Two Mini Trips to Minneapolis
 

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/trave...-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!

Iowamom, glad you enjoyed the Twincities. I am turning into a fan of deli's also. The food is always fresh and not overpriced. It looks like you had a different room at The Hotel than the one they gave us as we had a large cement pillar right in the center of our room. I get a magazine called MLPS/ST.PAUL(www.MSPMAG.com) magazine that has lots of twin-cities information in it like restaurant reviews and current events if you are interested. If you go to the Green Mill again try their deep dish pizza, it takes 45 minutes to cook but I think it is their best dish. Thanks for writing your trip report. ziggypop

Yay someone read and commented on my trip report! We did not have a cement pillar right in the center of our room - that would be annoying - and I would have asked for a new room!

I enjoyed your trip report also. We used to live in the Twin Cities and get back there often so always look for new places to stay and eat. Thanks.

We visited Minneapolis a couple of years ago and had a great time for 3 nights. If you go back check out the Westin in downtown, we got a great weekend rate and the building is landmarked former art deco bank. As to living in Minneapolis I'd say spend a month there during the Winter and than let me know. But since your name is IOWAmom, I guess you're used to it.

Bad experience at Hotel Minneapolis Marriot Autograph hotel. We had booked a room using the Marriot App and looked forward to staying there, however we were looking for some deals on Groupon and found the same room for $30.00 less. We remember that Marriot has a price guarantee where they state they will match any other sellers price (plus an additional 25%). Great we thought until we filed a claim form and was denied because the groupon offer was sold out 14 hours after we made our reservation. They could easily have checked the reservations made after ours. No integrity with this company. I am very upset that they feel that they need to misinform customers about their prices. I could have purchased the deal but they guarantee their rates. Next time, if there is a next time I will check discounters first (Groupon, Living Socail etc).