minneapolis!

A couple weeks ago, prior to purchasing plane tickets to visit Minnesota, temperatures there were in the single digits or even below zero. It was sunny and in the 70s and 80s here. Yet for some reason, we still elected to trade this:

for this:

And it was totally worth it! We started off our adventure in Minneapolis with a quick trip to Minnehaha Falls. As you can see, it was frozen, but it was still a nice sight to see. It is normally quite lovely to walk around the park, and you can even walk down to the falls, but understandably impossible to do so in the winter.

Later that evening, I took Drew to one of my favorite places: the Big 10. The place is known for its toasted subs, and it did not disappoint. I was also really excited to see cheese curds on the menu, and they tasted just like the ones at the MN State Fair. During my first year at the U, I lived a couple blocks from the Big 10 and I used to stop by all the time and get a sub to go. Later, when I moved off campus, I would stop in with friends for happy hour and to watch Twins games. And, when we didn't feel like stopping in, my roommate and I would call for delivery.

I lived in Centennial Hall, on the East Bank. Centennial was one of four dorms in the superblock (Territorial, Pioneer, and Frontier). This is where I met my future roommates, whom I lived with when we moved out of the dorms and off campus.

After dinner and a visit to my former dorm, we went to check out TCF Stadium, home of the Golden Gophers. I couldn't see much, but it looked cool. Sadly, the Twins and the Gophers both got new stadiums soon after I moved to California. And it looks like the Vikings might follow suit too.

The next day, Drew and I went to visit the old house that I lived in with 2 other roommates. We affectionately dubbed it "the Pink Pad." It was the first place I lived in that wasn't my parents' house and wasn't a dorm. It was within walking distance of the U, but far enough away so it felt like we were truly living off campus.

Between graduating from the U and entering grad school, I took a year and a half off to work and just hang out. Everyday, I walked to work at 6:30 in the morning. It was really quiet and peaceful, and one of my favorite memories is walking to work right after it snowed the previous night. There was nothing better than being outside when everyone was still sleeping, walking through the freshly fallen snow.

A trip to the U would not be complete without a jaunt around Dinkytown, named for the "dinkys," or the rail cars and trolleys prevalent in the area back in the day. Drew always lets out a chuckle whenever I talk about Dinkytown, so I had to finally take him there.

Dinkytown is one of the many neighborhoods surrounding the U. It contains quite a few shops, coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. One of the most well known is Annie's Parlour. Annie's is famous for its milkshakes, and rightly so. They are thick and creamy, and big enough to share- but you won't want to. We decided to be sensible and share the hot fudge milkshake.

Other shots of Dinkytown:

We didn't really walk around campus (too cold for that, so we'll save that for another trip), but we saw a little bit.

It was really pretty with all the snow.

We also stopped by the Metrodome, which was looking a bit deflated because the snow fell through the roof. I snapped a few pictures because I realized that it might be the last time I see it.

Later that night we went ice skating at the Depot, which was a former train station. We hadn't been skating in years, but somewhere we managed to stay on our feet. The Depot was a nice, big, beautiful place to skate. And it serves up mini donuts!

It began to snow on the walk back to our hotel. And it was lovely and beautiful.

I don't have any photos, but we did make our way to the Mall of America. (a trip to the cities would be incomplete without it) We went to the Mall of America on the same day that we toured Target Field and the same day that we stopped by the Metrodome. This is appropriate, if you think about it. The Twins now play at Target Field, and before that, they played at the Metrodome. Before the Metrodome, they played at Metropolitan Stadium, which was where the Mall of America now stands.

We wrapped up our trip to Minnesota with some visits to see both sides of my family. On Christmas Eve, we met my grandparents, an aunt, uncle, and cousins for lunch. I hadn't seen them in quite some time, and they had never met Drew. We had a great time catching up and it was good to see everyone. Later that day, we went to a Christmas Eve get together with my mom's side of the family. Drew had met many of them at a family reunion last summer, but he got to meet many of my cousins and my grandma.

I'm happy to say that Drew survived his first trip to Minnesota in the winter. He made many jokes about the cold and snow, but he was a good sport. I leave you with one of my favorite jokes (or rather, the one I can remember): Upon seeing a sign for Mound, MN, Drew says "What is that a mound of? A mound of snow?" Har har. Okay, maybe you had to be there.