Falling for Minnehaha and Love Lounges!

If you've ever been to the Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, you know that all weather seasons are beautiful there! Fall you have the change in the leaves, to the crunch of  them under your shoes. Winter the cascading ice caps that form around the falls to create an ice cave only lite by the streams of light coming through the trees. In spring it’s a sanctuary for bird song and new life. For summer the falls are a perfect spot to cool off, step away from hot cars, honking horns and tire squeals and listen to the sound of rushing water and fluttering leaves. For Wynne and I it was a chance to create new memories.


One of my favorite childhood places, the Falls holds memories of bike trips, dog walks, family photos and more, but today It was a chance to show Wynne the natural side of Minneapolis. Our adventure started with us trying to find a parking spot. Because... turns out June 24th was Swedish Heritage Days at the park, so parking meant two/ three blocks away. 

And if you know the neighborhood, you know that the side streets are tiny and are really only meant to fit one car at a time. So, after a grandma nearly side swiped the car from taking up the whole road we find on the opposite side of the street an open spot (enter hallelujah choir)! Wynne promptly stops, turns to me and says, “would you mind jumping out and just standing in that spot while I turn the car around?” Now imagine me standing in the middle of the road blocking traffic from taking that spot! Yep you guessed it ,I sure did! Wynne did the parallel parking in 4/5 swift moves. Now that we’ve parked Wynne becomes giddy with excitement about the Swedish Days and of course we venture through the booths and almost stop to make flower hair wreaths for ourselves only to move on. 

Wynne and I venture down the treacherous, but historic steps only to turn and meet the sound and sight of the rushing falls! What a beautiful sight to see. I am still amazed to this day. Granted today it was a little blocked by the large amount of people at the park, seeing it never gets old. Wynne snapped a few pictures of the falls and a very nice, patient gentleman snapped a picture of the two of us. It was such a treat to stand in one of my favorite spots of Minneapolis with a best friend. 

 We cross the bridge to the other side, while being serenaded by a guitarist and walk along the sandy bank. Down the creek about 100ft, is a little off shoot where you can swim, so naturally we stop and put our feet in, to cool off from the hot, humid weather. Afterwards we cross the wide, green field, walk up the huge valley hill (where we were followed for about 10 steps by a cute 2 or 3 year old boy, who had gone rogue from his parents) to see the Mississippi River and Ford Parkway. Here we realized just how incredibly hot, hungry and tired we were from this adventure. We quickly walk back to the car, which is about 7 blocks away at this point. Once in the car we blast the air conditioning, drink water and drive into the Longfellow neighborhood.
    

Slowly melting from the heat we make it to 38th street and 42nd avenue, where two sandwiches, a ginger lemonade and a pomegranate tea spritzer awaited us at the Riverview Cafe. In the years I have lived in Minneapolis and gone to the Riverview Cafe, I have never known the name until that Sunday Adventure. It is literally a blink you miss it kind of place from the outside, but once inside it is a relaxed and sumptuous environment, filled with a mash up of infant to senior, crayon to business, and we fell right in the middle. Most people after being out in the heat would sit and savor their food and drink, well not us! Wynne and I completely devoured ours in about 10 minutes. Only to have an hour and a half left before the movie at the Riverview theater started. 

 So we fill 30 minutes with looking at the City Pages and then shimmy over to Mother Earth Gardens. A nursery, where we fed our appetite for beauty with flowers and rubbed our hands with the different herbs grown there.
 

Inside the 60's Flash-back Awaited

 Finally we were fed up with being in the heat and decided it was time to get our tickets and sit in more air conditioning. Upon entering the theater we were hit with a wave of butter and 1960’s remake of Art Deco style or as Wynne called it ,”60’s Love Lounge.” The Riverview Theater is a mom and pop, one screen cheap theater, that holds the history of Minneapolis in it’s walls and I’m sure in some of it’s customers. After sitting for 10 minutes Wynne and I splurged on extra buttery popcorn, Reese's Pieces, Sour Patch Kids and a soda. Needless to say we left our movie (Fishing for Salmon in the Yemen) in a sugar coma and wanting to brush our teeth. We ended our day with skyline photo’s of Hiawatha Ave and Downtown Minneapolis, blasting Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe, with our windows down and hair blowing, singing at the top of our lungs. What better way to create new memories than with good food, good company and good conversation.

Minneapolis

- Katrina