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3 Cocktails In
Addicting conversations between friends who have been there, done that and still want more.
We are 3 friends who got this crazy idea to start a podcast based on our friendships, family lives, professional lives and experiences! This idea kept coming up in our conversations, especially after a cocktail or two or maybe three, and we finally decided to ACT on it!
We don't claim to be experts on too many things, but friendship? Well, we've got that down. We're making our way through major life changes, searching for work that excites us, busting myths associated with 'old' people, and keeping a sense of humor about it all.
Self employed, boss - CHECK
Mom, wife, single - CHECK
Rural, suburban, urban life - CHECK
Vodka, gin, wine - CHECK
Make sure to subscribe to our channel ~ FOMO is real and it sucks.
Amy, Kitty & Stacey
P.S. Isn't our intro music great?! Yah, we think so too. Thank you, Ivy States for "I Got That Wow".
3 Cocktails In
4 Days in Minneapolis: from Art-A-Whirl and architecture to the Guthrie and the Twins!
Hey there! So, in this episode, Amy, Kitty, and Stacey are here to guide you through what Minneapolis and St. Paul has to offer this summer. No need for exaggeration, just good old-fashioned fun! If you’ve got four days, we can fill it!
We're talking about diving into the colorful and creative worlds of Art-A-Whirl and Stone Arch Bridge Festivals, and community gatherings like the Minneapolis Aquatennial and TC Pride Festival. Enjoy some sports action with Lynx basketball, Twins baseball, MN United FC soccer and soak up some sun on the golf course at the 3M Open. And don’t forget about the theater scene!
But wait, there's more! We'll also be checking out some local shopping spots and delicious food joints that are defying the odds. Think bustling corridors at Rosedale and cute boutiques at Arbor Lakes. And yes, we'll be discussing some seriously good Detroit-style pizza. Trust us, it's worth a try!
For all you coffee lovers out there, we've got you covered too. From cozy cafés with unique vibes to places serving up more than just your regular brew, we'll make sure you're caffeinated and happy.
And hey, safety first! We'll reassure you that while you're out exploring, the city's got your back.
So, get those calendars out, mark your dates, and get ready for a Minneapolis summer adventure you'll remember.
Make sure to subscribe to our channel, comment, like, and share!
Amy, Kitty & Stacey
P.S. Isn't our intro music great?! Yah, we think so too. Thank you, Ivy States for "I Got That Wow".
All right, ooh, look, I got that. Wow, who wants some handsome right now? We got that. Turn it up loud. I know you're wondering how I got that. Wow, here I go. Here I go, coming. I can't ever stop. I'm a tour de force running. Get me to the top. I don't need an invitation. I'm about to start a celebration.
Speaker 2:Hello.
Speaker 3:Hello, hello everyone, hello, dearest friends.
Speaker 4:How are you guys? Good, good, good, good, even with the snowy weather in March.
Speaker 2:It's so pretty out. It really is quite pretty.
Speaker 3:Kitty, did you have to drive anywhere today?
Speaker 2:I did. I went to Kohl's today. Oh, all right, I mean we all have vehicles that get around. Just fine, right yeah?
Speaker 3:I had to go to work. That was not. That was a little bit different. Well, a big welcome from the wintry Midwest. This is Three Cocktails In, where we're going to have, hopefully, yet another addicting conversation between friends who have been there, done that and still want more, so I know what I could be in the mood for. I can't think of a better topic today than what I want to talk about Summer vacation.
Speaker 4:Yes, summer, anything with. Summer Anything with summer.
Speaker 3:It'll be here before we know it. I know the problem is we had some hints of it the last couple weeks and that's why this one hurts so bad.
Speaker 4:It did.
Speaker 3:We are recording in the midst of this snowmageddon, kind of the first of the winter. I would well maybe second, I guess. But it's rainy and slushy and then it's icy and then it's snowy and yeah but it's. March. It happens every March.
Speaker 2:Yes, it does.
Speaker 3:Nothing we can do about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's a good time to start thinking a couple months ahead, and I know for me too. I am trying to make myself be more planned on certain things, because I tend to just, oh my God, all of a sudden summer's here and then you're trying to maybe make some plans and everybody who's been on top of it, they've already made plans, and so reservations are all snapped up, so there's really no better time than to start thinking about okay how are we going to have some summer fun?
