Maryland crab cakes!
So that’s what I’ve been doing wrong! Damn. 
Since I don’t eat seafood, I’m winging it:
Carvers at the Hilton downtown advertise Maryland-style crab cakes
The Sample Room in Nordeast Minneapolis offers (I am told) real good crab cakes
Forepaugh’s in St Paul has 'em
I know there’s more places that serve them
One big problem is the general inferiority complex. This gets compensated for by a plethora of jokes about Wisconsin/Iowa/Dakotas, “our special Minnesota way of doing _____,” and desperate attempts to find “the Minnesota connection” in any news story.
As someone who does theatre, yes, we’ve got lots of small theatres. Most Minnesotans, however, just go to the big theatres where they can show off nice clothes and talk about having a vibrant theatre scene. I am NOT accusing any dopers of this!
Calling the area conservative is mind-boggling (and wrong). but it is very true that you can live here for decades and still be considered “new” to the area.
How does one go about getting invited/included in these 'lil mini-dope-fests?
A question about the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
According to my sweet young friend, the airport has two terminals, the Lindberg Terminal and the Humphrey Terminal. One is in Minneapolis and one is in St. Paul.
Given that I alwasys thought that the two cities were divided by the Mississippi River, and that both terminals are not separated by a river, this made me suspicious.
Can you tell me what is the distinction between the terminals?
And where is the airport located relative to the Twin Cities? (North, south east west Minneapolis or in Bloomington which is nsew will both be acceptable).
We Saint Paulites like that nobody can figure out our roads. It keeps the riff raff out. Our former pro governor commented that the streets were made by drunken Irishman. Some easily offended Swedes who claimed they had Irish blood were mad at him for the comment. But the Saint Paul Irish new better. The Polocks built the roads ya idiot. The Irish worked the railroad. (We took no offense at the drunk comment). We weren’t suprised that that particular governor had little knowledge of Minnesota history.
You don’t need crabby patties, the Waleye is all you’ll need. But as Northwest Airlines main hub, the ocean fish we get is pretty fresh.
If you like blondes, you are in luck. They are everywhere.
It’s a pretty clean city, when compared to other cities in the US. Almost Canadian in it’s cleanliness. But just like any other city, it has some rough spots.
You will live within 5 miles of a lake. Most likely within 2.
Publishing, advertising, banking, and foodstuffs are pretty big. Growing up in the East metro, almost every other kid had a parent that worked at 3M.
Gazelle organizes the dope lunches. lno or Rubes have discussed a happy hour. I just show up and complain.
Bah, the airport’s in Bloomington. Anyone who tells ya different is just falling into the semantic trap of the MAC. They use the same runways, they just pull up to different buildings. In my book, that is ONE airport.
The Mississippi is takes a sideways “S” turn as it flows through town, yet the City borders are fairly straight. It has strange results. West Saint Paul is actualy south of downtown Saint Paul. South Saint Paul, is actually South East of downtown Saint Paul. Make sense? Blame the Polocks!
In Saint Paul, it is possible to live both East and West of the Mississippi. It is possible to live west of the river in Saint Paul and East of the river in Minneapolis. But only in Saint Paul can you live both west and east of the river. Confused? Good! Stay OUt of Saint Paul! (kidding, of course, it’s the nicer of the two cities)
Dammit. If you live on Nicollet Island in Minneapolis, you can live bothe west and eat of the Might Miss at the same time.
I spent 4 years living in the Twin Cities.
I really liked that they had a well-developed nightlife scene. Between Minneapolis, St. Paul and the assorted suburbs, there is a neighborhood for just about any lifestyle you choose. Next to Chicago, it is as cosmopolitan as you will find in the Midwest. But with a moderate drive it can be as common-folk as anywhere in the Midwest. Some of my favorite places in Minneapolis proper are the Loring Park area, the riverfront regions, and the Uptown/Lake Harriet area.
I concur with those that stated that wheras the citizens in general are polite, they’re not renowned for their warmth. That’s an important distinction. But take this with a grain of salt: this is just one person’s experience (who didn’t really try all that hard to socialze himself). Individual experiences will vary.
I had major issues with the traffic and roads. People talk about the streets being alphabetical, but it is implemented inconsistently. It’s alphabetical for a bit, then there will be one or two exceptions and then it gets alphabetical for a while, etc. The fact that the metro area is dotted with lakes and divided by highways makes it necessary to get directions to a place if you don’t know how to get there. Otherwise you’re going to run into instances where your street stops and doesn’t pick up again for blocks across town.
Summers are short (but it gets as hot as most anywhere else). Winters are long. You adapt or leave. Cold weather has never been a problem for me but most people hate it. If you work downtown, however, you can be relieved from having to go outside at all via the “gerbil tubes” that link a great deal of the major downtown buildings.
Also, compared to the other cities I’m familiar with (Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City) The Twin Cities… felt…to me… rather homogonized. I can’t explain how or why exactly, but that is my impression.
The airport is at the southern portion of the metro area, closest to Bloomington, smack dab between the two Twin Cities. (Uh… look at a map.) Bother terminals are near one another, neither are in either city per se. The Humphrey Terminal is tiny little airport, not truly physically connected to the major Lindberg Terminal (which is always under construction).
Although I didn’t enjoy my time living in the Twin Cities, thay may have as much to do with personal situations at the time as much as the cities itself. I can say that in the end I do have a few very close friends there and I LOVE visiting when I can make it back.
