: minneapolis-pantz : week 5 : on the search for a lake monster! :

happy friday, everybody!

lets talk about lake monsters. 

minnesota is known as 'the land of 10,000 lakes' ; anywhere you go, there is a lake nearby [no, really]. 

each year, our local lake creature, minne visits a new lake & stays for the summer. she is real 13 feet tall & made of fiberglass. 

a couple weeks ago, we were out for a bike ride & saw her floating around.

it was rainy & dreary, but we headed out to check her out & take photos.

she is right near a popular beach, so we sat under the beach umbrellas & hung out, waiting for the rain to end.

so, where is minne?

well, i dont want to spoil the surprise for you. you can head here to learn more OR you can follow minne on twitter.

also, if you become a sustaining member of the mpls parks foundation, you get this awesome shirt! 

have a great weekend, everybody!

minneapolis-pantz : week 4 : how german can you get? : a visit to my hometown :

the title says it all.
we are gettin' all 'german' here on the blog, today.
so, my family is german. alllll the way down the line.
i mean it ; any german stereotype you have ; someone in my family probably fits it ;)
i grew up in a small-ish [14,000+] german town in southern minnesota.
its a 90 minute drive from our place & most of my family still lives there.
we decided to head down for a weekend & tour all of the amazing things i remember as a child.

*also, you will notice i have been putting big, obnoxious watermarks on all of my photos. i love when people want to share my photos, but please [please!] link back // cite me.
nobody likes a steal-er-pantz!

here we go! 
stop #1 in new ulm, minnesota :
the glockenspiel!

its a giant bell tower that plays a 15 minute show three times a day. 

under the clock are three german men playing instruments. underneath them, are 6 characters that rotate around when the music is playing [noon, 3pm & 5pm]

its right in the middle of town, so whenever the bells start tolling, there are always 10-20 people in the park listening // watching

stop #2 : 

the wanda gag house!

the house has been replicated to look like the house from the 1860's, but houses like this are not uncommon in new ulm.

here

did you read this book when you were a kid? 

wanda wrote this, along with a bunch of others. she was born in 1914 & was extremely liberal for her time.

she believed in living together BEFORE marriage. she drank alcohol! and she believed in exercise.

[my type of gal!]

the tour of her home is fascinating. her father was a huge deal [artist & photographer] in the late 1800's & a lot of his work is still visible in new ulm today.

stop #3 : 

a rest stop in the park!

orange soda + cookies. 

the town is pretty small & traffic moves slow ; so its a great place to bike for the weekend.

there is a 10+ mile trail, as well.

we biked the trail & rode around town on the roads. the roads are pretty wide & nobody goes above 25mph.

stop #4 : 

schells brewery!

the brew tour is $3. its an hour & you get 7 [!] beer samples, a full glass of your choice & a glass of 1919 root beer [made by the same company]

i grew up with my family drinking schells. 

the brewery sits on the original site, with a beautiful walking garden.

there are wild deer, peacocks, water fountains & lots of history.

fun, right?!
do you live near the town you grew up?
have you been back as an adult & toured around?!
you sure see places with different eyes as you grow up!

: minneapolis-pantz : week 3 : who doesnt love a train from 1930? :

happy friday!

are you ready for another week off mineapolis-pantz?

need to get caught up? week 1 & week 2.

each week, i am sharing one more *amazing* thing to do in minneapolis.

if you live here, i hope you try out a few of these awesome things.

if you dont live here, i hope this feature motivates you to be more of a tourist in your own town.

blake & i live in a really great neighborhood. when you think of a big city, you dont think of tiny libraries, safe neighborhoods, local eateries & miles of bike trails circling lakes.

we are able to bike & walk almost everywhere. we  m a y b e  drive one day a week [mostly to load up on [reusable] bags of groceries]

one of my favorite things about our location?

we have 2 lakes within [15 min] walking distance. one of the lakes has a bandshell with FREE music each night during the summer.

next to the bandshell?!

this awesome streetcar line. there are three different cars [only one is out at a time]. they are original streetcars from the 1920-1950s. you go into the station [an old wooden building], buy your [$2] token & board the train. you have two conductors, who answer questions & really make you feel like you are in the 1930's. the ride takes about 15-20 minutes.

