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Snapshot: Sunset Over Wildflowers in Southern Minnesota

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The sun sets over a field of wildflowers at Pats Pasture Wildlife Management Area near Windom, Minnesota.

Cool Fun: A Week’s Worth of Indoor Activities

 

Roller-skating at Skateville in Burnsville

Darin Kamnetz

Prince’s “Erotic City” blasts from the multi-speaker sound system as the mirrored disco ball ricochets colored prisms on the roller skaters moving in circles around the rink. We have been skating for about an hour now and my hips are starting to feel the exercise and I have to tie my sweater around my waist to cool off. Experienced skaters zip past me with remarkable precision, dancing to the beat, zipping around the rink and practicing spins and jumps while newbies hug the wall as they slowly wobble back and forth.

Welcome to Monday night at Skateville Roller Skating Rink in Burnsville, where every week from 7 to 9 p.m., “seasoned skaters”—anyone over age 18—is welcome to open skate to DJ Jeff Butler’s curated playlist. It’s a workout, it’s a movement, it’s a blast.

Roller-skating every Monday night is just one of the ways I like to get out of the house but still stay inside during these cooler months in Minnesota. I also meet friends for trivia almost every week, bowl a few nights a month, and get out to as many concerts that I can. I attempted this winter to do all of these activities in one week—I wouldn’t recommend that if you also have a day job—but follow along ad mix in one or two activities each week and you, too, for some Minnesota-style recreation.

The author roller-skating at Skateville in Burnsville

Darin Kamnetz

MONDAYS: Roller-skating

Everyone has at least one roller-skating memory—mine spans about four years. My hometown’s roller-skating rink, High Rollers, was where middle-school me hung out every Friday night with friends. I’ve heard from many Minnesotans, that Saints North rink was the hotspot here. For many of us, that nostalgia is part of the appeal and it definitely comes flooding back every Monday when I walk into Skateville with its gawdy swirled carpeting, vintage snack bar, and expansive skate rental area. I discovered the fun when two friends—who previously convinced me to take tap-dancing lessons with them—invited me to the Monday night sessions. There’s a welcoming group of regulars here, many with their own bedazzled skates and glow-in-the-dark wheels. Some prefer to rollerblade, but we all groove to the deep cuts from the 1970s through ‘90s the DJ plays. For many like me, we roller skate to some of the same songs we grew up on.

Roller-skating at Skateville in Burnsville

Darin Kamnetz

Amy Sacarelos is an administrator of a Facebook group dedicated to the Monday night “seasoned skaters.” She explains the importance to roller-skating for her: “Music and movement for me are high endorphins. In 2015, my husband and I and one of our daughters had to move to take care of my aging parents; we cared for them for seven years. Rollerskating was a life link for me to get away from home and be uplifted for a few hours.” She helps organize monthly themed nights, like movie night or a Bee Gees tribute. On this Monday night, a group of young friends watched TikTok videos on their phones after a few spins around the rink while some regulars showboated for a photographer, talented enough to be their own TikTok stars.

Amy Sacarelos roller skates Mondays at Skateville in Burnsville.

Darin Kamnetz

Other options: U.S. Bank Stadium’s Winter Warm-Up and Cheap Skate in Coon Rapids

TUESDAYS: Trivia

The question seemed so obvious: “Iran and Iraq are two countries separated by only one letter. What are the other two countries?” My team was on a roll that night at bar trivia in West St. Paul, but this question stopped us, and, frankly, drove us all nuts because we should know the answer immediately. Our table of four was in friendly competition with two other sets of friends who show up almost every week for some brain teasers, useless knowledge, and song snippets. Meeting for bar trivia is a great way to catch up with my friends mid-week—between the questions—and learn a few random facts along the way. Locally, the Trivia Mafia team seems to have a monopoly on the scene and run trivia nights at local bars and restaurants every night of the week and in locations from Duluth to Red Wing. The well-run organization started in 2007 simply as “Chuck & Sean’s Trivia”—both Chuck Terhark and Sean McPherson have left for other entertainment-related roles around town—and now operates out of six states. My friends and I have our favorite spots with our favorite hosts, Megan on Tuesdays and Caitlin on Wednesdays, and a winning track record that keeps us coming back. Some tips: Many places have developed regulars (like us) who arrive early to claim their “lucky” tables and settle in. Plan on spending roughly two hours at the bar or distillery for the full six rounds of questions and mid-event and final scoring sessions and stick around for the final results, which often require a tie-breaker question because the teams are all so smart and only a half-point or two separate the tallies. It helps to have a mix of expertise on your team, such as the sports fan, tech geek, world traveler, or music critic to cover the bases. We’ve also had success including our college-aged kids who tend to know the pop culture questions. As for the countries trivia question, it’s an icy answer that may raise your ire.

