Don’t let a little rain keep you in your hotel room. There are plenty of activities (that don’t involve shopping) to keep you busy indoors. Here are some ideas.
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Go bowling
Bowling alleys are open all day, every day. Memory Lanes and Bryant Lake Bowl, where hipsters and Big Lebowski fans hang out, and neighborhood spots like Ranham Bowling Center (which has to be the winner of the best cheap bowling alley) have a certain charm. As a bonus, Ranham is also in the basement of the same building as The Nook Bar with the best Juicy Lucy burger in St. Paul.
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Take a look at a museum or gallery
The Minneapolis Institute of Art is huge, free, peaceful, and almost overwhelming with the number and variety of ancient and modern art and objects, literally from all over the world. For parents with children, there is also a small playroom and bags of space to run around, even if your little one is still too young to really appreciate art.
Or how about visiting the Textile Center in Minneapolis? There are no fussy floral prints here. With galleries of all kinds of textile arts, you can admire textiles or get inspiration for your next craft project.
The Minnesota Children’s Museum is a classic rainy day destination and therefore gets crowded on bad weather days. Entry is expensive at $ 9.50 per human over 1, but a membership is an excellent value. $ 95 welcomes your whole family for a year and if you are in or near St. Paul and have young children, you are sure to get your money’s worth several times over.
The Bell Museum of Natural History is another favorite for young children. The touch and feel room can keep most little ones entertained for hours, as long as Mom or Dad are not afraid of the spiders, snakes, and the other critters that also live there. (Please note that the Bell Museum is currently closed as a new location was built and reopened in 2018.
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Visit a conservatory or greenhouse
The bucolic image of fall, with cool days and scarlet leaves, cheerful scarves not really necessary, and hot apple cider? Sadly, the rain hits the beautiful leaves on the trees and turns them into silt that fills up in sewers and has to be raked and collected.
You can see many attractive plants that someone else cleans afterwards when they move to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in Como Park. The steel and glass building is beautiful and the rain sounds amazing on the glass, making it even more like the rainforest.
In Minneapolis, the greenhouse in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is smaller than the one in Como Park, but just as tropical, also free, and has a gigantic glass fish designed by Frank Gehry. You can almost see some of the outdoor artwork in the Sculpture Garden from the greenhouse, but you really need to go paddling in the mud to see most of them. The Walker Art Center across the road is a much better bet for art when it’s raining.
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Take some pictures
Both of the above locations are great locations for photographers. It doesn’t matter if you have an SLR camera or a point-and-shoot model. Rain, especially combined with the light we receive in the fall, can make for spectacular photos. The reflections of shiny buildings and water and images of the sky and clouds should inspire you.
Downtown Minneapolis, with its silver skyscrapers and blue Guthrie Theater, the lakes and the Mississippi River are obvious candidates, but if any of that fall foliage remains, it looks more intense after the rain, and when shooting sporting events on the air. Free in a downpour athletes look even more heroic, whether you have tickets to see the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium or the star of the sport is your son at his Saturday morning soccer game at the local park. .
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Stroll the Midtown Global Market
Shops, boutiques and markets
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It’s always fun to sail alone or bring your family here with all the cool shops and restaurants. During the week it is a good place to bring the kids and enjoy the market play area. Starting this Wednesday, the Midtown Global Market celebrates its regular Wednesday through Wednesday morning for toddlers from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with entertainment, crafts and activities, and a free kid’s meal with the purchase of an adult meal at the participating restaurants.
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Take the kids to a toy store
Local toy stores often welcome children with in-store events and activities, in the hopes that the children will refuse to leave without something new. Creative Kidstuff, the local chain, has several stores and a busy calendar of events in each.
Every weekday, the Choo Choo Bob Train Store in St. Paul has six Thomas the Train tables and is happy to welcome anyone who wants to play with them. As a bonus, it’s almost next to Izzy’s Ice Cream.
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Get a caffeine kick
Cafes can be a great place to hang out, and if you have small ones, there are shops with game rooms to entertain the kids. Sovereign Grounds in Minneapolis and Java Train in St. Paul are two favorites with local parents.
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Comer Pho
A bowl of pho, with steaming broth filled with spicy herbs and seasonings, meat or wontons, and stuffed noodles, is probably the best comfort food for a rainy day. Trieu Chau is one of several Vietnamese restaurants on the west end of University Avenue in St. Paul. Trieu Chau serves an excellent (in size and taste) plate of pho (and many other delicious dishes) at a bargain price and with friendly service.
