Traveling to Minneapolis for first time
 

I'll be traveling, by air, to Minneapolis July 14-21, 2012 for a NALC convention (mail man/USPS). I'll be w/ 2 other reps from our Willow Grove office. This is our first time to Minneapolis, MN and know about the mall of america, but we are wondering of other places/things of interest to visit while there. We are also looking for GOOD places to eat that are reasonably priced. Not looking for fast food or greasy spoon/diners but more real home cooking AND local speciality cusine that we can't get here in the Phila area.
i guess the best example I can give of what I'm asking is if someone were to come to the Phila area I would suggest some places to eat & not eat in the area, and where to get some good pizza or a real cheese steak, as well as some of the historical things you may want to visit in the greater Phila area other than the normal Old Philadelphia things like City Hall, Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's home, The Mint etc. I'd recomend those as well though.
Thanks in advance for the info and the more detailed the better. I can never have too much information.

Hello Brian,

Here is an early Welcome to MN. I am not a regular eat at restaurants type of person but if you really want to try something "local" you need to hunt down a place to have Lutefisk. I will see what I can find out before your trip. That would be an extreme thing to try by the way.

Thanks any one else have suggestions???

Should have come a few months ago, and done a polar bear plunge...

Lots of shops and the like in uptown, even an oldschool 25 cent arcade (called the rusty quarter). Mall of America, and the new twins stadium. Make a trip to a lake, catch a muskie or a northern.

Well I need a little more info before I can make suggestions. Are you renting a car? If not suburb are you going to be in? How old is your group? (many things for many different ages) Once I know the above info I should be able to help some.

USPS convention in Minn,MN. 3 married adult males over 40 yo. Flying in, public transportation, rental for 1 or 2 days if/as needed to see things outside of twin city area, staying in Minn near convention area.

Ok you are probably staying in downtown, Take one night and just walk down there, Hennepin Avenue is the main drag busy busy place. The twins will be playing july 14-21 at home. They play oakland or baltimore depending on the day. Twins Schedule | twinsbaseball.com: Schedule. Its a 2-3 yo stadium so if you baseball fans I would suggest checking it out. Not sure about local cuisine that you don't have in PA but 2 blocks from the convention center off grant and nicollet mall is a japanese steakhouse, 30 bucks a plate roughly, they cook on a griddle right in front of you. Ichiban : Minneapolis. Most places are pretty expensive downtown to eat but a few that are reasonable with good food. J.D. Hoyts, J.D. Hoyt's Supper Club - Steakhouse, Restaurant, Chop House. Here is a list of some different cuisines but you have to go to there website for pricing, some are expensive 60-70 bucks a plate, Cool Restaurants in Downtown Minneapolis | eHow.com . If you wants some good brews a lot of the places downtown have some local ale's , rock bottom brewery, britt's pub , there are a lot on Nicollet Mall which starts 2 blocks west of the convention center and goes north for 12 blocks or so. If you guys like cars the Car Craft Nationals are held at the fairgrounds about 5 or so miles east of where you are staying. Full Coverage of the 2012 Car Craft Summer Nationals - Car Craft Magazine They usually have close to 4000 cars there. Also on Fridays and Saturdays they usually have live music down on St Anthony Main which would be just north of the river on Hennepin ave, Probably a 16-17 block walk from the convention center. Hope that helps some, if I think of anything else I will let you know.

fogo de chao, for food. If you're a meat eater. It'll be expensive (60ish each), but you'll probably be able to skip the next meal. (it's all you can eat awesomeness).

stop by the sculpture gardens, they are pretty cool.