Seeking Tourist Info About Minnesota

Hi E.,
I live in Rochester. Your daughter will get the greatest care at Mayo.

Rochester is a really nice little city. Do you know where you will be staying? Even if you are not staying downtown where all of the Mayo buildings are, most hotels have shuttles that will take you to the Mayo Campus. If you are going to be parking downtown be sure to park in Mayo ramps and ask about their multi-day parking passes. It will save you money!

There is a walking subway/skyway system that connects almost all of the Mayo buildings. There are some unique little shops and little restaurants down in the subway system. Carroll's Corn down in the subway has great popcorn. We love their cheddar cheese corn. They also have a yummy trio of caramel/buttered/cheddar popcorn. In the lobbies of all of the Mayo buildings they have complementary wheelchairs that you can use to navigate downtown.

Within a couple of blocks of the Mayo campus there is a Potbelly sandwich shop that is really good. There is also City Market deli that is open for lunch. Newts Hamburgers is a locally owned place that has great burgers. BB's Pizza is a favorite place of ours. There is also Z Pizza downtown and Pi Pizza has really good wood-fired pizza. Dunn Brothers Coffee roasts their coffee right in their shops. There is also a new coffee shop downtown called Cafe Steam. Canadian Honker is a great place for breakfast and also has live music on the weekends. Chester's is another local place that has great lunches and dinners. Flapdoodles is a must for ice cream!! My parents were recently here for my dad's visit to Mayo and ate at Freshens downtown. They really liked it a lot. If you like sushi there are a couple of nice sushi places. Nupa has really good Mediterranean food. Mango Thai is good. The Nile is an Ethiopian restaurant. Victoria's is an Italian restaurant. The Lost Cajun has good food. Twigs is one of my favorite places. They have something similar to fondue, but you cook your meat on hot stones right at your table. They also have a gluten free kitchen.

If you like to bowl, Bowlocity is a fun place. Goonies is a comedy club downtown. You can go south of Rochester about 40 minutes to Labesboro. It's a nice little town with some unique shops. But it could be too much walking. You can take tours out to the Amish communities from Lanesboro. About an hour Northwest of Rochester there is a big Cabela's store and an OK outlet mall. There is a Canvas and Chardonnay place where you can do painting classes. We also have an art museum and the Olmsted County Historical Society has a nice museum. At certain times of the year you can also tour the Mayo Mansion where one of the founders of Mayo Clinic lived. Quarry Hill Nature Center has a nice little center and an easy walk to sit by their pond. Oxbow Park is a very small zoo with animals native to Minnesota. You can take tours of Mayo Clinic. Their art tour is really interesting. The public library will issue temporary library cards for Mayo patients. You can take trolley tours of the city that allow you to get on and off at different sites. There are always theater and music productions going on. Depending on when you are here there are also different festivals and events going on.

The website www.rochestercvb.org has a calendar of events. You can also pick up monthly visitor guides and complimentary copies of Rochester Magazine and Rochester Women's Magazine lots of places in town. All three have a lot of information about events, restaurants, shopping, etc. There is also a Pinterest page called "Things to Do & Places to Visit in Rochester, MN".

The Mall of America is about an hour and a half north. It can easily be done is a day. It's a typical mall on steroids with a few cool things thrown in. There is a small aquarium, a mini golf course, some unique restaurants, the amusement park in the middle, etc. The Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) has lots of fun things--science museum, history museum, Walker Art Museum, sculpture gardens, Minnehaha Falls, off Broadway theatre, concerts, etc. If you think you would want to go up there is would be worth getting a travel guide from AAA or something similar.

You will want to take I-35 North until you reach I-90. Take I-90 East to Hwy 52. Hwy 52 takes you right into Rochester. About an hour west of Rochester you will go through Austin, MN--home of SPAM. A stop at the SPAM Museum is definitely worth the stop! But you might want to check ahead of time. I know they are going to be closed for awhile to relocate the museum.

Please feel free to private message me if you have any questions. You will find Rochester to be a very hospitable and helpful community.

Are you a AAA member? They have a free travel service with recommendations for stops as well as discount coupons.

Did you write to the MN department of tourism? Tell them you are coming to Mayo and have an adult with significant stamina issues/disability. I'll bet they tell you about some hidden gems with fewer crowds. Also look at area universities - many have smaller museums or art exhibits. Campuses, like malls, are pretty big sometimes - I don't know if your daughter uses a scooter or wheelchair for large areas, but do ask.

I hope this is a good referral for your daughter and that she gets some answers.

Betty Crocker had their headquarters there at one time, I think it is still there. They used to do tours. the Arlo Guthrie Theater is also in Minneapolis and they also did tours at one time. There is also a statue of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis to salute her TV show based on Minneapolis. I am sure you can Google these and see what is still there.

I would definitely try the SPAM Museum. On a lark and my brother's recommendation, we went there en route across the region. We were pleasantly surprised how interesting it was. It engaged all of us of all ages. Who'd a thought there was enough for an entire museum about SPAM?! But there was and it was fun!

Best of luck with your experience at Mayo. They are amazing!

If you do go up to the twin cities for the mall of america - I also suggest going to the science museum in downtown st. paul. If you go there, I suggest Cosettas for pizza or pasta. It is cafeteria style and really good. Minnehaha falls is beautiful and not too taxing. You can grab some ice cream from The Grand Old Creamery or Izzy's in St. Paul too! The Mall of America is fun and huge but you can take it all in in one day.