. It was brightly colored, and it seemed geared to families. What I found interesting was that they served mixed drinks and bottles of beer. It was a very open layout, but you could tell it was towards the end of a busy Saturday, the tables needed a little sprucing up. We weren’t adventurous, we both ordered the Classic Burger meal, sodas, one meal we added fries, the other, onion rings. It was the perfect dinner to have after a ball game.

On our way back to the hotel, we took the scenic route through the mall, looked at the different LEGO features and took photos. We stumbled upon  Nickelodeon Universe! O.M.G. this place looked fun, even had a roller coaster! I totally understand why the hotel was crazy busy at check-in on Friday night, what a fun-filled weekend for kids! My partner took photos. We were back in our room by 8:30PM which gave us time to unwind as we needed to be on the road to the airport by like 4:30-5:00AM to drop off the car and get through security early enough for our flight.

Photo 1: Nickelodeon Universe

Photo 2: Outside view from our hotel room

Photo 3: inside Mall of America near Burger Burger

Vacation Over

Neither of us slept well that night. My partner, afraid he wouldn’t get up in time, and me, afraid I wouldn’t hear the alarm. I had some angst about dropping off the rental car without it being checked in by a human (Budget didn’t open that early). Then the fact that we needed to catch a connecting flight in Chicago added to the fun. Plus, not having arrived at this airport or picked up a car, there was no familiarity. All worked out well though. As we were leaving the car at around 5:30AM, there were other parties of two that were dropping their cars off as well, and they all looked just about as clueless as we were. Although none of us really talked to each other, the six of us seemed to form a unit as we walked to the air train, rode the air train, and disembarked from the air train. It was reassuring.

Photo: sunrise at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport

We caught our connecting flight in Chicago too. My second time in the Minneapolis area, and I still feel like I barely got a taste.

Things I learned from planning this trip: Staying in Minneapolis or St. Paul or Bloomington, would offer different experiences. An area that warrants a multiple day trip. Securing a reasonably priced direct flight from the NYC area to the Minneapolis area was challenging. We took a connecting flight which helped keep the price down.

Things I learned from attending this trip: Cannot see enough of the area on the same day that you go see a baseball game. At least we couldn’t.

Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: Go back for more! Spend more time in the area, both times I’ve been here have been too brief. I heard that there is a Prince Museum, I would love to see that. Allocate more time for the Mall of America!

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT or Perplexity.  Blog title brainstorming too!

​​©2025 Theri’s Travel Tales