Speaker 3:Yes, so I'm hoping. That, um, kind of how I've put this together, came from two different points. A couple years ago, when I started in my real estate gig and I was selling used homes, I had a pretty decent sized email list and it reached out to people that I knew from way back in Iowa and, you know, in different states. And I started to get little messages on Facebook or Messenger from people who are saying hey, I'm bringing my two boys to the cities, we want to go see this, what do you think? What else should we see? And then I've gotten some more about oh, I miss whatever. What's going on.
Speaker 3:I have two knitter friends. I've never met them, I've only had online conversations. One said her husband she sent me a message, she goes, my husband's coming to Minneapolis for four days of meetings. What should I do? What should I hit up? And another one said my husband and I like to take four-day vacations around the country and we've never been to Minneapolis. What should we do? And I thought you know what? There's a lot about Minnesota. People don't know and there's kind of some pretty cool stuff to do around here, Not just Minneapolis, and not just bars. I have a lot of those.
Speaker 2:I was just going to say, not just the Mall of America, right, yeah, it's like. It's amazing how, wherever we go, when, like when we're traveling, and you tell people you're from Minneapolis, first thing they say is oh, you have the mall of America yeah. Yeah. You guys will be happy to know that did not even come up on my list. As a matter of fact, I didn't even think of it.
Speaker 3:I can't think of anything worse to do than have to go to Mall of America. So as I was searching this out, I searched for some kind of cool, fun things that are free, and as I got to looking, I found four weekends in May, june and July where there are so many things going on that you those cheap airfares where you could have an entirely jam-packed with really cool stuff going on. So with that in mind, you guys pipe in. If you've been, I want to start with May 17th, 18th and 19th. Okay, so I know people aren't out of school yet, but not everybody has got kids in school, so we're going to go for the adults in this one.
Speaker 3:There is something that happens in Northeast Minneapolis called Art-O-World, and it is. Northeast Minneapolis is full of artisans and they work in these big, huge former factories and they're in studios and they open up all the studios. I mean like 400 artists in this building, 300 in this building. There's a trolley that takes you from building to building. It's free, it's totally free. You have some crafty person in your house that likes stuff like this. Maybe you're a collector. It's everything from jewelry, paintings, wall hangings, things like what you'd find behind me, to furniture, to beautiful art, all this cool stuff. So. But what makes it even more fun is I didn't also realize this there are so many stinking breweries in Northeast Minneapolis and North Loop and little and little mom and pop restaurants. They are all on the bandwagon. So there are places down around there that have food trucks that are all coming for the weekend. There's another place, indeed Brewing. They have Whirly Gig where they have live music, sociable Cider Works, earl O'Whirl. I mean this is a perfect weekend. Like, think of it as truly an art fair, like if you were to go to the state fair and walk around and mill around and food and drinks and music. It's all based on art and it's free, totally cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I bought some really fun stuff there and actually I was walking through one of the places and I saw a guy and I'm like kind of looked again, he was wearing a baseball hat, one of the places and I saw a guy and I'm like kind of looked again, he was wearing a baseball hat and went back in. It was a high school classmate. He makes beautiful, beautiful, custom made wood pieces from like reclaimed trees and stuff. It was really cool. And you know, I don't know about you guys, but sometimes going into an art gallery is kind of intimidating. Yeah, you know Can be, definitely. Yeah, I know what I like, but I don't know what it's called. I don't know if it's good or whatever. So this is really a very super low-key way to go explore and get some stuff. Perfect for gifting too, if you need wedding gifts or birthday gifts or if you're way ahead of the game, like somebody who always shops early, um. But here's what's really so.
Speaker 3:Here's what's cool about what's also going on that weekend may 14th, 15th and 16th the twins have a homestand against the dreaded Yankees, but there's a lot of people who love the Yankees and who might come in for that. So think about that. You could have a Yankees game on the 16th. You could spend your day at Ardawirl on the Saturday, the 17th, that same weekend. There's another really cool thing that I didn't even know existed until last year and then I ended up having to work so I could go to it. There's something called Doors Open, minneapolis, and it's a Saturday and Sunday and all these big business buildings downtown open their doors and they give tours free free again, so you could tour the federal reserve. You could tour, um, like the, the star tribunes printing facility. You could go through some of these other buildings downtown and just that, have all the art deco, um, you know, flooring and beautiful architecture, just buildings you never have thought to go in again.
