Day 17 - July 18, 2020

Amber DeBono
Jul 19, 2020
3 min read

Minneapolis didn't get much better today. It's becoming hotter and more humid...which makes doing outside activities less appealing.

We started out at Paisley Park - which is where Prince lived and recorded music. As I've been told by others, the outside is pretty disappointing and a reservation for a tour is required. It's very industrial looking and isn't well-kept. We just took a picture and moved on.

Next, we headed to the Mall of America which was an interesting visit just to see how COVID has affected our biggest mall. There were very few people and I would guess around 60% of people were wearing masks. All the amusement park rides were closed. A social distanced line and a temperature reading was required to enter the Apple store. Most stores were open and only a few required masks - including the Amazon store that has some of the highest rated products from their website. My favorite part was the Lego Store, which included a life-size girl wearing a mask.

After that, we visited Minnehaha Falls. I think one of the most annoying aspects of Minneapolis is the need to pay for parking everywhere - even at this park that was quite a distance from downtown. We just took turns looking at the falls because we just wanted to see it for a few seconds. After that, we relented and paid for parking at the Sculpture Garden. Four bucks to park for about a 20-minute walk around the garden - which had some really neat sculptures. Maybe it's easier to think of it as a $2 entrance fee.

After that, we stopped by the house from Purple Rain, a movie I clearly remember having to close my eyes to when I watched it as a kid. There really isn't anything to clearly show that the house was from that movie, although someone left some stuffed animals in front of the house.

Next, we ordered some pierogies at Kramarczuk (a spot it seems Guy Fieri also enjoyed) and took them to St. Paul where we got vegetarian keke and a sambusa at the Afro Deli. We met some nice folks who also enjoyed the Afro Deli - a retired couple with their son who is a rapper named Young Light. We checked out his music on YouTube - he's a Gospel rapper - interesting! We found St. Paul a little more approachable than Minneapolis.

We headed to Milwaukee around 2 pm and made two stops for beers: Modicum Brewing in Altoona, WI and Next Door in Madison, WI. Beers at both placed were good. We also ordered some cheese curds at Next Door, because it was about time we ate some cheese in Wisconsin! It was gooey and delicious! During the drive, we listened to music that featured Wisconsin or Milwaukee in the title - we found some interesting tunes!

As soon as we saw the Milwaukee skyline, we knew we would like it better than Minneapolis. The area near our hotel (Old World 3rd Street) is quite walkable with lots of restaurants and shops. We ate at Mader's "Deer Garden" and Ian was in heaven. He ordered the German Sampler which included some of his favorites like sauerbraten. They give you free pretzel bread which was doughy and perfectly salted - the service was also excellent (and masked). In fact, most people in downtown Milwaukee were wearing masks - I'd say about 60-70%.

Tonight, we are staying at the fanciest hotel so far - the Hyatt Regency. Fortunately, the price was not fancy at $55 + tax. This is the first time we've seen a sticker on the door jam to indicate no one has entered the room since it was cleaned. They also do not allow anyone to enter without a room key or a reservation.

Tomorrow, we will be heading to Louisville, KY with a stop for some pizza in Chicago. This will be the last night of our road trip adventure!

Paisley Park - Minneapolis, MN