The Prince Tribute Mural is absolutely beautiful and easy to find, great free parking. Its located…read moreoutside of the Chanhassen cinema. The mural is very large and stunning. Great photo opportunity, the view is clear and unobstructed for your pics! The artist really did a detailed job of the mural. Tip: I actually mapped all the murals out before visiting, this will make your mural Prince mural journey more enjoyable.

Beautiful mural, my absolute favorite just minutes from Paisley Park. I've come to see it for 7…read moreyears, the first not long after Prince passed away and the muralist had traveled from New Zealand to paint it. It's stunning! I truly hope it's not removed once the new development is erected.

Crossing the corner near the Bde Maka Ska Park at Lake Street, this striking sculpture is certainly…read moreeye catching. About six feel tall, it consists of two pieces of stone that are polished on some edges and rough on others. Thankfully, there's a caption. It reads, "Community Vessel by Philip Rickey. Created in 2000, restored in 2007 with assistance from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. This site is an artwork comprised of stone sculptures nestled among trees, shrubs and grasses, creating an abstract outdoor room or vessel for people to sit and enjoy the view at Lake Calhoun [the earlier name of Bde Maka Ska Lake]." "This site was restored in 2007, the restoration was undertaken, in part, to address problematic water runoff, which is now funneled underground. New plants were chosen for their heaniness [sic], drought tolerance and ability to absorb water. These measures will ensure less water runs into Lake Calhoun, reducing lake pollution and making it cleaner for everyone to enjoy." [Review 17868 overall - 98 in Minnesota - 1389 of 2022.]

This mural was painted on the side of a parking garage in the heart of downtown Minneapolis near…read morethe Target Center. It is the work of local artist Reggie LeFlore intended to commemorate the X Games' three-year tenure in downtown Minneapolis. The mural was commissioned by the X Games, Meet Minneapolis and Hennepin Theatre Trust, in conjunction with the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery. It is in great shape, but was only completed in 2021. The mural depicts a diverse group of five kids that include a White male teen , an Asian male teen, two Black male teens and a Muslim female teen wearing a hijab. All the kids are holding skateboards and are against a blue background. The Asian teen has a large red X behind him, representing the X Games. To his left is a small cityscape. The younger black kid is holding up his skateboard, and if you look closely, you can see a cityscape in it. It is artistically a nice mural and has a positive vibe to it. It is eye catching and I really like it. The art work is very detailed. It almost looks like a picture. I am not positive, but I would not be surprised if it was not based off of a photo. I love the way the colors that LeFlore uses compliments each other. He really did an awesome job. There is metered street parking within a reasonable walking distance that will allow you to park and get a closer look. You could also park in the garage that the mural is painted on, but it will cost you more than a meter, So I suggest parking on the street. Anyway, as with most murals that I have visited and reviewed, this is not a very long stop. I was there less than 5 minutes. You may want to consider planning out additional stops at many of the other murals in the area or making this stop part of a larger itinerary to maximize your time and trip.

The Bartz Snow Sculpture is so incredibly cool. They have a pretty good FB page and they are on the…read more'gram, so please check that out. Three brothers with a snow day built a puffer fish. The following year, they went a little bigger. They started collecting money to donate for keeping the ocean water clean. They caught the attention of ELLEN. ELLEN LOVES THE BARTZ BROTHERS. I guess I should have led with that. Anyway, its just a normal neighborhood. It's worth the drive to see in person. You wont stay long, so maybe connect it with another outing somewhat neary by. Will definitely impress all ages.

This is a late review. We went in January of 2020 for the first time. It was pretty cool, proceeds…read morego to their choice of organization, which is nice. A decent activity for families. They had ways you could donate via Venmo and other ways. Found them on Facebook. The sculpture was a whale and for $25 the whale would blow steam while you took pictures.

I was out for a run while in town for a conference....I was looking for a Yelp entry for the…read moreMinneapolis Diagonal Trail (which I was running on) but couldn't find one so I searched "park" and the Lookout came up. Since it was on my way back to my hotel from the running trail, I figured I'd take a look. I will say if you're running up from New Brighton Blvd and you're a husky guy like me, the hill upon which the Lookout sits seems pretty impressive. If you drive up, you might not even notice it. But once you huff and puff your way there, you're rewarded with a lovely skyline view. In this instance, the view is worth the climb. This is right across the street from a cemetery and there's a nice path along this road - Ridgeway Pkwy -as well as St. Anthony's Blvd. Those two road form the two legs of an approximate right triangle with the Minneapolis Diagonal Trail making up the hypotenuse. It's a nice, level, asphalt path almost all the way around (a little section is concrete) and you do get a little elevation change in so if you want a nice run, about three miles, do that loop and reward yourself with the beautiful view at the end.