Speaker 2:Have they always done that, or is that? I don't I don't.
Speaker 3:I think it's fairly new, yeah, but I think that sounds awesome, as you know, because that's downtown, that's walkable, all these things are walkable. You can stay downtown North loop area and you can hit art world, you can hit a twins game, you can do the doors wide open. And then there's also the Guthrie. Guthrie has got a really interesting um series. I actually have them in in multiple weekends because they've got some really cool stuff going on. Now I don't know if it's the same people that go to the Yankees games, the Art of World, the Guthrie Can't tell you that part, but the Guthrie is yeah explain what the Guthrie is, even though we've been there, but tell everybody what it is, kitty, do you?
Speaker 2:have a really good description of the Guthrie Well gosh, I wish we knew what year it was built, um, but it is. It's one of the iconic theaters here in Minneapolis and it would be considered, it would be considered professional theater, like if you were in New York. It would be considered professional theater, like if you were in new york. It would be like the professional theaters in new york. So they have historically had a company, so a uh, and I don't know if they still do it that way or not, but they have, um, you know, they have a cast of actors and actresses that are going to show up in a lot of their productions, but then they also cast and bring in actors and actresses from other areas as well. But they do quite an array of stage productions and in the new location, in the new theater, they have the proscenium stage, they have the thrust stage, which is the original stage of the Guthrie. It's a beautiful theater. Tyrone Guthrie is who it's named after and it's iconic for Minneapolis.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think that theater people who know theater have always held it in really high esteem because of the quality of productions and plays they put on. Well, it's really interesting. You talked about their company, because they are doing, um, what I would consider what they. They talk about. There's a repertoire group that is the same group of people but they are putting on um, richard the second, henry the fourth and Henry the fifth, and it's not like two weeks of this one and then two weeks of that, it's like a couple of each a week, so you could go back to back nights and see two different productions by the same group.
Speaker 3:I think that's super cool, it is really cool. So we kind of we have our sports, we have our art, we have our freebie stuff to do that weekend. There's some stuff afterwards that are always cool to do in Minneapolis that we can talk about, but I just think that that could be a really that weekend. There's some stuff afterwards that are always cool to do in Minneapolis that we can talk about, but I just think that that could be a really cool weekend If you were going to come in for a vacation. That's a lot of cool, different stuff to do, and Minneapolis is usually pretty nice that time of year. Yes, yes it is.
Speaker 3:Yes. So again I'm going to hit up another art, another art-oriented thing the Stone Arch Bridge Festival. This is. I've gone the last couple years. For some reason it's always 110 degrees, so I will let you guys know. There's lots of tents, there's lots of shade, but it's usually warm.
Speaker 3:And that happens June 15th, 16th. Okay, it's right down by the river in Minneapolis. It spans from gosh it's probably a good mile, and artists come from all over Again. There's food trucks, there's music. This one's really dog-friendly, kid-friendly, you'll just find all sorts of stuff down there. Again, to bookend it, we've got the Lynx playing the night of the 14th.
Speaker 3:On the 13th of June, lady A is playing at Mystic Lake. So now we could have a professional, you know, a touring musical group. We could go to the Stone Arch Bridge Festival free during the day. You could go catch a basketball game and of course the twins have a monstrous homestand in which they're playing the Rockies beforehand, the A's during that weekend and the Rays after that. So even if you're just a baseball fan, you could come into town and over the course of five days, watch three different teams and have fun stuff to do during the day. That's free, that you could walk around and do, I think, for your sports fans or who maybe have a family vacation where you've got some different interests there maybe you've got some baseball fans, maybe you've got some art lovers you could possibly make everybody happy on one weekend Little something for everybody.
Speaker 3:Little something for everybody. Have you little something for everybody? Um, have you guys been to a Lynx game, timberwolves game Lynx?
Speaker 2:game I I think it's been quite a while. I, you, you. I'm not a basketball fan. I.
Speaker 3:I, yeah, but sometimes going to those things are for the, you know I will say yes yes, at the Timberwolves games there is more stuff going on in between the plays.
Speaker 1:Or there is just as much stuff going on in between the plays as there is.
