Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Fun places within 12 hour drive of Twin Cities?
DH and I are trying to come up with fun ideas for an anniversary vacation and feeling kind of uninspired. We want to stay within a 12 hour drive of the Twin Cities. We like being outdoors, hiking, biking, being on a lake, etc. Cities, museums, shopping and other touristy things are okay in very small doses.
So far on our list are camping on the Apostle Islands, chartering a yacht to sail around the Apostle Islands or going to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and charter a yacht for a day from Chicago.
We'd like to go somewhere we haven't been before so that eliminates the standard up north Minnesota destinations, Michigan's UP, Bayfield/Madeline Island, Mount Rushmore/Black Hills, St. Louis and Memphis.
Any other fun ideas?
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Re: Fun places within 12 hour drive of Twin Cities?
Do you have a passport? (Do you need one to get in to Canada...?)
Shoot. I was thinking Banff but it's 22 hours. I honestly had no idea where it was until I just mapped it! Montreal is also 22 hours. Shoot.
eta: Would either of you feel comfortable driving a big boat? My family has rented houseboats on Rainy Lake before and it's been awesome. Lots of nature, camping, hiking, swimming... SO relaxing!!! Maybe it's too rustic? http://www.rainylakehouseboats.com/fleet/honey.html
I would loooove to go to Banff but DH won't have enough vacation time for that plus some other things we have planned.
I hadn't thought of renting a houseboat. That sounds like a ton of fun and I'll definitely add it to the list and see what DH thinks. Thanks.
It's not too rustic. We camp and sleeping in a boat can't be any more rustic than that.
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
My BFF just took a vacation to IL/IA (right on the border, I think) and went "Geode Hunting" - - - they stayed at a place that has a nice cabin and then the owner takes you out to find the geodes, then I believe he cuts what you find. It looked pretty fun and different . . .
Google "Geode cabin Illinois" (or Iowa) and there seems to be a good amount of options - state parks, hiking, lakes, etc.
This is what I was going to suggest. I think it's about a 10-11 hr drive so not too bad. There's tons of stuff to do in the Ozarks in the summer. There's lakes and lots of outdoorsy stuff as well as shopping, shows, entertainment, etc. I've stayed at Lake of the Ozarks before and went parasailing. That was awesome.
I'm going to second Lake of the Ozarks. Beautiful area and lots to do.
I had no idea the Ozarks were so close. That would be fun, too! Maybe I need to pull up google maps and just test driving distances. Hmm.
I had to google goede to find out what it was. Those look very cool but I don't know if I have the patience to look for them!
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
What about Winnipeg?
Also, Theodore Roosevelt NP in western ND is supposed to be one of the most underrated in the country - it gets rave reviews. Is that within 12 hours?
I've heard Door County is fun, good hiking, biking, food etc. Though a little touristy and I think it can be pricey in the summer.
We went to Kansas City last summer for vacation and had a blast. GREAT bbq, good shopping, good museums, good music. We went down there for the Twins / Royals series but only went to one game becuase we were having so much fun just playing and exploring there.
We went last year and loved it! We stayed in Munising and made our way to St. Ignace, up to Sault Ste. Marie and across to the Porkies. Pictured Rocks is gorgeous. My fave was the Porkies. We will definitely go back there someday but we really want to go somewhere new for this trip. On a side note, it was kind of sad to see so many stores closed. The area must have been hit hard with the recession.
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Can you tell me more? What were some of your favorite places? Did you go to any good blues clubs or was it mostly jazz?
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Nashville, Indiana.
Yes. I did just type NASHVILLE, INDIANA.
It's a small artists' colony and it's a gorgeous drive once you get about 10 miles south of Indianapolis. You'd never know how hilly Indiana actually is. They have maps of artist's homes, studios, etc... for you to take tours and stop in and see what they're doing. There's also bed and breakfasts, inns, etc.. (Bloomington, Indiana isn't that far away either and there's plenty to do there too!) and my favorite parts of it are always the antique places, flea markets and farmer's markets.
Also - I've made the drive from Nashville, IN to Minneapolis, MN myself before and it's long but it's really not that bad. Louisville, KY is only an hour and a half from Nashville, IN.
I never knew there was a Nashville, Indiana.
Thanks for all the great ideas!
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Sorry about that. It would help if I could read.
We stayed at the Intercontinental on the Plaza, it was a gorgeous hotel with an awesome pool. First night there we went to dinner somewhere mediocre on the plaza, I don't even remember the name, and just barhopped around. There is also really good shopping on the Plaza, and a couple of chain restaurants like Cheesecake factory. There are good biking and running trails as well.
We went to 8th and Vine for blues and the museums around there.
We tried to do a Boulevard Brewery tour but didn't make reservations early enough. Its really pretty though, and the tours are supposed to be super fun. If you go def. make a reservation and do a tour! The WWII museum was also great.
We had BBQ at Oklahoma Joes (LOOOOONG line, not sure if it was worth the wait for the food, but the experience was cool), Jack Stacks (commercialized) and Gates (AMAZING, hands down my favorite!)
The drive down wasn't too bad, and you go through the Bridges of Madison County, which was kinda neat.
We just back from Kansas City - great bbq!
We have stayed at the Intercontinental - nice, good pool. This time we stayed at the Sheraton Suites which also really nice. I rec Jack Stack for dinner - great food.
I can't believe someone suggested Nashville IN! That's where my family lives! It is great, it is so beautiful there - google Brown County State Park. You can stay in an amazing cabin and hike. Shop all the neat little shops intown or hit up the flea markets. Indianapolis, Louisville, and Cincinnati are all an 1 hr so away. I drive there a couple times per yr - it's probably 11 hrs - not too bad a drive, you can even drive thru Chicago and do a pit stop there.
Also rec Chicago - tons of stuff to do!