We didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing in Minnesota since we were mainly there to visit with Grandma and other family, but we did find time to see some historic places in St. Paul, the biggest mall in the country, and some beautiful nature in Wisconsin.
The Twin Cities
St. Paul (pop. 287,000) and Minneapolis (pop. 377,000) are right next to each other and known as the Twin Cities. According to Wikipedia, there has been a fierce rivalry between the two since the beginning with regard to business, architecture and sports. The baseball team had to be named the Minnesota Twins (rather than Minneapolis or St. Paul Somethings) in order to help everyone get along.
In general, St. Paul is the more historic of the two cities and Minneapolis is more modern and cosmopolitan. We didn't get to see much of Minneapolis - only glimpses from the road as we drove over there to visit Lonna, Kim and Kris - but it looked like a nice city. Since Grandma lives right in the heart of St. Paul, we spent a few hours seeing the sights the day after we arrived. Below are the highlights.
St. Paul
Our first stop was the Minnesota State Capitol, built in 1907. We didn't go inside.
The Minnesota History Center opened in 1992 near the Capitol. It was an interesting museum showcasing Minnesota's 100 greatest contributions to the world plus other local artifacts.