Speaker 2:And it is so. I look at everything from a production standpoint and I sit there and watch, and I'm just thinking about who those people are in the control booths with their headsets on saying go go go. Everything that's happening down. When the play stops, you know, crunch runs out and does a little thing, and all of that is orchestrated. I'm fascinated by all of that. So, yes, I watch more of that than I watch the game.
Speaker 3:Well, and that's the fun too. So if you do have two people that like basketball and two that don't, those other people, the two that don't, there's plenty going on, and I think that that's how all sporting events have become now. It's truly true at Target Field Kitty, when you were talking about the headset and saying, go, that's what Ava does, oh, yeah, yeah, that's her thing. She organizes all the you know, she implements all of the sponsored activities and events. So she's wearing the headset and she's down there saying, you know, I don't know that she I mean, it's mostly about like the potato cannon that shoots t-shirts and comes like that I don't know. But yeah, that was probably a really simplistic explanation about what my daughter does.
Speaker 2:So if she listens to this, she'll go. Mom, that's not what I do.
Speaker 4:Thanks, okay, sorry.
Speaker 3:Ava, if I got that wrong. I think it's pretty good. She did mention a headset and standing down by the court. Okay, all right, let's go with the big weekend. This is a monster weekend that I think people who are really serious about packing in a lot of fun need to come to the Minneapolis-St Paul area Starting June 29th through the 4th. Okay, get your pad and paper out.
Speaker 3:We can start by the Twin Cities Pride Festival June 29th and 30th. Lots of free events going on. Always nice to have a regional something if you've got family members who, that would be really important and make them feel really good, or if you have friends or if you are a supporter of Pride. I've worked there for a couple weekends in the past and it is super fun. People are super happy. That is downtown as well. Then we've got a couple of different baseball options. We're going to go to St Paul and go to a Saints game. St Paul Saints put on the most awesome entertainment around baseball. But let's see the 30th. They have Friday night fireworks. On Saturday, I believe, they have a monster food truck rally. See, scenes take a normal thing and make it very bizarre. They like their mascot was a pig and they had this pig run the bases for a while. I don't know if they still are doing that, but scenes game super family friendly. I mean, baseball is anyway, but it's not your typical baseball game.
Speaker 2:So is. Are the saints? So the saints aren't the league under the twins? Right, they are now.
Speaker 3:Oh, they are now. Yes, A couple of years ago they became the AAA team for the twins, which works out really well because if you've got injuries and you need players and a short amount of time it's a very easy transition for them, okay, but the field is.
Speaker 3:It's a gorgeous field that they play at stadium over in St Paul and it's just such a jovial in it. You know it's significantly smaller than Target Field, so it's a more intimate setting. It's a lot of fun stuff going on. So I think St Paul games are great. People do a lot of tailgating beforehand out in the parking lot. Um, it's a fun experience to do.
Speaker 3:So let's see, we've got the um, we've got the pride festival, we got the fire, we got saints, we have twins also playing the second through the forest, a fourth against the tigers, who are always a good rivalry. But here we've got something a little different. On July 1st and 2nd there's the Hmong International Freedom Festival, which has been coined to be like the Olympics for Hmong athletes. I think that would be so interesting to go see. That's over in St Paul at Como Park, so it's kind of all over. You could go to Saints game, you could go do that. So this might be more of a St Paul weekend. I don't hang out in St Paul very much but as I was kind of looking for some of these big events they have a ton going on this summer. Yeah, yeah, really cool things.
Speaker 2:It's interesting living here because people tend to be either Minneapolis people or St Paul people. There's a for being twin cities and sitting right next to each other. There's there's a pretty big divide between the two. It's weird, um same, I just haven't spent very much time there so I'm less comfortable knowing my way around.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but if you don't know your way around either city, go there too, doesn't? Matter.
Speaker 2:Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. And also we have these things that help us, but it's just, it just seems so foreign at times.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and there's also a soccer game in St Paul on the 1st. Minneapolis United FC plays on July 1st. So think about that. We've got baseball, we've got another festival of sorts, we've got a food truck rally, we've got fireworks, we've got soccer and we've got some cultural events going on. That's six things in the course. Oh, and seven Twins games. Let us not forget the Guthrie has things going on there too, different shows. They've got Little Shop of Horrors, which I think is super good to go see.