Other options: Bar Bingo (see Thursday) and meat raffles

The author bowling at Tuttle’s.

WEDNESDAYS: Bowling

I’m in a bowling league, two, actually. Last year, my team in the Wednesday night league came in second overall. My team in the Sunday night league took first place. My husband is on both teams and he’s the good bowler, but I’m improving. I love my globe-themed bowling ball that my family got for me as a Christmas gift a few years ago, too. Bowling is a unique way to bring together people across lots of different political and social views, according to a radio report recently. I think that’s true in both of my bowling leagues. The Wednesday league is sponsored by a former employer, Entrust Database. The company is generous to still support this league, which formed more than 20 years ago.

Bowling at Tuttle’s

Darin Kamnetz

Every Wednesday, the bowlers meet at Tuttle’s Eat, Bowl, Play in Hopkins for the Entrust league. Some are retirees and arrive for happy hour before while others stay for the bar bingo at 7 p.m. League president Jim Elder just retired after decades with the group and sent detailed and entertaining recaps each week.Our Sunday night league is every other week, arranged through Drkula’s in Inver Grove Heights, a league of grandparents facing off against Gen Xers. Bowling is not as physically strenuous as roller-skating, but it is possible to break a sweat (or pull a muscle) during the 30-plus frames in three games of league play. There’s a lot of ribbing and competitive commentary from opposing teams, but also a lot of support of each other as well. Some of the splits these bowlers pick up are video-worthy as well.

Other options: Top golf, mini golf, and arcade games like skeeball

THURSDAYS: Bingo

Bingo players at Tuttle’s

Darin Kamnetz

Bar Bingo people are intense. Many have their own daubers, bring their good-luck totems, and superstitiously sit in the same spot week after week. And that is why bar bingo people are my kind of people. I don’t do bar bingo as often as roller-skating and trivia, but do like to hit a weeknight session now and then for the chance at some spending change, get a bite to eat, and support the charity running the event. There’s not a business managing bingo like Trivia Mafia does for trivia, but a great website for bingo venues is mnbarbingo.com. It includes most of the VFW halls across the state that run bar bingo, as well as the bingo halls that offer rounds every day. If you haven’t attended bingo at your chosen spot before, make sure you know the house rules, such as the different games, and process of purchasing new cards before each round or only at the beginning and at break. Nothing’s more embarrassing than calling out bingo but being wrong. That happened to a friend at Tuttle’s last year, when the game was “small window” (only the numbers that surround the free space) and not the horizontal line he had. Other players were not very forgiving of the mistake. Purse bingo and gun bingo are popular variations, where the prizes are not cash but handbags and firearms.

Bingo at Tuttle’s after bowling league.

Other options: Trivia (see Tuesday) or meat raffles

FRIDAYS: Live music

Usually by Fridays, I’m wiped out from the week and want to just relax, but for this story I chose to go see a band at the Turf Club for a Friday night activity. There are dozens of venues with live music on Friday nights, so it’s just a matter of who you want to hear or how far you want to go. My favorites are some of the First Avenue-owned properties, including the Turf Club and Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul and Fine Line in Minneapolis. For this week, it was a Dolly Parton tribute concert at the Fine Line in Minneapolis. I love winding down my week with some live music, especially if I have a chair to settle into. There’s that happy feeling I get walking into a darkened club on a winter night to the warmth of live music.

