Guest From Far Away Land

She won't really be my guest other than a day or two, but DD#1's bestie from the UK will be coming for a week in April. Being the smart negotiator that she is, my daughter will be able to take most of the week off while her friend is here, but being three hours away from the cities, they will spend a few days bunking at my house while exploring the big metropolis of Minneapolis and St Paul. While R is very down to earth kind of gal, and this is not her first trip to the US,  both DD#1 and I are wondering how to entertain and host a girl who has the whole city of London at her door step. If she was coming in the heart of summer, we'd quadruple the ideas, but being still April, weather is a crap shoot. R wants to take in the real American experience, so we are going with that. Let me practice on all of you, a few of the  ideas.

Mall of America has over 500 stores, over 50 restaurants, and now the new Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. Let's not forget the indoor theme park, Nickelodeon Universe. Oh yeah.  She has Harrods, Camden Market, and Harry Potter World. Well, this is what we got. 

Minnesota is the state of hockey so what would be better than taking her to a Minnesota Wild game? On her wish list is to wear a jersey, drink a beer, and get rowdy with the hockey crowd. Are the British known for being crazy fans at sporting events? 


Brewery Tour options are more abundant than ever with the addition of a few craft brewing companies. The standby in our general area is the Leinenkugel's  tour. I love the Honeyweiss, but they have a variety. They will want to head though to Northeast Minneapolis to visit another friend they went to school with in London, and pay a visit to the Surly Brewing. This place has some terrific food. There's a fair number of vineyards in the St Croix River valley, so they could stop off on route from her new place to ours-just a sip and spit mind you.

The Twin Cities does boast some arts and cultural experiences so there is a list of museums to wander. One of our favorites, the Walker, a modern and avaunt guard space with a specif area dedicated to film-perfect for a couple film makers. It boasts the outdoor sculpture garden with the famous Cherry and Spoon. 


The Minneapolis Institute of Art or MIA as they now are officially known as has an impressive collection, and rumor has it they might be sporting a few Van Gogh's this spring on loan. Then on the St Paul side of things, the Minnesota Science Museum and Minnesota History Center are great afternoons, with some not so bad eatery options in the slowly re-surging downtown area. 

The mid west is no Las Vegas, but with the abundance of Tribal run casino's, complete with wrap around entertainment venues, within an hour in any direction they can hit a little gaming. Usually there are some B act entertainers with concerts or shows they could probably nab tickets to as well. 

 I'm not sure what they will do with the rest of their week, but these few days should be pretty packed. Last, but not least, DD#1 wants me to host a little gathering while R is visiting.  Good food, good drinks, and most importantly good people-that's what my daughter really wants to show her friend.

Where the besties met.