Speaker 3:I actually got distracted and tried to find some tickets, and then they're starting. Oh, that's not quite yet. We're going to come to the other one, but Little Shop of Horrors, which I think would be really fun. Have you guys seen that? Not Horrors, no Horrors, yes Horrors.
Speaker 2:Horrors yes. Well, I don't know that I've ever seen that on stage, but I've seen the movie, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think it's super fun. That would be another multifamily member event, yeah, so then let's see. Then I'm going to go to St Paul again, because there's one, one, two there's a weekend in St Paul June 21st and 22nd. These are two things that I'd never been to, but I think that people who love this stuff would drive or they'd fly. In June 21st and 22nd there's Jazz Fest. That could be totally cool to go to. And also on the 21st through the 23rd, back to the 50s classic car weekend at the State Fair 12,000 classic cars Wow, if you're into classic cars yeah, I think that'd be kind of cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that'd be the place to be. It would. That would be really fun, I think. And there's all, there's good restaurants and stuff in St Paul which we've been to a few over there, ladies, mm-hmm, yes, we have, we're always up for a good restaurant.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:And then we can't we cannot leave out the golfers, Can we, I think? I think Minnesota has more golf courses per capita than any other state in the U? S really.
Speaker 3:Yes, because every little town has a golf course. Oh my gosh. Yes, it's kind of an amazing stat, okay, but we have some really, really nice golf courses and a lot of professional tours come through here. And 3M doesn't open every summer and that's up in Blaine and that's July 22nd through the 28th. That overlaps with Aqua Tenniel, another Minneapolis celebration, so that would be a really fun time. There's twins in playing the Brewers huge rivalry between the Brewers that week and the Phillies. So here we've got golf, we've got another free festival of things to do, we've got twins games.
Speaker 3:Now I wasn't really going to talk about shopping, but if you need to kill a little time or it's raining, I'm going to suggest you check out the Rosedale Mall. This is my new favorite place. If If I've got to go shopping, it's. First of all, the mall has been redone. Everything in there is really nice. You've got a Von Maurer, you've got your bigger stores, your typical things. Then you've got a whole bunch of outside little stores you can go into that are big, and then there's every sort of restaurant that you could possibly want is right around that general area Local places like Patina. You know all the way to your. You know your bigger, bigger sort of things. But if you need to shop, that's where I go now and instead of there's, there's no way I'm going to Mall of America.
Speaker 4:No, where's that located? Is it really in the town of Roseville?
Speaker 3:Roseville, roseville, yep, roseville. So it's on the way. It's not too far out of the way. If you're going north on 35 to Blaine, it would be an easy one to hit. So if you were going to maybe stay on on the St Paul Northern side to make traffic easier, it would be a good area to look around and I know you know people. Every once in a while a good couple hours strolling through a mall is.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, and it's nice to go to a mall that has, um, that has been able to keep itself vibrant and updated and there are definitely the malls around here that they're just. The stores are just dropping. Southdale is not what it used to be. No, Nothing anymore. So yeah, Rose, Rose Dale has done a lot to keep. Keep the good stores and get all of the really popular stores and bring some of those other things around too on the periphery. Um, I would put the shops at Arbor lakes up there as well. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a really nice outdoor shopping.
Speaker 2:So that's going to be up in. What is that? Maple Grove, maple Grove, yep. So all of those stores are outdoor. So yeah if it's a rainy day, find a good mall like Rosedale. If it's a beautiful sunny day, shops at Arbor Lakes is a nice place to walk around.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, and even you know, june and July in Minnesota can get really hot.
Speaker 3:Yes, and if you've been at a golf tournament and you don't want to just go crash at your hotel or you just need a little pick-me-up, go to a really nice mall. It's air-conditioned. The idea of a food court now is like a restaurant court now is like a restaurant court. It's not. It's not take your plastic tray and you know the, the old style, have a slice of pizza. It's really good food again. Yeah, it is, yeah. So that was kind of my big favorite weekend in July. So we've hit May, we've hit a couple in June, we hit one in July, and then I just, you know, we've got the standard things that are always fun to do in Minneapolis while you're here the farmer's markets. The farmer's market there are two. One is really large and I think they're open like almost every day of the week, but they're especially good on Saturdays and Sundays. Um, and that's music again. Everything from flowers and potted plants to food, to cinnamon rolls as big as your head, um, super fun. And that's kind of it's under an under um, under a highway, so it kind of looks a little you know, or you'd think it is, but it's really nice, Very nice, yeah. So that would be a great place to go get breakfast, get coffee, you know, before you start your day out on any one of these weekends.
