I'm devastated! The sculpture garden of the Walker Art Center is completely dismantled and will remain so until fall 2017. How shall we fill our time?

We fly in and out of MSP and will visit the Mnnpls Inst of Art on day 1 en route to Des Moines IA, our next stop. Then we have a day and a half back in Mnnpls after a wedding in Mason City IA before departure. We had planned to spend most of it at the Walker and in the sculpture garden.

Other museums (not necessarily just art museums)? Places of historical and cultural interest? An art gallery district? We will have a car so going further afield (but not more than a hour;s drive or so) is an option.

And if you have a favorite restaurant, please let us know. We prefer more casual establishments.

Many thanks. Ellen

Well, the Walker itself is open, only the sculpture garden is closed...

This isn't exactly food & culture but one of our favorite things to do when we visit Minneapolis is to rent bikes and bike around the lakes. The 15-mile bike trail is wonderful and the views are lovely. A great way to spend a day and there are plenty of places to stop along the way.

I enjoy "collecting" art museums in my travels.
The Institute of Art is one of my favorites.
Avoid The Mall, unless you are a teenager.
As a side trip I thought Stillwater was scenic.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum also has a sculpture garden, along with a lot of sculptures scattered among the other gardens. The grounds are a great place to walk around just for the scenery as well. It is about 30 minutes from downtown Minneapolis.

http://www.arboretum.umn.edu/

Other museums:
Science Museum - https://www.smm.org/
Russian Art - http://tmora.org/
American Swedish Institute - http://www.asimn.org/
Weisman - http://www.weisman.umn.edu/
MN History Center - http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org/

Historical sites (if I had to pick just one, I would pick Mill City Museum):
http://sites.mnhs.org/historic-sites...r-ramsey-house
http://www.historicfortsnelling.org/
http://sites.mnhs.org/historic-sites/james-j-hill-house
http://www.millcitymuseum.org/
http://sites.mnhs.org/historic-sites/minnehaha-depot
http://sites.mnhs.org/historic-sites...-state-capitol

Northeast Minneapolis is probably the closest thing to an arts district. https://nemaa.org/

Restaurants - totally depends on the type of cuisine and your definition of more casual.

See the pretty extensive thread from last month re. the MSP foodie scene. To that list, I would now add St. Dinette in Lowertown St. Paul. Was there a couple of weeks ago with friends (all of us serious winos and foodies) and it blew us away. Not pretentious-just damn good.

There is an art museum , Weismann Museum in an incredible building,on the east bank of the Mississippi at the U of MN in Mpls.
Also go to the Guthrie Theater and walk out over the river.

Note: Mpls will work better on Google than what you writing above.

Second the Mill City Museum. It's different. Brit's Pub for lunch or dinner. St. Paul Cathedral. Also, not particularly exciting but a little different: Walking through the raised walkways through downtown Minneapolis.

I was thinking there was an art district near downtown, but I may be confused.

I forgot about the Weisman, that's a great building--Frank Gehry, right? It's small, but if the current exhibit interests you, it can be really engaging.

Yes, it's a Frank Gehry building and worth a stop for sure.
The Guthrie has a great place to view the Mississippi River also. I was recently back in Mpls and disappointed about the Walker's Sculpture Garden being redone but it's necessary to keep these places in good shape.
Depending on your dates, the new Target Field for the MN Twins and new stadium for the Vikings are both right downtown and wonderful venues for a game.

Downtown minneapolis is a great place on the weekends at night. Be sure you dont drive! Anytime im on a trip to minneapolis i use a car service the entire time from when i land at the airport and throughout my whole trip. If you want recommendations i would check out oncabs minneapolis, you can check their link here https://oncabs.com/cities/minneapolis
They always have promos on their website and special going on

I'm looking for perhaps exploring the Lake Minnetonka area. Can you recommend any places to stay or go?

Lake Minnetonka is mostly residential, many large homes line the lake with their boathouses. You could go out to Lord Fletcher's on the lake in Spring Park for lunch or dinner. Many arrive in their boats and dock at the restaurant. There are also large boat cruises on the lake, Al and Alma's and Queen of Excelsior.

The two cutest towns on Lake Minnetonka are Excelsior and Wayzata. There are boat cruises that travel between the two. In Excelsior, at Tommy's Trolley (great ice cream), you can rent kayaks and SUP and have some fun on the lake. Afterwards, you could grab lunch at Maynards and sit out and watch all the boats go by. Later, take the cruise over to Wayzata and shop the little downtown. Have dinner at cov or 6Smith and then take the boat back. A great day.