Nurse Carmen,
That is what my instincts said. I grew up east of St. Paul. (Woodbury- before it started sprouting shopping areas and restaurants and such). I left about the time I would have been eligable for a Driver’s License and have not been back in years.
I also had friends who complained that “Does your parent work at 3M?” was a rhetorical question. (Obviously, their parents did not, thus this question was annoying. My father did and does. We moved to an area where the question was multiple choice “Does your parent work for Xerox or Kodak?” No.)
Eureka,
I live walking distance to the Battle Creek Ski jump. Or Woodbury Junior High School. (Neither my husband nor I work for 3M - or even Imation - we both work down in Bloomington. We both however have done work for 3M in our careers).
There is a second airport - Holman Field - in St. Paul. Its mostly used for recreational and corporate aircraft. To the best of my knowledge, no commercial flights use the field.
Humphrey Terminal is a little add on building on the back side of the airport with a couple of gates and (IIRC) customs. So international flights come in there, and charters go in and out. But its the same runways, etc. Far as I know, its in Bloomington or Richfield (like the rest of the airport) and I wouldn’t consider it St. Paul - unless you consider Ft. Snelling to be a St. Paul landmark, in which case its close to the Fort.
Major Corporations in the Twin Cities…General Mills, St. Paul Companies, Best Buy, Target, United Health Care, Medtronic, Carlson Companies, Cargill, 3M…several more.
Yup, it’s pretty much that type a deal.
Insular, yes. Cliques upon cliques. But just get to know one or two people really well and within a year or so you’ll be acquainted with everyone they know and have a larger circle of friends. Don’t like them? Pick the people you do like and they’ll eventually bring you into another circle.
Just don’t start out by whining about the state, the weather, or how much bigger/better/whatever the place you came from is. We don’t care.
Find places or clubs to hang out at (by area of interest or hobbies). You’ll get to know a lot of people. Inviting them to coffee or out for drinks is always a good ice breaker. Don’t wait for them to do it, they probably won’t.
Fish, swim or boat in the summer; ski or icefish in the winter.
Yeah, the summers can be hot and sticky. Good A/C can take care of that.
Yes, the winter can be damned cold. A good heater in your car and a sealed up apartment or house and you’ll be fine. Get a good winter coat, gloves, hat and scarf. No trying to look cool by refusing to wear them. Frostbite is real. (btw: 30 below zero is NOT considered a valid excuse to not make it to work. Period. Suck it up and get there!)
Memorial Day to Labor Day is ‘high season’. The outdoor pools are open, the festivals run almost every weekend. More to do than you can shake a stick at, which somewhat makes up for the silence during the winter.
Taste of Minnesota (fourth of July food fest), The State Fair (August), The Minnesota Rennaisance Festival (August and September), The Aquatenial, etc, etc.
If you really want to get pendantic, you’ll be happy to learn that the airport isn’t in Bloomington, either. It’s its own municipality, and none of the territory of the airport falls inside the boundaries of St Paul, Minneapolis, or Bloomington.
Oooh, ooh! One last thing, then I’ll shut up. I promise.
Don’t get your car towed. Snow emergencies may seem like some form of higher math, but if you don’t take a moment to figure them out, I mean Realllly figure them out, you’ll get towed. And getting the car back from impound is really not a fun thing.
If it snows ten inches during the day, your going to work the next day. Most cities shut down. Sain Paul usually has the streets plowed within 24 hours (Except in front of Etherist’s house, he lives too close to O’Gara’s, I think the plowmen stop in)
If it snows ten inches at night, it’s probably a snow day, but it could just be a late start. Call your work to find out, some poor schmuck is proabbaly there.
And according to my science teacher in 9th grade, if you really want to get off from school, pray for WIND not snow. Depending on when the 10 inches start, they can have it plowed before you know it, if the wind doesn’t blow. If the snow starts blowing, and they can’t keep the roads clear, they are much more likely to close things out.
What is this Minneapolis that you talk about?
I once went to that huge Mall near there.
Well, I went to the HOOTERS.
So that’s a plus. You can go shopping and then go to HOOTERS.
And in some parts of Minneapolis, you can go shop for hooters.
The Twin Cities have a fairly good set of interconnected bicycle trails. I have, on occasions in the summer, ridden for 3+ hours without repeating a trail or riding on a street. My favorite piece of trail runs along Minnehaha Creek between Lake Harriet and Lake Nakomis, you can almost forget that you’re in a city, save for the airplanes overhead on approach to MSP.
The Uptown area (around Lake Street and Hennepin Ave) has a very lively nightlife scene, as long as you’re ok with seeing some out-of-the-ordinary characters. (Bearded ladies, people with tatooed faces, etc).
Take a walk around Lake Calhoun on a Saturday afternoon in July.
It’s relatively hard to get lost, as you can’t drive more then a couple miles in any direction without running into a freeway.
Oh, and as a former Iowan living in Minneapolis, I must add in the old standby joke:
Q: Why doesn’t Iowa have an NFL Football team?
A: If they did, Minnesota would want one too.
Nitpick: Nokomis. My “home lake,” as it were. Spent many a summer day there during my school days.
I’d suggest walking around Lake Harriet instead of Calhoun, and stopping for a strawberry ice cream cone at the band shell.
Go to Minnehaha Falls. Walk down the steps. Follow the trail alongside the creek until it empties into the Mississippi River. You’ll see a large boulder there. That’s where I take my son’s picture each year.
Get a fishing license. If you don’t, you will get caught. Promise.