Speaker 3:Yeah, If you are staying right in downtown. The other one is right next to the Guthrie. It's called the Mill City Farmer's Market. It's much smaller. Three, it's called the Mill City Farmer's Market. It's much smaller. So if you've got somebody that maybe can't walk quite as far, or you know you're not going to bring home vegetables for the weekend if you're there, it's just a really nice. It's a great setting, it's a great place to go stroll through Stacey you and I have been a couple of times, you know, Lovely, yeah, and you can just sit on the steps and watch people go by, which I think is always fun. Um, and here's the other thing that blew me away. Um, so let's say you are coming in for the twins game, or you're coming in for a weekend, or maybe you're some of those people that love breweries.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, there are a lot of them in the world.
Speaker 3:Oh, my Mind boggling to me. So I looked in one like five block quadrant next to Target Field. Matter of fact, I don't even think it's five blocks, I think it's three, maybe four by three blocks. We've got Brickworth, pires, inbound Brewing, fulton, modest, number 12 Cider. That's six breweries.
Speaker 3:If that's your thing, if you like breweries, perfect. I'd suggest you stay somewhere close, because if you're going to hit all those, you know maybe not. But then there's a couple of really cool places to eat that are like food halls, for lack of a better term Gray's, which has got rooftop and indoor, and it's got probably five or six different really cool restaurants that are in there that have like a window that you can go get food, and the same thing with the galley over in North Loop. So, um, I don't know if you guys watch one of the morning shows, but, uh, rectangle pizza won some massive pizza cook-off in New York on, I don't know, I think it was the Good Morning America or the Today Show. I'm really sorry that I butchered that, but they are Detroit style pizza and they beat out a New York place and a place from Chicago and was named the best pizza and you can go walk down there and go get it.
Speaker 3:I love that pizza. Yes, you talk about it a lot and I never. I never order pizza and it's never my first choice to go out. So when I find pizza that I like, yeah, I'll go. And I only like about three things on my pizza. As these two know, I am the most picky eater ever?
Speaker 4:I didn't know there was three. Are you counting cheese and sauce?
Speaker 3:No, I like black olives, I like mushrooms, I like Canadian bacon and I might eat sausage.
Speaker 4:Four. Look at that, that is A good taco pizza works up there too.
Speaker 3:Now this one. I got to ask for your help, kitty. Coffee shops, coffee shops downtown Minneapolis if you're staying in Minneapolis and go into any of these things, there's a bazillion coffee places. Of course, there's always the Starbucks, which is great.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure there's a caribou down here, but there's a lot of kind of boutique coffee places yeah, you can do so much better than caribou and starbucks down when you're downtown. Um, spy house is always one of my favorites and they've got a few different locations downtown. Um, the one that is right in the heart of downtown is connected to a hotel, and I can't remember which hotel it is, and you do not feel like you're in a coffee shop, you feel like you're in the lobby of the hotel and it is beautiful. So, spy House Coffee. And then, um, the one, uh, the one that's down a few blocks from from your place, amy, that.
Speaker 1:I Fairgrounds, fairgrounds.
Speaker 2:Fairgrounds. I love that place. Yeah, those are two of my faves downtown.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then, if you are going to be down by Fairgrounds, make sure to stop at Belcour Cooks of Crocus Hill, belcour, for the French pastries. That's what I like when we have to go out for coffee. Yeah, I like to stop and get those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those are good, and they do have really good coffee as well. Yeah, but I just love the. I think the atmosphere of fairgrounds is just. It's just so cool and different.
Speaker 3:So do you recall kind of what their whole deal is with the coffee? It's like they've got things on tap. At fairgrounds yes, I don't remember and brewing things. I've taken a couple people in there and they're big coffee drinkers, but they're like I don't know what to order. I don't know what this is.
Speaker 2:This is too hard. I don't know. I think the few times that I went there, that might be back in the day when I was still drinking mochas, so it was probably it was easy for me to order a latte or a mocha or something like that, but sure yeah.