Some people prefer to make the music themselves, performing at open microphone events throughout the week also at various venues, including beer halls and distilleries. It takes a decided talent that I don’t possess to perform in front of others, but it a blast to discover some up-and-comer or friend’s kid shine. I guess the same could be said for karoke, where you can try out your singing voice in a low-risk environment. Just like my own roller skates, bowling ball, and bingo dauber, I also have my own karoke song: “It’s So Easy” by Linda Ronstadt.

Other options: Pinball/arcades

Roller-skating at Skateville in Burnsville

Best Bets: April 9-14

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Chef Takeover at Tullibee for Eid
Chef Takeover at Tullibee for Eid

Courtesy of Tullibee

Tullibee Takeover

What: Chef Takeover at Tullibee for Eid
When: April 10 and 11, 5-10 p.m.
Where: Tullibee, 300 N. Washington Ave., Minneapolis

Palestinian chef Aref Zalatimo, of Tullibee, hosts two Eid al-Fitr dinners featuring “elevated Middle Eastern flavors that highlight the depth of Levantine cuisine,” according to the press release. “Expect a meal filled with traditional old-world flavors comprised in modern-day dishes “—such as tuna kibbeh, cinnamon-grilled lamb kefta, and stuffed eggplant.

St. Crawl

What: St. Paul Art Crawl
When: April 12-14, 5-9 p.m.
Where: St. Paul Art Collective, 316 Broadway St., St. Paul

The St. Paul Art Collective is hosting art crawls for spring this month, starting this weekend. More than 40 galleries and group art spaces showcase the works of over 350 artists across media. There are also free dance performances and open-level workshops.

Dancers of the Oakland Ballet Company perform at the Dancing Moons Festival at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in Oakland, California in 2022.

John Hefti Press

Ascendent Asian Ballet

What: ‘10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography’
When: April 12-13
Where: Northrop, University of Minnesota, 84 Church St. SE, Minneapolis

This program of Asian and Asian American choreography features The Washington Ballet, BalletMet, and Oakland Ballet Company working collaboratively to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Singaporean choreographer Choo San Goh (1948-1987), plus works by BalletMet’s Edwaard Liang—the first Asian Artistic Director for a major American ballet company, Phil Chan and Caili Quan for Oakland Ballet Company, and the Minnesota debut of choreographer Brett Ishida.

Around the Bock

What: Bock Party at Omni Brewery & Taproom
When: April 13, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Where: Omni Brewrey & Taproom, 9462 Deerwood Lane N., Osseo

All-day live music, several new bock beers, a mixed cocktail, wine, brats, and beer poking should make this a killer bock festival.

Scaled Up

What: Minnesota Reptile Show
When: April 14, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Where: DoubleTree by Hilton, 2020 American Blvd. E., Bloomington

About 45 vendors are expected to show for this expo of all things creepy, crawly, and reptilian.

Geek Out

What: Geeky Craft Fair at Boom Island Brewing
When: April 14, noon-5 p.m.
Where: Boom Island Brewing Co., 5937 Baker Rd., Minnetonka

Fans converge to show off their geeky crafts at Boom Island Brewing. In the market for candles, tumblers, purses, or other handy items? More than a dozen artisans are expected to show off their nerdiest wares.

Blog: Live Photos from the Total Solar Eclipse

The sky suddenly darkened, the wind picked up, the crickets sounded, and three planets came out when the moon passed in front of the sun just now. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” my kid exclaimed after today’s solar eclipse totality passed about 10 minutes ago.

The sun during the total solar eclipse.

Amy Nelson

We cheered on the eclipse with visitors to Nebraska on our left, and travelers from Colorado on our right.

We made it to a campground in Missouri last night, woke up to clear skies, and drove about an hour this morning to land at D’s Country Kitchen in Ellsinore, Missouri, which promises more than 4 minutes of totality in about an hour.

As the skies started to darken right before totality.

