DH and I took two short trips up to Minneapolis to drop off and then pick up our 8yo DD for a weeklong overnight camp in Wisconsin. (Despite some tears when it was time to depart on the bus for camp, she loved it!) Minneapolis-St. Paul is a fun place to visit - and we’d welcome the chance to live there someday too!

With DD, we stayed at the Residence Inn at the Depot which we’ve stayed at before. Perfect for the three of us. Great downtown Minneapolis location. Typical Residence Inn. They have an indoor “waterpark” which is just a few slides. We were lucky enough to have enough Marriott points to pay for the room. http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mspmw-residence-inn-minneapolis-downtown-at-the-depot/

On the return trip, sans DD, we stayed at The Hotel Minneapolis, another Marriott property; this one is part of their Autograph Collection (we were able to use a free night that had been earned with Marriott due to some previous multi-day stay). The building used to be a bank and became this hotel in 2007 (I think I read that it had previously been a Doubletree). Another great location! We had a small room but very nicely appointed; very tall ceilings made the room feel a little larger. The shower was quirky - there was no way to turn it on without getting all wet do to the placement of a glass divider. We would definitely stay at The Hotel Minneapolis again. www.thehotelminneapolis.com/

Coming from small town Iowa, we usually seek out certain restaurants or food-types when we travel. The Twin Cities is no exception.

Our first food destination was, as usual, Cecil’s Deli in St. Paul. Fantastic corned beef and reubens! http://cecilsdeli.com/ We had a great dinner at Rudolphs although splitting the bill amongst three families almost proved too much for the waitress. Most of us had delicious ribs. http://rudolphsribs.com/ We followed dinner up with a trip to The Malt Shop - yummy! http://www.themaltshoprestaurant.com/ The next morning, before camp drop-off, we all met up at the Good Day Cafe in Golden Valley. Excellent food, a little over-priced though. Excellent waitress who had no trouble sorting out the three families despite being spread out over two tables!

On our return trip to pick up DD, we had just two meals and both were so-so. We ate a quick lunch at the 8th Street Grill. Nothing special. http://8thstreetgrill.com/ And dinner was at Green Mill on Hennepin in Uptown. (We were en route to visit some old friends and were looking for something along our route.) Again, nothing special. http://www.greenmill.com/minneapolis-uptown-mn

All in all, two fun short trips up to the Twin Cities!