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It's a relatively painless and inexpensive trip from our home in Chicago to St Paul. Just wondered what my kids (ages 9 & 11) and I would do there. I know there's that big mall (not that we don't have Woodfield Mall just 15 min away!), although how to get there without a car could be a problem.
I know we arrive late (hotel recs?) and of course we'd have no car. Is St Paul a good tourist destination? Or should I choose someplace else?
Posts: 72 | From: Illinois | Registered: Apr 2005
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Right off the top of my head: One sight to see would be Saint Anthony's Falls (weather permitting, obviously). This waterfall is right downtown on the Mississippi.
-------------------- "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the Earth all one's life." Posts: 506 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Mar 2002
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Many great things to do in St. Paul for kids and adults, and the Amtrak trip itself is worth it. As far as hotels, others could make particular choices, there would be cabs at the station, so it's up to you. I'm not sure where you are with price concerns, I'm sure there are good deals somewhere, I really like http://www.hotwire.com for finding a deal. If you want to feel like your actually in the city, you might want to stay downtown, even if it's a little more expensive.Maybe the Holiday Inn by the excel arena. Perhaps not realistic, but if you want to splurge, try the "St. Paul Hotel" http://www.stpaulhotel.com
Anyway, if you stay downtown, then you could walk over to Harriet Island, http://www.stpaul.gov/depts/parks/specialservices/Harriet_Island/ where many public events are held or take a trip on a "paddleford" boat on the Mississippi river, http://www.riverrides.com/ go to a play on the showboat or just walk through the little parks overlooking the river(and the railroad) on Kellogg ave or around rice park, by the ordway center for performing arts, and the landmark center, and you would feel like your in St. Paul. And several of the museums I'll mention are very close by. A couple of mainstream museums with parts of them tailored for kids in St. Paul would be The Science Museum of Minnesota, http://www.smm.org and the "Minnesota History museum" http://www.mnhs.org/historycenter/
I think your kids might be a bit to old for the "Children's museum" http://www.mcm.org/
For me, my top idea, and the one thing that I can't find a way to recommend highly enough to both young kids of that age and adults is to go to a play at Park Square theatre in the historic "hamm building" on the pedestrian mall between 6th and 7th streets in downtown St. Paul. http://www.parksquaretheatre.org/studentMatinees.html or http://www.parksquaretheatre.org As well as their regular evening performances for adults, they also put on shows for kids as "student matinees" "The Diary of Anne Frank" will be playing this spring in the matinees. Not too expensive, and Absolute top notch quality acting at this theater.
Your kids might make you stop on the way for some Popcorn and sweets at the Candyland store. http://www.candylandstore.com/
Another great little st. paul theatre is the "loading dock" in the renaissance box building over on Sibley and 9th, it is rented to several different theater companies. More for adults, but for a local theater schedule, check out http://www.iveyawards.com/
Maybe not hugely interesting for kids, but Great Northern "empire builder" tycoon, James J. Hill's mansion is still there on Summit Avenue and open for tours. The only negative is that they don't have the furniture and furnishings preserved, but it's still pretty cool in my view. http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jjhh/hill.html There is also the state capitol building. http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/msc/
If you do want to venture over to Minneapolis, I recommend the excellent Minneapolis Institute of Arts, http://www.artsmia.org/ which is housed in the same building as the respected Minnesota Children's' theatre http://www.childrenstheatre.org It would be a good double dip. The institute is comparable in quality to the Chicago Institute of arts, and in my opinion is well worth the trip for all ages and a good education. I personally would much rather go there than the "Walker" modern art museum with it's high-minded arty stuff. If you do want to use the Light-rail line or the bus system, check out http://www.metrotransit.org/ Besides the well known mall of america on the line,with it's shopping and amusement park, You might want to get off at the minnehaha falls station. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnehaha_Falls I really think the falls are quite beautiful and more impressive in person than the pictures can show. I have enjoyed this park several times. You can walk over a bridge and look down, or walk down the stairs and look up at the waterfalls. There are also walking paths along the creek all the way back to where it runs into the Mississippi, where, in view, is a lock and dam.(although you can't walk to the lock) Further down the Light-rail line in downtown Minneapolis, you might want to get off at the Metrodome station, if not for a Twins baseball game, then a walk to the "Mill city Museum" http://www.millcitymuseum.org/ I think this would be interesting to both kids and adults. It used to be a big flour mill and is right next to what is probably the signature spot of Minneapolis, in St. Anthony falls, the stone arch bridge, the lock and dam, and now the "Guthrie theatre" http://www.guthrietheater.org/ There also is a good and pretty inexpensive chain restaurant on the walk in between the LRT station and the museum called the "old spaghetti factory", http://www.osf.com that I think both kids and adults would like. Probably would be more for adults, but the next stations downtown on the LRT are the nicollett mall with it's shopping, and eating , and the warehouse district with nightlife and the target center arena. If the trip isn't till the heat of summer, you might want to check out a St. Paul saints minor league baseball game at midway stadium. They really tailor things towards kids, and if you enjoy corny minor-league antics, then it might be fun. There also is a very busy main-line railroad just past the outfield fences, and a major rail yard behind home-plate, if you like to watch trains during the game. http://saintsbaseball.com/
In conclusion, it's not Chicago!!! Chicago is a great, great world-class city, but there still is a lot of fun to be had close to my home in St. Paul and I think it would be a fun trip.
Posts: 38 | Registered: Dec 2006
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A tip of the hat to musicfan, whose knowledge of my hometown is superior to mine.
Depending on when spring break is, you could run into some full hotels Wed-Sat. Check well ahead. The high school sports state tournaments pretty much cover every weekend in March, and the Twin Cities is where the folks from outstate play and stay. The St. Paul skyways and streets between games are filled with harmless rowdiness and immature behavior.
One of the major rules of Minnesota lore is that there will always be at least one major snowstorm to disrupt a tournament. March is our snowiest month.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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Thanks musicfan for the awesome post! Based on everything you wrote, I think we could have a lot of fun in St Paul. I will definately take them to the candy store, the James Hill mansion, and the Anne Frank play. On to researching hotels. Thanks for the links. I wish I knew how to put them is my post like that!
Since we'll be riding the Empire Builder, I really want to enjoy the special menu on that route. Will it be hard to get a table if we're just coach passengers? Any recommendations for the dinner entree?
Posts: 72 | From: Illinois | Registered: Apr 2005
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