Minneapolis, just a 9-hour drive from Wichita, delivers an urban outdoor adventure

The Mississippi River was surprisingly calm as we paddled south from the Boom Island marina toward downtown Minneapolis.

Greg, our guide for Paddle Bridge Guide Collective’s two-hour Heart of Minneapolis tour, explained that we were approaching the lock and dam system built in the 1950s and 1960s. Two locks were installed to lift vessels over St. Anthony Falls, the only natural waterfall on the river’s 2,300-plus miles from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico.

The falls supplied the water power that attracted early industry and made Minneapolis the largest city in Minnesota. As we made our way toward the falls, where we’d turn around while keeping a safe distance, we floated past remnants of the city’s development: an 80-year-old, restored 50-foot-by-40-foot freestanding Grain Belt Beer neon sign in the shape of a bottle cap; Nicollet Island, featuring a few private homes dating to the 1860s, leftover structures that cue the city’s past as the leading international producer of flour; and several bridges, including the only arched bridge made of stone on the entire Mississippi River.

As we paused in front of the Riverfront District before heading back up river, we got a well-rounded view of Minneapolis: a city wrapped around the Mississippi River that has kept many of its natural features while developing into an industrial city of 4 million with all the urban features you’d expect alongside a few surprises.

It was our first visit in 14 years and because of beautiful September weather and the pandemic, we chose to spend much of our time outdoors despite more than 50 museums tempting us. We were too early for autumn color, though we could imagine in just a few weeks the lush green would be popping with yellows and reds.

According to the Trust for Public Land, 98 of every 100 residents in Minneapolis are within a 10-minute walk of a park. That regularly ranks the city among the top three in the country for best urban park system.

Even Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins major league baseball team, has green space inside: Schneiderman’s Lawn opened in 2019 inside one of the main entry gates, offering a backyard experience with lawn games and furniture.

From our weekend of residency based at the Loews Minneapolis Hotel, we could easily reach the river, parks, sculpture gardens, lakes and waterfalls by walking, hopping on a borrowed Nice Ride Minnesota bicycle or driving our car.

Thanks to Minneapolis-headquartered Cargill Inc.’s Wichita presence, there are three daily nonstop flights between Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. We opted for the nine-hour drive, which is an easy road trip up I-35.

We caught the Kansas City Royals playing at Target Field, as well as the Royals’ farm team Omaha Storm Chasers playing the St. Paul Saints, the Triple-A Twins affiliate that had a number of Wichita Wind Surge players who had moved onto their roster before the end of the season.

As someone who grew up in the 1980s, a visit to Paisley Park was a must. The private estate, studio and creative sanctuary for the late artist Prince, born Prince Rogers Nelson in 1958, is in Minneapolis. Guided tours for up to 20 visitors at a time are available Thursday through Monday. Be prepared to have your phone locked up for most of the 90-minute tour that takes you through most of the main floor of the main building. We saw his office, his lounge area, recording and mixing studios, and exhibits on his albums and films with thousands of artifacts from his personal archives including iconic clothing, guitars and other instruments, and two of his vehicles.

In July, Paisley Park unveiled “The Beautiful Collection: Prince’s Custom Shoes,” a temporary exhibition highlighting his impact on fashion, music and popular culture. Prince accessorized nearly every performance outfit with a pair of custom made high-heeled boots, and about 300 are on display. There are also videos playing interviews with the footwear designers and a video showing some of Prince’s most incredible moves in the shoes. “The Beautiful Collection” should run into mid-2022.

Our guide shared insider stories about Prince and his inner circle, and the tour ended with your phone being freed so you can take photos of the last few rooms, including a massive soundstage and concert hall where Prince held exclusive concerts for locals and rehearsed for tours.

The compound is about 20 miles southwest from downtown. On our way back downtown, we stopped at Lake Harriet for lunch outdoors and to walk the nearly 3 miles of trails around the lake. Harriet is one of five lakes within the Chain of Lakes Regional Park that are connected by trails, as well as connected to the rest of Minneapolis via the 50-mile Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway that loops around the city. There also are on-site bicycle, canoe, kayak, boat and paddle board rentals.

While we felt like we spent much of our three days outdoors, we barely scratched the surface of the city’s 180 parks, 22 lakes, 12 gardens and seven golf courses that are within city limits. We rode bicycles along the parkway on the west bank of the river, stopping to explore Gold Medal Park (named for the flour brand on the historic structure next door) and going inside the adjacent Guthrie Theater to take in the views from the fourth floor cantilevered Endless Bridge and the ninth floor’s 360-degree view.

We walked across the pedestrian and bicycle only Stone Arch Bridge at dusk, and explored one of the newest park spaces at the adjacent Water Works Park. The park honors the birthplace of the city’s milling industry as well as being a spiritual space for Indigenous people. A pavilion at the park is home to Owámni by the Sioux Chef, a recently opened restaurant focusing on Indigenous ingredients such as wild plants and game and leaving out dairy, cane sugar, wheat flour and other foods brought to the U.S. by European settlers.

We explored the more than 40 artworks in the 11-acre Minneapolis Sculpture Garden outside the Walker Art Center. One of our favorite stops was the 167-acre Minnehaha Regional Park, where we sat near a 53-foot-tall waterfall and then followed the Minnehaha Creek down to the Mississippi, getting a view of the river below the falls.

Next time we visit Minneapolis, I plan to take the Paddle Bridge Guide Collective’s Mississippi River Gorge tour, a three-hour excursion that starts just below the St. Anthony Falls and meanders through the valley carved by the water, then ends at Minnehaha Park.

Paddle Bridge also helps run the area’s paddle share program, which like the bike-share concept offers a self-serve kayak sharing system. For a less strenuous way to explore the Mississippi, book a ride on the Minneapolis Water Taxi that is more taxi than transportation. Like the guided tours with Paddle Bridge, the taxi also launches from Boom Island Park.