Monday, January 23, 2023

1 Day In Minneapolis

 

In order to fully appreciate this day I need to go back to February 2020. Hubs and I took a trip to northern Utah for our anniversary. Right out of our resort was this really cool ice castle. My eyes lit up and I announced I was getting tickets for us to go to it. Then disappointment set in when I realized it had closed for the season just an hour before our arrival. I told Hubs that I had to go to that ice castle someday. 

Through a series of ads in 2021, I realized that the same company also does an ice castle in Minnesota, under four hours away from us. It was meant to be. Of course, life is life and it was another two years before we got that chance to go. As part of the mini's Christmas presents, I gave them a trip up the Minneapolis to go to the ice castles. No actual tickets because I didn't want potential weather threats to ruin our chances of going. So last Friday, I bought our tickets for the next day, which happened to be our first choice date (as evident by their hand written Christmas present).

We've gone to Minnesota so much recently that I feel like I know my way around well. The drive up was easy and we arrived to the ice castle right on time. The castle is located in a park north of Minneapolis. There's a bit of walking involved because there's very few close parking spots. Regardless of extra walking, parking and check in were easy. Then we spent the next hour and a half walking through ice, sliding down ice slides, and taking the time to speak with employees about the ice castles. We had a great time. It was well worth the three year wait!

Some of us had bigger issues with the ice bench than the rest of us.

After the castle we made our way to the Mall of America. We hadn't been since prepandemic, so the minis were ecstatic to walk around the mall. Their must stop was the Lego store to build their own mini figures. We also scored deals at Yankee Candle and got Cinnabon as a snack. Then we met family for dinner in the food court. We ate in the North/Central food court and the options are amazing. Sure there's the usual Burger King, Chick Fil A, and Panda Express, but there were also options for sushi, lobster rolls, shawarma, birria tacos, and ramen. Most of us went with the ramen and it was some of the best I've ever had. My ramen loving middle mini informed me we'll have to make the trip up to Minneapolis for lunch in the food court another weekend. I laughed, but I can't say I completely disagree with that!

We highly recommend Ichiddo Ramen.

A long day doing everything we wanted and we were still home by 11 p.m. in our own beds! Kittens were ready for a cuddle and I fell into bed. While it was a quick trip, I love that we're under four hours away whenever we want another day trip to the Twin Cities.