Speaker 3:Minneapolis and it's not just for people who are coming in for vacations is if you want to have a special night, a special anniversary, a birthday party, a graduation, even give as a wedding gift. We did this too. We all went together and bought a really nice gift card. There are some fantastic restaurants down here that you could make a wonderful night and there's a couple of gorgeous, gorgeous hotels. There's the Four Seasons, there's Hewing, which is a really cool place to go, beautiful hotel, but there's some amazing, amazing restaurants that I think would rival major metropolitan areas anywhere. Yes, for sure. Mostly I just have a cocktail there, not the meal.
Speaker 2:Well, we're more than likely going to get comments about. Well, we don't hear a lot of good things about Minneapolis from a safety perspective, so I wanted to make sure that we address that, because it's frustrating to hear that, especially for those who live here. We know that and I think the irony of this is that and I've kind of I've taken note of this the people who are saying that are people who never wanted to go downtown in the first place. Right, so they have this perception. So, yes, unfortunately there were some awful things that happened here, and it's we can't change that. But there's been a lot done to to make the streets safe. The unfortunate things that happened were they were isolated, they were horrible, you know.
Speaker 3:And they weren't downtown, and they weren't downtown.
Speaker 2:They weren't downtown. So that's frustrating, and so I think the more that those of us who go there, live there, can address it and say it is safe. Amy lives there. When we go downtown, when I'm downtown during the day for work, I don't feel unsafe. But I also think that, just like with any city, you know where you shouldn't go, and there are those places in Minneapolis, there are those places in every city. Yeah, you know where you shouldn't go, but we also know that it's not an unsafe. It is not an unsafe place.
Speaker 3:Right. Well, I just think that it's like any other metropolitan city. Don't walk around with a wad of cash in one hand. Don't walk around with your brand new iPhone like this. Keep your head up, know where you're going, you know. Don't go down any back alleys at midnight. Yeah, that holds true anywhere you are. Yeah, it does.
Speaker 3:You know I mean that that and and I don't know if some of these people are thinking that Minneapolis and we're talking local people who don't want to come in, we're not talking about people from afar, because people from afar have gone to New York and they go to Chicago and they go to Nashville and they go to Houston and Dallas and you know they're used to big cities and how you work in a big city. Um, I don't know if they think that it's like a St Cloud or I don't know what their expectation is of being downtown. I also have noticed that some of these same people who talk about how unsafe it is have absolutely no problem coming down to go to a Vikings game. That doesn't bother them at all. They don't have any problem coming down to go to a Twins game, but yet you suggest anything other than a couple of sporting events, and it's super dangerous.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:They'll come down, for you know, quite often the high school state finals will be downtown Minneapolis or downtown St Paul and they they come in by the bus loads for that. Yeah, nobody worries about that. Yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:So we are. I mean, we are quite proud of the big cities here, of this state. Minnesota is a beautiful place to visit and, yes, for our listeners and viewers. If you're thinking about coming here this summer or at any time of the year and you are looking for tips, we are happy to help. It's quite lovely in the summer. It is warm. It gets very hot here in the summer. Yes, we do have mosquitoes, but it is absolutely beautiful and our lakes are spectacular. Another thing that a lot of people do here is biking. Oh yeah, minneapolis has a really robust um biking trail system and I think consistently it rivals. Is it Seattle or Portland? I want to say Portland, as far as being the two big um. I'm not talking motorcycles, I'm talking bicycles. Yeah, yes, um. So if you are a, a bicyclist, is that?
Speaker 4:what they're called.
Speaker 2:Yeah, If you, yeah if you're a cyclist, um, that's another really great thing to do, and we see people traveling here with their bikes to come and and ride the trails.
Speaker 3:So yeah, absolutely. And you know, we didn't even touch on all the lakes that are actually in the city that you can park and walk around and the beautiful part about that is there are old homes that are around it at different. I keep coming back to architecture, but maybe that's why I got into real estate, but I love looking at those big houses and beautiful yards and gorgeous flowers, um, that somebody else gets to mow and take care of. I find to be really enjoyable. Yeah, and those lakes are nice. Um, you know, we didn't. We didn't talk about any of the restaurants. Every we didn't talk about any of the restaurants. Almost every restaurant in Minneapolis has outdoor patio seating because we just so live for those five, six months a year, depending on the year, when we can sit outside. Yeah, so you can really have quite a lovely, lovely weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah. In this area, and so I would hope, too that. So us sharing this information, find these things in your own areas, too. What we're describing here, these are, you know, the art festivals, the breweries that are. That's not just here, that's everywhere. Find these really cool things this summer in your own area and get outside and enjoy, and maybe this is a good reminder right now to just start thinking about summer and make some plans. Get some things on your calendar so that you carve out time for yourself and your family.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, on my bucket list for this summer is to go to the Des Moines Far's market because it's huge supposedly, and I've never been there, so that I am going to get there. That would be good. Oh, I know Saturday mornings, may through October, I believe. But yeah, they say it's just huge.
