Roseville ‘perfectly positioned’ in Twin Cities
When we travel, we tend to stay near at least one of the attractions we plan to visit. So, when we travel to the Twin Cities in Minnesota, we tend to stay downtown or near the Mall of America. Our recent trip to Minnesota gave us an opportunity to change that up. And are we glad we did. We were invited to visit Roseville, a suburb of the Cities.
Our visit to Roseville allowed us to check out a few area attractions away from the hustle and bustle of downtown or the Mall of America, while still allowing us easy access to those attractions and more. We used our hotel at the Courtyard by Marriott as our base of operations for the weekend. The neat thing about Roseville is that it wasn’t more than about a 20-minute drive from anywhere we wanted to go. The city promotes itself as “perfectly positioned” between the Twin Cities.
Roseville is a city of about 33,000 people. But, it has a small town feel to it. It’s easy to get around town, so using it as a base of operations for a visit is perfect. We loved the fact that it’s about a 15-minute drive from US Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. The stadium is home to the Minnesota Vikings, our favorite team. We took two trips to check out the stadium and its surroundings. Depending on where we stayed before, that may not have been possible.
Our first trip to the stadium coincided with a jaunt to the Midtown Global Market. The market offers food and wares with international flare. A 20-minute drive from Roseville, our hourlong visit to the market whetted our appetite for a return trip to the area to scope out public art and a few more attractions. And the food.
I’m not a fan of night driving in large cities, so when we visited the first annual “Pumpkin Nights” event at the state fairgrounds in St. Paul, the 10-minute drive seemed like a walk in the park. When we reached the Roseville city limits on the trip back to the hotel, I was honestly surprised about the quick drive.
Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, another nearby attraction, is near the fairgrounds. we enjoyed our visit there. The free attraction is home to zoo featuring a variety of animals – such as primates, lions, tigers and a polar bear – and a conservatory with some beautiful plants and trees.
The conservatory has a Japanese garden, with a beautiful walking path. Some of the trees and plants were gifts from St. Paul’s sister city, Nagasaki (yes, as in THAT Nagasaki). St. Paul was the first American city to participate in the Sister city program.
Roseville is even only about 22 minutes from the Mall of America.
Hockey is big in Minnesota. Duh! How big though? Kids around 5 were at the Roseville hockey rink at about 9 a.m. to practice and play. The arena also has an outdoor rink – the John Rose Oval. As temperatures fall and water freezes, the oval is set up into several ice sheets for young hockey players to skate on.
With Fall in full swing, Lisa loves to see the foliage colors. So, we headed off to one of several beautiful parks in Roseville. Central Park is home to a nice lake, ball fields (a softball game was in action in mid-October). The lake was surrounded by colorful trees, so we took in the scenery. The park seemed popular with joggers and walkers, as well.
Rosedale Center will likely never challenge the Mall of America for its millions of visitors. However, the indoor mall provided a nice shopping experience for us. The mall, combined with six additional nearby shopping outlets, makes Rosedale one of the leading retail areas in the Upper Midwest.
The Rosedale Center has anchor merchants, such as Macy’s, Herberger’s and JC Penney, to smaller stores. We checked out a few, including Goldy’s Locker Room (Minnesota sports store), Build a Bear and Lids.
Bent Brewstillery is Minnesota’s only brewery and distillery. It’s one of a few in the United States. The owners create their drinks with a unique taste each year. They will age beer in a barrell previously used for vodka, gin or whiskey. It creates a different taste each time. The beers we tasted were excellent.
Roseville has a nice selection of restaurants. We always try to eat local when we travel. Joe Sensors Sports Theater was a lunch stop for us. It’s an official Husker fan bar during the football season, so we knew we could watch the game there. Joe Sensor is a former Viking, too, so that always comes in handy. The game was easy to watch on several of the large screen TVs surrounding the dining room. We met a few Husker fans there. The food was outstanding. I had a French Dip sandwich, which was made perfectly.
For breakfast one day, we tried the Original Pancake House. While it’s an international chain based in Portland, Oregon, it was new to us. The food was excellent. They serve a lot of it, so you may want to share a meal.
As I mentioned previously, we used the Courtyard by Marriott as our base of operations during our weekend visit. The hotel was in the perfect location for us. It was also a great stay. The room was spacious. The work station was exactly what I needed. The bed was so comfy I actually kind of overslept (for me) one morning.
The breakfast menu at the hotel was nice. It offered hot and cold meals. I went with a sausage and egg order. The meal was prepared to my liking. Lisa enjoyed her breakfast of French toast, as well.
The hotel is attractive. The lobby area has a bar, business center and lounge. We enjoyed watching football pregame shows, as well as some games there later in the evening.
Our trip to Roseville was a great one. We are already planning to stay there again next summer when we visit the Minnesota State Fair. We recommend staying in Roseville as an alternative to the larger cities. You’ll appreciate the options it has to offer.
For more information on Roseville, please visit www.visitroseville.com.
Disclaimer: Thank you to Visit Roseville for the complimentary hotel accommodations and a $25 gift card to Rosedale Center. However, all opinions and views are ours.