This is honestly the most spiritually guided place I have ever been to in this city. Never before…read morehas a view made me think of our accomplishments as man both large, and small at the very same time. From this hill where you can park your vehicle (be aware that you should never actually leave it there), you can look out and see the entire valley containing downtown Minneapolis, North East, and North. It is truly an experience that warrants mentioning, especially on a site like this! There is a walking trail through here that gets a decent amount of traffic, and there are three benches lining the hill side so you can also sit and have a good look. One of my favorite memories from here... The night my ex and I first professed our love for one another, I had parked my car at the very far right spot so as to see the entire downtown skyline lit up. We watched as a thunderstorm rolled across South Minneapolis that never quite reached the northern edge. With my moon-roof open we could smell the rain, and hear the thunder, and the lightning show against the buildings was spectacular!!! It is also a great place to come and watch 4th of July fireworks!!! But get here early... as the years have gone by, more and more people seem to be discovering this place!

Hard to believe in the 1980s Prince had a single "Uptown" which was about an ideal place .. this…read moretown called "Uptown" in Minneapolis. It is so sad that it is no longer the vibrant area in Minneapolis and it was not so long ago it used to be the "It" place overflowing with retail, restaurants, clubs, theaters , art and greenery. So sad that there's been a gradual demise over the last few years... the final punch being COVID and the George Floyd Protests in 2020. Today, it feels like a ghost town.

Much better than UPStown, where a bunch of men in brown drive trucks like maniacs and throw boxes…read moreat you unless you actually want a box in which case you never see said box. Other than having a very questionable Boba shop with amazing murals on the side of it - one of which is of Prince, and spectacular - where they threw away a $100 pair of shoes that belonged to Barbie after we left them in here a couple of days instead of saving them for us even though I was calling them everyday..... grrr... but other than that I've had good experiences in Uptown. Traffic around here along Lake Avenue can be really awful but at the same time there are some great businesses here, some great ethnic stuff and tons of hipsters and it's just a really lovely place to wander around and hang out - but watch out that you don't end up walking around here in Winter which lasts 512 months a year around here. Lovely girls working at the tanning salon. Great people at the lovely Vietnamese shop I tried. All kinds of other cool things to check out. There's also a really cool 24-hour diner in these parts. So girl, come here with me and we can be Uptown Girls together. When we know what we want with our time. When we wake up and make up our minds.

It's been too many years since I saw the old area of WBL. Much has changed for the better…read more Preserved old buildings, cute and sometime quaint shops. Easy walking. Driving can be tricky in these towns as they have to reconfigure and cut off formerly through streets to slow down traffic. There is amazingly plenty of free parking through town. This town is ideal for taking a self guided walking tour and end up at the lake.

Earlier this month, I dropped by White Bear Lake (WBL), the city, to check out a bunch of food…read moretrucks at Cub Foods. I was so pleased to see a nice assortment of food trucks and folks dropping by to support them and their good eats. What struck me when I arrived in WBL was the water tower. Most are rather standard with the city or town's name on it. This tower is one of the nicer ones. It has a white bear casually popping his head above water. I love it! You can basically see this tower from anywhere in the city. The city is named after the actual lake, which is one of the larger lakes in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. This city has a lot of lakes. In the summertime, sailboat-riding and tubing are popular. In the wintertime, the lakes freeze. As a result, activities such as ice fishing, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing are popular. I've been told that I need to drop by on a Thursday night. There's a Marketfest festival that happens every Thursday night in downtown WBL that features food trucks and games for all ages. It sounds perfect! I had a good introduction to WBL. I will return to discover more. (76)

Setting for the book "Lake Water For Chocolate", and I hope it's not too late to write this review…read moreof Lake Street. I also hope it's not too choco-late. Minneapolis is a hell of a city and a good City for food. I think it's underrated as a city in general, but for food people actually realize that it is a pretty special place. It's sort of in the same school as Detroit and Chicago and Milwaukee in this regard, with Chicago being the granddaddy and standard-bearer, and the others being exceptional if somewhat smaller. Buffalo and Cleveland could also be considered in this group. All of them lakeside, brutally cold Great Lakes cities and all of them with incredible ethnic food choices as well as amazing and unique American food. Lake Street is one of the crown jewels of the MPLS scene. It has masses of great little ethnic places to eat and the two shining examples of what Minneapolis has been and can be are along this street. The first is the Mercato Central which is a real and amazing Latin food court with every kind of Mexican and Salvadorian shop you can imagine. It's very special and knowing some Spanish will help you a lot in here. It's been around for a long time. It is to the Latin Community what the Hmong Town Center is to the Vietnamese. Then there is the Midtown Global Market. This is much more geared towards hipsters and tourists and college kids and so-called Foodies. It's a little bit artificial but still contains a lot of cool stuff. Many of the things in here are actually Minneapolis area restaurants that decided to have an additional stall in here. There are some gems hidden amongst the cliches. Both markets are spectacular and must be visited. Almost gave it 4 stars because of traffic issues in the Midtown area, so hopefully they'll figure that out. Put in some roundabouts or something. Traffic circles, for the uninitiated. Now I'm Lake for my next review, and then I have to meet Barbie, who says she wants to show me her Lake, so I can sample her Lake's-treat.

My favorite street in the entire Twin Cities. I especially like East Lake Street for its…read morehigh-density of Mexican restaurants, but all of Lake Street is fine by me. I would never live more than walking-distance away because I have everything I need right in my own neighborhood.