| Activity | Comments |
|---|---|
| Snow Skiing | We have good downhill and cross country skiing here most years.
Right around Minneapolis, we have several okay ski areas for
beginning and intermediate skiers. People used to skiing in
real mountains will be disappointed by both the snow conditions
and the length of the runs. Lesser skilled skiers may find our
areas a refreshing break from more difficult locations elsewhere.
More advanced skiers will probably want to go to Lutsen. This is a 5-hour drive 90 miles past Duluth. If we were to do this, I would recommend a mid-week trip for at least 2 days of skiing. Going mid-week would be significantly less expensive than the middle of the week. Anyone coming to the US to go skiing should go to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or better yet, out to the Rocky Mountains. We have 1 or 2 dozen world-class ski areas in the Rockies. Vail is 1000 miles from Minneapolis and would take about 18 hours to drive, assuming you don't get a blizzard on the way. |
| Ice Fishing | Cut a hole in the ice (which is probably a half meter thick) and rop
a line down the hole. Wait for fish.
My personal opinion -- you have to really like fishing to go ice fishing. I don't own any ice fishing gear anymore. Some people who go ice fishing have little houses they put on the ice. I've only done this a few times. Growing up, I would ice fish with my grandfather, but it was always a cold activity. |
| Go to The Cabin | My sister Mary owns a cabin about a 4 hour drive from Minneapolis on a small, pleasant lake. It's pretty there and the winter is probably very quiet. The kids can have snowball fights. Depending on the temperatures, they migth be able to make a snowman or a snow fort. We can walk on the lake or try ice fishing. Mostly you would go there to get out of the city to someplace that's nice to visit any time of the year. |
| Snowmobiling | I think there are places you can rent snowmobiles, but I've never done it. Normally the people who go snowmobiling own their own machines. I haven't gone since I was in my 20s. |
| Ice Skating | You can do outdoor or indoor ice skating. Outdoor skating tends to be available from mid-December until mid-February. Indoor skating can be far more pleasant. |
| Sledding | Ride down the hill on a sled. Very very fun activity for children. |
| Visit Fort Snelling | Fort Snelling contains the oldest buildings in Minnesota. They're a whopping 150 years old! Truly ancient. I've actually never been there, but I drive by all the time. |
| St. Paul Winter Carnival | Goes through February 3rd. Official Web Site |
| Minnesota Zoo | We have two zoos here. The Como zoo is a more traditional zoo where the animals are in rather small pens. The Minnesota Zoo was built when I was in high school and is much larger. Most animals have a larger area to roam. Portions of the zoo are indoor, portions are outdoor. Anyone coming to Minneapolis really must go to our zoo. |
| Visit Gun Range | We could go to a gun range and fire rifles and shotguns. It might be a little chilly for this -- this is usually an autumn activity. But could still be fun. |
| Shopping | The Mall of America (MOA) is the largest shopping mall in the United
States. It's so large, we have an amusement park inside the
mall. (Think of Disneyland, but on a smaller scale). When you
go to the MOA, you don't go to every store on a single trip. You
probably don't even walk past every store.
We have smaller malls that may still be considered large by standards elsewhere. Our malls are always indoors and heated, making them good destinations in the winter. Some people go to the malls just for a chance to get exercise walking. Once around the inside of the mall might be 1/3rd of a mile or more. |
| Restaurants | We have restaurants of every conceivable type. |
| Museums | We have a variety of museums here. The most notable:
|
| Live Theater | Minneapolis is second only to New York City for the number of
theaters we have. We have about 6 professional theaters and
about 160 community theatres.
Of particular interest might be a showing of Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance, February 9 and 10. We would want to get tickets very soon, as it will sell out. This is a fabulous show if you like dance and would work well for people who don't want to struggle with English. |
| The University of Minnesota | I'm putting this in specifically for Sanja and Risto. I think you might want to tour the medical school at the University of Minnesota. If so, we can talk to someone in the admissions office to arrange a tour. |
| Tour a Hospital | Also for Sanja and Risto -- you may want to tour a hospital.
I would recommend Unity / Childrens. Formerlly two separate
hospitals, they have merged. This is an excellent facility.
It's possibly you would want to tour the Mayo Clinic. This is in Rochester, about 90 minutes away. A tour of United / Childrens Hospital would be pretty easy to arrange, I would think. I don't know about the Mayo. It's actually a very large facility, but I've never been there. We could make some phone calls and see what our options are. |
| Tour 3m | 3M is one of the biggest manufacturing companies in Minnesota.
They are highly respected here. It's one of only a few companies
that truly impresses me. What may interest you is that they have
a significant medical products division and spend perhaps billions
a year on research and development. If you go to
3M's web site you can click on their health care division to see
all the things they do.
Kat's previous position was in the medical clinic at 3M. She thinks she could arrange some sort of company tour suited to a pair of visiting physicians, if this has any interest to you. |
| House Shopping | I don't mean to buy a house, but you may be interested in looking at houses, learning how much they cost, and comparing these to the homes in your area. |
| Family Activities | Of course, there are the stay-at-home family activities one would normally expect. Cooking, roasting marshmallows over a fire in the fireplace, and generally doing the things one would normall do when visiting friends. |
