OK, I’m about to say something that is going to annoy some people. Here goes. Minneapolis is boring. (Nope, I definitely don’t have the “Minnesota nice” gene.) Yes, yes, I know, there are some world class things to do and see (ok, one, the Walker Sculpture Garden). And, yes, Minneapolis has some of the best musical venues in the world (First Avenue, I’m talking about you). And, yes, it has nice parks and bike paths. And, yes, we have friends who live there that make it worth a visit (hi Pam and Lance!). But, overall, it is a pretty boring city. So, how did we fill two days?

Well, we started off by going to the Como Park Conservatory (which is actually in St. Paul). The Como Park Conservatory is inside the zoo, and I implore you not to go to the zoo — it is one of the most miserable little zoos in the country. Please, please, don’t go. But, parts of the conservatory are quite nice. The Japanese Garden is stunning. It was created by a landscaper designer in Nagasaki using plants and trees that could thrive in Minnesota. It truly was beautiful.

And the water garden was amazing. Beautiful flowers and very cool lily pads. There were even pitcher plants.

We (or, more accurately, I) tried the mimosa bar at Hell’s Kitchen. Now, the Hell’s Kitchen in Minneapolis has absolutely no relationship to Gordan Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen and, apparently, opened its doors before Ramsay even conceived of his Hell’s Kitchen. So, don’t go thinking you might spot him. You won’t. And, don’t go thinking you are going to get any sort of upscale food. You aren’t. What you are going to get is some delicious and horribly unhealthy breakfast food along with the most amazing mimosa and Bloody Mary bar ever. They have an entire room devoted to all the fixings for the drinks and, honestly, you could make an entire meal out of either the mimosa or the Bloody Mary. The only rules are: (1) no snacking while you build your beverage; (2) you have to stick with the ingredients designated for your drink, so no bacon with my mimosa because that was a Bloody Mary fixing; and (3) everything has to fit in or on your glass. We saw some amazing engineering going on to comply with that third rule . . . .

We wandered around and found the brand new Prince mural. Neither of us was particularly impressed by it.

We had some of the best cider ever at Minneapolis Cider Co. Their blackberry ginger cider is to die for.

And, we took advantage of the stupidity of certain (ahem, Republican) Minnesota legislators. Did you know they inadvertently legalized edibles/beverages as of this summer? Yep, they did. And, lots of the brew pubs now sell THC infused beverages.

We, of course, gave one a try. When in Rome, right?