Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota was part of our road trip through USA and Canada. We had some very dear friends who lived there and we hadn’t seen them for 25 years after they left Hong Kong! Many people asked us why we were visiting Minneapolis as they said there’s not much there! However I enjoyed every minute of our three day stay there thanks to Michelle and Jon who were very good guides.

We chose to stay at the Residence Inn by Marriott because this was very near to where they lived. I can’t say I was very impressed by this hotel for the price we paid, I thought the rooms could have had a good clean to start!

Our first morning was spent at the wonderful Mall of America, Anthony’s dream come true! Unfortunately we did only have a morning there as in the afternoon we would be exploring the town. We couldn’t believe our eyes at the size of the place, it even has a theme park in the middle!

After we had spent the morning there, Michelle and Jon picked us up and took us around the town. I really enjoyed seeing the lakes and river and the Stone Bridge that crosses the river.

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Minneapolis was full of surprises especially the grand old houses that stand on the banks of the lakes, very impressive.

The next day we were going boating across the river to another State! Lake Pepin, Wisconsin. We would travel along the Mississippi River in Jon’s boat. We had a fabulous lunch here at The Pickle Factory.

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After lunch we had a quick walk around the cute little town of Pepin.

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I felt like I was stepping back in time walking around the town looking at all the old weatherboard houses.

That same day we also drove up to an old farm that Michelle and Jon owned and went for a fairly long walk around the property.

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That was really all we had time for in Minneapolis, just a whistle stop tour and then we were off on our travels again. We flew to San Francisco later that evening.

Monteray

We had only one night in Monterey but really managed to make the most of the next day. This small town was everything I had imagined and more, having read so many books about it. We stayed right in the centre and had dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf.

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Not before we came across this Porsche show though!

Gourmet dinner with plenty of wine and a martini to finish

We finished the night at a wonderful jazz bar with a live band and of course more cocktails.

17 Mile Drive

The next day we did the 17 mile drive and managed to take wrong turnings a few times and ended up going back on ourselves, it was confusing to say the least. We certainly stopped a few times to get our bearings and of course take plenty of photos. We ended up having lunch at The Inn at Spanish Bay overlooking the famous Links golf course.

This drive is a scenic road through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula. On the drive you will see huge mansions of the rich and famous and golf courses.

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I felt we could have spent so much longer looking around and going down different routes, but time was ticking by and we were due in San Francisco later that day. A place to revisit in the future.

Our road trip ended up in San Francisco where we spent four fabulous days.