Speaker 3:I love a good farmer's market. I'm not a huge vegetable person, you know I always gravitate towards the fruits, but vegetables from a farmer's market a hundred percent better, you know. They just taste so good and you bring it all home and you're super excited and you have a killer salad. That's just unbelievable in the summer.
Speaker 4:Yeah, love it. They have a lot of a ton of stuff, you know. You know it's. I don't want to call it arts and crafts, but there's. You know other art art and flowers and yeah, a ton of, a ton of that kind of thing there too. Yeah, people selling their, you know, handmade goods, so yeah yeah.
Speaker 3:I never charge up my, my laptop. I'm so sorry people, but I'm back.
Speaker 2:No fear.
Speaker 3:Technical problems. Hey, you know what? Should we do? A shot, I have a shot request. This seems to be my, my late, my latest thing. I would love to hear what other people would suggest as the cool thing to do in the city that they live in. I agree. If we were coming to your city or your town, what's the thing we should do? Yeah, stace, I know what it is in your town. What is it in my town?
Speaker 4:Well, it's all those cool shops. Oh, you mean just actually Jewel? Yes, we have, I don't know I've lost count. I think we have seven or eight really cute little. They're all a little different, offer a little different thing, but the kind that you know some are antiques, some are um, you know the redo furniture, you know recycle furniture, um to gift shops, to a lot of things.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Plus our you know, shout out to our favorite little juniper and olive. Yeah, Little very cute Um yes. Very cute, chic cocktails and small bites spot. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we do have for a town.
Speaker 4:We have a lot of cute downtown things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, kitty, what's the one thing people should do if they're in Chaska?
Speaker 2:Um, well, in the summer, I mean. So this is, uh, I don't even know what our population is. Um, we are really an outer, we're a Southwestern. That sounds about right 25,000. Um, and the city government here has, I think, done a good job of retaining some of the small town qualities of this community. So you feel that when you drive downtown. But one of the historic things here is the town ball, the town baseball, and we do have one of the historic town ball stadiums. So it goes back 100 years, years and it's just a really cool environment. So the town ball team is called the Cheska Cubs. It costs maybe like $4 to get in and you can buy a hot dog for $2 and it's good, competitive baseball. So that would be something that would be unique to our town.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that field is really cool and the stands it's like an old-fashioned grandstand Like if you think about Major League, the movie Major League, it's that type of stand yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's cool. So Good summer fun. Yeah, awesome, it's cool.
Speaker 4:So good summer fun. Yeah, I can't wait to hear you know, some of our listeners give us good ideas for where we can go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes, I know we've got some in Cincinnati and some down in Florida and some in Texas and Wisconsin and Illinois. Those are all very doable things. What should we be coming and doing in your area?
Speaker 4:Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I hope people have listened and taken notes. You might have to watch it a couple of times to get everything. You did an awesome job of finding really special things in Minneapolis.
Speaker 3:Thanks. Maybe I'll drop them in the comments. Finding really special things in Minneapolis to go do. Maybe I'll drop them in the comments. Maybe I'll make like four comments with the weekend and the different things you can do that that particular weekend so.
Speaker 4:That'd be good, I can do that.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, all right. Well, until next week, yes, all right. Everybody have an awesome week. Until next week, yes, alright everybody have an awesome week. We'll see you in a few days.
Speaker 1:Cheers bye, I got that. Wow, who wants some heads up right now? We got that. Turn it up loud. I know you're wondering how I got that. Wow, here I go, here I go, coming. I can't ever stop. I'm a tour de force running. Get me to the top. I don't need an invitation. I'm about to start a celebration. Let me in Brought a good time for some friends. Turn it up loud past 10.
