Minnesota Dreaming, Pt. 2

As I mentioned in the last post, in June 2015 we took a road trip to Minnesota.

In Minneapolis we visited the University of Minnesota, where my mom went to college. I had heard her talk of her time there my whole life, so it was like visiting a place I had read of in a book. We went inside Coffman Memorial Union and Walter Library, which had a beautiful ceiling of blue and gold. Maple trees flew their little helicopter seeds next to the campus.

Walter Library Ceiling at the University of Minnesota

Across town, we visited Ingebretsen’s, where one could buy brightly painted Dala horses, interesting toys, trivets made of sliced birch, and lefse-making materials. Later that evening we went to The Bachelor Farmer for dinner. It is a Nordic-inspired restaurant in food and decor; the wallpaper inside was printed with rosemaling-style hearts. The dishes included local ingredients such as wild rice, rhubarb, and honeyberries. Several items were most likely harvested from their rooftop garden above. We also visited the speakeasy-inspired Marvel Bar for cocktails, which is right downstairs. It was dark and woody with bits of candlelight, and the wallpaper reminded me of clouds on an Asian screen. Marvel Bar, The Bachelor Farmer, and also the store Askov Finlayson are owned by the Dayton brothers. When we visited Minneapolis we did not know that the store, restaurant, and bar were in the same family. All three are great places to visit!

In St. Paul, Selby Avenue resembled a European street crowned with a cathedral in the distance. Many old homes lined the avenue along with its shops and restaurants, and fuchsia peonies poked their heavy, wet heads through wood fences. Selby runs right into Summit Avenue, and the James J. Hill House crowns that particular location—the 19th-century railroad magnate’s house sits on a peony-packed bluff that provides it with great views of St. Paul and its surroundings. The entrance hall looked like a level on the Titanic with its detailed light fixtures, potted palms, and dark woodwork. The intricate woodwork was done by a German craftsman who left his “self-portrait” right by the large hidden door. I appreciated that the house did not contain “period” pieces: anything inside the structure was endemic, down to the books in the library, which had a parquet floor resembling railroad tracks on the perimeter. In the basement we saw the large kitchen with grocery lists and menus from a century ago.

We drove down Summit Avenue in the light rain with wonderful houses on either side. They were so interesting! So many different styles! So imaginative! You just knew that each was filled with all sorts of history tucked in its nooks and crannies. Gingerbread Victorians were popular; also Tudors; some were sturdy; others delicate. Towards the end of the avenue was the F. Scott Fitzgerald House. It was exciting to see someplace familiar to him, to see the windows he looked out of, to see the birthplace of some of his work.

The final day of our trip we decided to have breakfast by one of the lakes. We sat on a bench with our coffee and huge Bogart’s doughnuts—flaky, sticky, soft. We could see downtown Minneapolis across the water, glittering in the wind and sunlight. A man with a metal detector stood in the shallow water while men with paddles surfed in the distance.

Our last stop was Northfield, Minnesota, where my dad attended college at St. Olaf. Strains of a pipe organ spilled out of the chapel, and the campus was full of green vines and spires. Outside we sat on Adirondack chairs under a stave-like pavilion of wind chimes making unique harmonies in the breeze. The trees shaded us and made dappled shadows all around—it was secure, peaceful. Nature and tradition held the world at bay.

I'm really looking forward to going back to Minnesota.

A Dala horse with rhubarb legs, a harness of peonies, and a decoration of honeyberries is inspired by the produce and flowers blooming in June in Minnesota. I used my own red Dala horse that my grandmother gave me as a guide for its shape.