we were the only two on board, which was fun because we got to ask so many questions.

if you live in the cities, i highly recommend taking the streetcar. its affordable & all the money goes back to keeping the trains restored & in great condition. all the conductors are volunteers who love trains.

we have lived in the cities for almost 2 years now & this was probably one of my favorite things we have ever done here.

do you have an unknown gem in your town?! id LOVE to hear about it.

better yet, if you would like to share a favorite spot of yours [no matter where you live], YOU could be the next minneapolis-pantz post!

send me an email OR leave a comment! [dianapantz[at]gmail[dot]com]

: minneapolis-pantz : exploring my city : week 2 : all-night biking event

hey everybody!
week two of minneapolis-pantz!
what is it? 
well, minneapolis-pantz is a new feature focusing on the beautiful [and super accessible!] things that happen in this great city.
today, i have a bunch of fun photos to share.

last week was 'bike walk week' here in the city. each day, there were different events, happening all over the place.
saturday night, there were two big events. the greenway glow + northern spark.

last week, i talked about the midtown greenway. b & i volunteered for a fun nighttime bike event that happened on the greenway.

after directing bikes, we biked to the river for the northern spark.
what was it?
its an all-night bike event ; started at 9pm & ended at 6am.

there were 200 artists ALL over the city that were doing different art exhibits & installations.
we only stayed til 2am, because goodness knows i cant stay up that late anymore.
*also, because it was dark [hellllo, middle of the night!], i didnt get a lot of great shots of the art works!

yes, he is riding a giant firefly bike!

what a cool thing though, to be outside, on a bike with thousands of other bikes!

for those of you that live in minneapolis, did you attend northern spark this year? what did you think?!

and if you dont live here, have you ever been to an all-night event like this?!

i watched this girl put a firecracker on the back of her bike.

its cute until you burn your butt

: minneapolis-pantz : exploring my city : week 1 :

hey everybody!
i am still participating in the 365  photo-a-day challenge BUT instead of recapping my weekly photos, i thought i would share a few photos of NEW places // events // discoveries we are making in minneapolis.

back in 2007, i lived in minneapolis for 18 months, but was in a [very!] different place in my life. i didnt enjoy the city the way i do now.
so, when i moved back & blake moved here in the fall of 2010, we have been keeping a long list of events & places we have wanted to explore & experience.

i thought this would be fun to share what we have been up to, plus a great way to document all the things we love about this city [and state!]

this week?
the midtown greenway! the greenway is a 5.5 mile biking // walking trail in south minneapolis. it connects the lakes to the light rail system. we use the greenway at least 3-5 times a week. the trails are smooth & totally isolated from cars.
the greenway connects to a bunch of trails that will take you to outer suburbs and hundreds of miles of other trails!

we dog sit for friends quite a bit & they live right on the greenway. so, along with biking the trails, we also love taking the dogs for long walks.

every couple of blocks, there is a bridge connecting the city streets. at one point, you can even walk underneath the interstate! the walking trail is clearly marked to keep dogs // strollers // runners safe from the bikers.

beautiful, sunny, spring days means THOUSANDS of bikers using the trails. the bike this [random] girl is riding is a 'nice ride' bike ; that means its part of a bike sharing program here in in the city. there are thousands of bikes at hundreds of sharing stations that anybody can use for the hour // day // afternoon.

because the trail is a bit secluded, there have been a handful of scary incidents that have happened at night. the greenway runs a program called 'trail watch'. they are a volunteer group of folks that patrol the greenway at night to keep everything safe. blake has been volunteering for a while, but i want to get in on it, too. this month, i will also start volunteering for the trail watch.

detailed signs like this are super useful for folks who are new to the trail. i know when i started riding, direction & 'rule' signs really helped me.

i love this shot. throughout the trail, there are community gardens, flowers & benches for sitting & breaking.

lots of photos + a long walk = a tired pup.

fun, right?

tell us : where do you live? how do you celebrate the seasons?

and do you live // use to live in minneapolis // minnesota?! 

what places would YOU like to see here?

enjoy your weekend!