Winter Escape for Two in Minnesota’s Sweet Spot

A Getaway for Two

Once the holiday rush has faded and winter starts to feel monotonous, take a break from everyday demands. Leave the kids, work, and responsibilities behind for time spent together in Minnesota’s Sweet Spot.

Weekend Highlights

• Spa
• Food
• Shopping
• Outdoor Activities
• Attractions
• Drinks

Friday

Afternoon

After checking into your hotel, begin the weekend with a couples massage at SALT Salon Spa Café. The visit opens with a foot soak and exfoliation, followed by a 60-minute full body massage and oil scalp massage treatment inside the peaceful Himalayan Salt Room. As halotherapy specialists, SALT creates an experience intended to improve your mood, help purify your respiratory system, boost your immunity and more.

Evening

Settle in for dinner at Hazelwood Food + Drink, where familiar comfort food receives a fine-dining treatment. The menu is known for black angus 28-day-aged steaks, fresh seafood, wood fired pizza and rotisserie chicken. Begin with the boursin artichoke dip, then consider the lobster mac & cheese, prepared in a wood fired clay pot with five different cheeses and caramelized onions. A glass of Milbrandt Riesling or William Hill Chardonnay makes a fitting pairing. Finish with Grandma Betty’s chocolate cake, made with Callebaut chocolate and cocoa cream frosting.

Saturday

Morning

Spend the morning in the Historic Walker Lake District. At The Block Food + Drink, toast your time together with a rapsberry mimosa. Their signature flaky buttermilk biscuits include playful choices such as I’m Eggs Sausaged Biscuit Sandwich. Another option is the pacos: three mini pancakes filled with cheesy scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon and green onions, then finished with spicy pepper jam and maple syrup. Vegan selections are also available, along with a dog-friendly pawtio featuring its own dog menu. Photograph yourselves beside the Minnesota-themed mural bearing the words With love from SLP and share the moment with loved ones.

Not far away, sota clothing offers Minnesota merchandise with a polished, understated sensibility. Minnesota native Spencer Johnson created the store, whose selection ranges from hoodies and hats to drinkware and artwork. Many pieces use the brand’s signature image of two crossed oars alongside the state outline. As an added benefit, Minnesota has no sales tax on clothing and shoes. At sota’s Minnesota-themed selfie station, the side of the building provides another photo backdrop: a state outline featuring You betcha and the state’s unofficial mascots, giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan and his friend Babe the Blue Ox.

Theodore Wirth Regional Park

With fresh winter apparel in hand, head outdoors at Theodore Wirth Regional Park, home to some of the area’s best cold-weather recreation. Rent skis from The Trailhead and explore Theodore Wirth’s Word Cup class cross-country ski trails. Skate-style and classical skiers alike can choose among open stretches with striking downtown Minneapolis views and wooded routes overlooking scenic lakes. Fat tire biking, snowshoeing, snow tubing and snowboarding lessons are additional ways to enjoy the park.

Afternoon

Take a late lunch at Yangtze Chinese, which serves classic Hunan, Szechuan, Mandarin and Cantonese cuisine. Weekends bring a particularly extensive dim sum menu. The restaurant was named a 2021 Best of Minnesota Reader’s Choice award winner by the Star Tribune.

Fired Up Studios

If the pottery scenes in the movie Ghost appeal to you, make time for a clay date at Fired Up Studios. During the two-hour class, you can work at a potter’s wheel and shape an original pot, with the possibility of getting clay on your clothes along the way. Bring your sense of fun; the studio handles the rest.

Evening

For dinner, visit D’Amico & Sons, an Italian café with pastas, wood-oven pizzas, entrées, salads, sandwiches and desserts. Possible choices include the Lasagna Bolognese or grilled salmon with asparagus and house-made pesto. Order a bottle of pinot noir by J or La Crema to accompany the meal; both appear on the menu.

Continue the evening in the area’s unofficial distillery district. Copperwing Distillery, located across the parking lot from Dampfwerk Distillery, produces Vodskey and FRESAS, a strawberry gin. Dampfwerk Distillery is family-owned and specializes in German-style brandies and herbal liqueurs. Each destination offers its own flavors and inventive cocktails, and both stay open until 12 am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Sunday

Morning

Use Sunday for a slower start. After sleeping in and enjoying a restful night, head to CRAVE American Kitchen & Sushi Bar for a late breakfast. Begin with beignets tossed in cinnamon sugar and served with caramel macchiato anglaise. Entrée possibilities include lobster avocado toast and a breakfast chimichanga with jalapeño brie cheese sauce. The menu also includes brioche French toast, fluffy buttermilk pancakes, breakfast bowls, benedicts, veggie/vegan entrées and sushi. Complement brunch with a blueberry or peach mimosa or another brunch cocktail.

Afternoon

Burn off some of the weekend’s decadent meals at the ROC, St. Louis Park’s signature outdoor covered skating rink. Rental skates are available, and anyone feeling unsteady on the ice has a good reason to hold hands.

Before heading to the airport or beginning the drive home, there are several more possibilities. Snowshoe through more than three miles of trails at Westwood Hills Nature Center, try outdoor pub curling at Brookview without needing to sweep the broom, or visit the Pavek Museum to see its collection of antique radios, televisions and broadcasting equipment.

End Your Weekend Rejuvenated

The hope is that Minnesota’s Sweet Spot leaves you feeling rejuvenated and reconnected. This itinerary offers only a sample of the available possibilities; use the list of Experiences to continue planning your trip.