We decided to spend Labor Day weekend with our family of five in the land of 10,000 lakes and it was even better than we could have imagined.
We arrived in Minneapolis from Los Angeles on Friday of Labor Day Weekend at 11:00am (via Frontier airlines, look for a new post on this later this week). We checked into our hotel {conveniently located inside the MALL OF AMERICA https://www.mallofamerica.com/ } and hit the mall. The JW Marriott is located at one of the main entrances and has a pool, gym, bar {that served my go-to, Pinot Noir, Meiomi} restaurants, comfortable rooms and was conveniently located near the airport (an uber XL was less than $15). https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/mspjw-jw-marriott-minneapolis-mall-of-america/overview/?scid=f2ae0541-1279-4f24-b197-a979c79310b0
We spent the day walking around the Mall of America (MOA), our oldest was just asked to HOCO; so we were on the hunt for some shoes, riding the rollercoasters and the water ride and eating at https://wahlburgers.com/all-locations with their $5 shareables, $5 draft beers and $4 glasses of wine. As we finished up dinner and shopping, we grabbed the kids gloves from the room and headed over to Target Field https://www.mlb.com/twins/ballpark to watch the Twins beat the Blue Jays. At the game, we indulged in our favorite dessert soft serve in Twins helmets, the. best. https://www.mlb.com/twins/tickets/single-game-tickets
The next morning we rented a car back at the airport from http://www.sixt.com …a company we had not used; but will definitely use again, due to the convenience, price and vehicle. With our Toyota 4Runner in tow, we headed “up north” to Nisswa https://www.cityofnisswa.gov We wanted a resort style hotel that would have activities, including boating and was located on a lake. We found The Grand View Lodge https://www.grandviewlodge.com in Nisswa to be the perfect place to stay and checked all of the boxes on our wish list. We checked in Saturday afternoon and enjoyed happy hour at the Tanque Verde Cantina while the kids swam in the pool visible from the outdoor cantina and had a blast on the water slides. After our drinks and appetizers we walked over to the Boathouse to reserve a pontoon for the next day. They still had availability and it was just $225 for 2 hours on a pontoon boat. We also added an inner tube for some tubing fun on Gull Lake. We booked the Grand View Lodge using http://expedia.com and felt like we were able to get a great room and a good price for such a memorable weekend.
That evening we visited Zorbaz https://www.zorbaz.com where we sat outside, along the water, listened to live music and ordered pizzas (with enough leftovers for lunch the next day). Good thing our room had a microwave and refrigerator!
Sunday morning we woke up, sat outside on our porch while the kids played catch and enjoyed the crisp fall morning (it was September 1, after all). After our slow morning we rented bikes (complimentary) and checked out the state of Minnesota’s largest jacuzzi and a second indoor pool with water slides for the kids. The boat rental was perfect and we cruised around Gull Lake before ending the evening at one of the many fire pits (free s’mores kits at the Grand Outfitters store on site). We brought some wine down to the lakeside and the kids checked out the arcade. The kids also enjoyed corn hole, a playground and shuffle board throughout our stay. If we had more time; we would have loved to check out the tennis and pickle ball courts, golf simulator, golf and frisbee golf, horseback riding and the various lawn games available to guests.
All activities (kayaks, paddle boards, volleyball, banana tubing, fishing, pontoon cruises and beach chairs) are included with the resort fee. You may rent pontoons, boat slips, jet skis, golf carts and electric bikes for a reasonable fee.
On Sunday evening, (Sept. 1) the resort hosted a Hawaiian Beach party where everyone wore Hawaiian shirts and they offered food and drink specials, slushees, live music and a farewell to summer in the best way possible.
If you’re going for a girls weekend or a couples getaway, check out the Glacial Waters Spa https://www.grandviewlodge.com/spa on property. It looked amazing. I definitely want to return to try all of the activities that we didn’t have time for over this long weekend trip.
To preserve our memories in my favorite way, we took family photos with Kaptured by Kayla https://kapturedbykala.mypixieset.com I found her online and she met us at the resort. Her fee was $125 for an hour long session that included 10 pictures. For an additional $50 you can have access to all pictures taken, so we opted for that package.
I also found out the Grand View Lodge has a sister property in Tucson that is now on my “To Do List”; Tanque Verde Ranch https://tanqueverderanch.com If you know me and my loved for horses, this is right up my alley!
Monday afternoon we headed back to Minneapolis. It is about a 2.5 hour drive, but even with the “holiday traffic” it was only about 15 minutes longer than usual. Nice back in Minneapolis, we went on a hike down to the bottom of the Minnehaha waterfall. It was a beautiful area that was filled with trees, running water and a gorgeous water fall. It was only about 15 minutes from the Mall of America. Then it was then time to head to the airport and make our way back to reality.
We are headed back into the busy school and sports schedule with a stronger bond, a bit more relaxed and dreams of our next adventure on the horizon.
Trip Trek Go 