Amy Nelson

Here are some images of the solar eclipse from earlier, when the moon started moving across the sun at about 1:30 p.m. CST.

The start of the eclipse through welder’s glass

Amy Nelson

Here’s what the area looks like without the welder’s glass protection.

The regular view at D’s in Missouri

Amy Nelson

We are so pleased to find D’s in Ellsinore, Missouri, which owners say was about 10 minutes from totality in 2017. There’s a BBQ buffet, live band, and cornhole here for the crowds gathered to watch today’s events on their patio.

D’s Country Kitchen

Isabel Sander

Here’s the live band playing for the crowds.

Blog: Day 1 of Following the Total Solar Eclipse

The sun during the total solar eclipse.

Amy Nelson

It’s finally here! After more than a year of planning to get both our college-aged kids home for the eclipse—and a week of worrying and watching weather patterns and predicted cloud cover—we headed out on our epic road trip Saturday afternoon.

As I wrote earlier, after seeing the total solar eclipse in Wyoming in 2017, I’m hooked. It was an amazing experience, something I now plan trips around to view. Last time, our daughter and French Rotary exchange student joined us, but our son had just started his sophomore year of high school at an international school in Botswana. He had some great adventures of his own, but kept hearing over the past nearly seven years that he could NOT miss this eclipse. He graduates from college next month, but we flew him home for the few days to join us. Our daughter and her boyfriend drove from Canada earlier in the week, so after our son landed at MSP at 9:15 a.m. Saturday morning, we were packed up and ready to hit the road by noon.

Ready for the total solar eclipse road trip

Amy Nelson

A lot has been written already about this eclipse—the science behind it, the path of totality, the expected traffic jams, the logistics of staying safe. In the car, we discussed many of these points. Our daughter is getting her master’s degree in astrophysics; her interest, in part, was sparked by the 2017 experience (yay, me!), and she knows more of the technical aspects of the phenomenon. I’m more about the awe it inspired last time. How I felt shivers during the approximately 2-minute totality, the darkening sky, the significant drop in the temperature, the increasing buzzing of the insects. Monday’s totality will double in length and be more intense, heightening my expectations. The Minnesotans quoted in this story help capture the “if you know, you know” feeling I’ve had the past few weeks describing seeing an eclipse to others.

Road sign in Missouri

Amy Nelson

The past week has been intense (at work, we finalized the 2024 Ultimate Travel Guide and hosted CannaFest) with changing weather predictions and speculation. On Easter, we told the kids it looked like we were going to head to Ohio instead of Missouri. On Wednesday, we were still thinking Ohio, but that we’d drive to mid-Illinois on Saturday and then decide from there. On Saturday, we returned to our original plan to camp at Alley Spring Campground in Eminence, MO (I mean, what a great town name!).

So Saturday afternoon, we headed south out of the Twin Cities, stopping at Culver’s in Owatonna for lunch at the request of the Canadian in our group, attempting to find an open Kum & Go along the route in Iowa, and waving at other caravans along the way we suspected were also en route to see the eclipse. As we passed into Missouri, one of us remarked that the cloud cover would be perfect for Monday’s event—if it stands.

Sunny skies in Missouri

Amy Nelson

We decided to stop in Kansas City for the night, pulling into a hotel parking lot about 7 p.m. Part of the road trip adventure is discovering new spots, right? So we checked into our hotel rooms and decided to find some famous KC barbecue for dinner. We lucked out with 3Halves Brewpub and BBQ in charming Liberty, MO. A participant in Minnesota-based Crafttapped, we chose it for the live music (John Prine and Lead Belly covers), brews, and family-style BBQ (smoky brisket and spicy ribs). After dinner, was walked the few blocks around town to see some of the highlights, including a Jesse James-related spot.

Barbecue platter at 3 Halves Brewpub

Amy Nelson

City Hall in Liberty, Missouri

Amy Nelson

Mural in Liberty, Missouri

Amy Nelson

Statue commemorating Susan B. Anthony (with additional tributes to Ruth Bader Ginsburg) in Liberty, Missouri

Amy Nelson