Every Adventure Has a Starting Point
Every adventure has a starting point and this adventure was starting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since I live in Ohio, getting to the official starting point involved some flying time. An early morning flight from Cleveland to Chicago to Minneapolis had us at the starting gate by 10:00 Central Time.
One of the things that is always a hassle is the rental car pick up. So many airports have gone to off site rental car centers where you have to take a shuttle bus to the facility (usually several miles from the airport) and pick up/drop off your vehicle. There is nothing more fun than picking up all your bags from baggage claim, dragging them outside to find the rental car shuttle, loading them up on the shuttle, riding to the facility, getting the bags back off the shuttle, locating your car and leaving. It adds quite a bit of time to the whole process. HOWEVER, Minneapolis does NOT have a central rental location or off site locations for the larger rental companies! This was a huge plus! We were able to pick up our bags, walk to the on-site rental area, pick our vehicle and we were off!
Tip: Before you book your rental car, see if you qualify for their quick rental program. Each company has it's own name for this. Emerald Aisle, Executive Aisle....check with the company you choose and see if it's free to sign up. This will save you a whole lot of time when picking up your rental vehicle.
First Stop - Mall of America
Our flight arrived well before the time that we were able to check into our hotel. This was perfect for us since it allowed for a visit to the Mall of America. If you like to shop.....a stop at the Mall of America is a necessity. Boasting 520 stores and 50 restaurants as well as the world's largest indoor amusement park....this mall is quite the tourist attraction!
We were very pleasantly surprised to find that the mall was very close to the airport (approximately 10 minutes). Since we arrived right around lunch time, we started our visit with lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. Once our appetite's were satisfied, it was time to take a look around.
If you read reviews on the Mall of America you will find many people who feel the mall is nothing special and others who love it. What we found is that it is a mall with lots and lots of stores. There are multiple levels of stores and the stores repeat periodically so if you came in at any entrance you could probably find the most commonly shopped at stores nearby. You can do a whole lot of walking if you want and you can most likely find anything you would be looking to find at a mall and then some!
We found there to be stores that are in every mall and then there are stores that are more specialty stores. For instance, there is a Peeps Store with all things Peeps! There is every color of peep you can imagine there. If you want Peeps to eat...they are there, Peeps to cuddle with...they are there, Peeps to wear....they are there! Another unique store is the Lego Store. Other than the Lego Store at Downtown Disney, I haven't seen that many Legos in one place. We also had a great time at the Lindt store picking up some mint truffles for the road!
You have probably heard about the roller coaster inside the Mall of America. What I didn't realize is that it was a whole amusement park! It is the Nickelodeon area and is appropriately themed for the entire family. We didn't have time to ride the rides but we did take a few minutes to stop and drive some boats around the small pool for a dollar! Of course there are food items in this area that you would find in any outdoor amusement park. You could spend a lot of time and money in this area!
There was even a water ride!
We easily spent a few hours having lunch, walking around and picking out truffles. I would allow 2-3 hours at a minimum if you are in the Minneapolis area and want to take a look around.
Tip: There is a parking garage attached to the mall. Be sure to write down your vehicle location because the garage isn't small either!
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| Heading to Downtown Minneapolis |
Hampton Inn and Suites - Downtown Minneapolis
Just as a reminder for those of you who have read my previous blogs or for information to those new to my blogs, because my husband travels for business a lot, and because Hilton offers many different hotel brands at many price points that fit with his allowances, we try to book Hilton hotels as much as possible to accrue all of our hotel points in the Hilton HHonors program to maximum our ability to receive free nights.
We were able to find a Hampton Inn and Suites in downtown Minneapolis that fit our plans to a "T". This was a brand new property, opening just a short time before our stay. If you didn't know you were staying at a Hampton Inn you could easily mistake this property for a higher end hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, we pulled up to the valet area. For us, we find it more convenient to just pay for and use the valet service when it is offered at a hotel. This valet service was on the pricier side (however with it being a downtown location it was to be expected) coming in at a cost of $30.00/night. The hotel does offer a self park option for $13.00/night. That parking was located in a nearby parking garage.
The staff was very friendly and efficient when we check in. We were given a room on the 6th floor. We were given instructions on how to use the elevators to get to the guest rooms. The elevator required an active room key card to access the guest levels of the hotel. If you read TripAdvisor you will find that some people don't care for the added step of the key card in the elevator but I felt that this was a very nice added security feature. Any time you are in a major downtown area, a bit of added security is a welcome thing. Our plans for the evening were to head to Target Field for a baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Minnesota Twins so we asked for directions at the desk when we checked in and were given very simple instructions.
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| View from our room |
The room itself was very clean and quite modern looking for a Hampton Inn. We had a view of the city from our room and found the room to be a good size and the bed very comfortable. The best part of this hotel was the proximity to the ballpark. The day we were there just happened to be the hottest day of the year in Minneapolis. Not only was it 95 degrees, the humidity was off the charts. The great thing about the hotel is that is directly connected to the skywalk that takes you all around the Downtown area in a climate controlled environment! We simply just had to take the elevator to the 2nd level, walk out of the elevator into the skywalk, make a left and take a quick 10 minute walk to the ballpark! No worrying about where to park your vehicle or how to get to the ballpark, it was very simple!
If you have stayed at a Hampton Inn you know that they provide a free breakfast in the morning. This hotel was no exception and in fact they provided a VERY nice version of breakfast. There were several hot offerings as well as several cereals, pastries, bagels, waffles and oatmeal. The coffee was hot and fresh and able to be taken with you if you wanted one for the road. The breakfast room was spacious as was the seating area.
I would highly recommend this hotel as a terrific option in the downtown Minneapolis area.
Target Field
My husband and I are season ticket holders for the Cleveland Indians so when we started planning this adventure, we were looking for a week that the Indians were out of town so we wouldn't miss any of our scheduled games in our package. It was a perk that they happened to be in Minnesota at the same time that we were planning our visit. One of our future bucket items is to visit all the baseball ballparks in the country so this worked out well for us! 
After we checked into our hotel, we headed over to the ballpark in the skywalk. It was a very short 10 minute walk to reach the gates of Target Field. The great part was that the walkway was air conditioned. It was extremely HOT when we emerged from the walkway! We arrived early enough to take a look around the ballpark. It really is a very beautiful park, very interesting design and lots of statues and things to see around the perimeter. 
The food options were a bit different than what we are used to in Cleveland, but we found the food to be tasty. We had terrific seats behind home plate and other than the very warm temperatures, we had a great time at the ballpark. After picking up an Indians win, we headed back to the hotel for the evening. It was a long day from the time we left our house for the airport and the time we got back to the hotel to call it an evening! There was no problem getting some rest and we were going to need it since Day 2 of our adventure involved lots of driving!
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