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Minneapolis: Day 1
The final leg of our trip began with us leaving Milwaukee fairly early in the morning, for us anyway. We wanted to make a stop in Chippewa Falls and visit the Leinenkugel's brewery, and it was definitely worth the early departure.
The tour costs five bucks and lasts around 45 minutes. You also get a souvenir glass and five samples of whatever kind of Leinenkugel's many brews they have available at the time.
Tip: Pay attention to the signs around the bar. They have some great recommendations for mixing the different kinds of beers.
The tour was great. Our guide, Ethan, knew all his information and kept it lively with some funny stories and jokes, some funny because of how cheesy they were. The only negative part of the tour was that we couldn't take pictures inside the brewery to share with our wonderful readers. I guess you'll have to take our word for it that it was a fun and informative trip.
The inside of the lodge, which was next to the brewery, was very nice — all wood, resembling a cabin. It had tons of souvenirs, a place to have fun pictures taken of you and those with you, a bar, and a place to buy Leinenkugel's to take home with you.
Five samples wasn't enough for us to try all the different brews they had, so we thought about paying another five bucks for a tour just so we could get the wristband and spend more time at the bar. But, we were on a mission to get to Minneapolis.
We hit the downtown area during rush hour, which made for an unpleasant drive. On the way to our hotel, we picked up our designated hitter for this trip, Nathan. After spending many minutes in slow-moving to stand-still traffic, we finally made it to our hotel, the Marqutte.
Pregame
While checking in, we were told that we had been bumped up to the "Executive Level". Why this happened or what difference it made we weren't quite sure, but we liked the sound of it. The Marquette offered free appetizers from 5-7 p.m. on the top floor, so of course we checked that out before heading to the game.
The spread included cheese and crackers, fruit and a special dish, which for us was breaded jalapeno poppers on the first day and fried shrimp on the second. Both were very good.
After stuffing our faces full of jalapeno poppers, we grabbed our tickets and began the voyage to Target Field, dawning our Twins gear in an effort to fit in with the many others making the trek.
The stadium was very appealing to the eye, reflecting a very modern look with a lot of glass enclosing an area down the right field line. In front of the stadium, there was a small bulldozer promoting all-star hopeful Brian Dozier, who was one of four finalists up for the fan vote to get the last remaining spot on the American League All-Star team (Spoiler alert: He didn't win the vote, but was selected to take the spot of injured Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon).
The game
Our seats were great, sitting in the second section up from the field and just one second from the third base dugout. We thought it was prime foul ball territory, but only one came close to our area.
We knew were in for a treat as David Price was starting on the mound for the Detroit Tigers. He got some early help from his offense, as the Tigers' Ian Kinsler led off with a home run just two pitches into the game.
Minnesota had its chances early in the game, stranding five runners in scoring position through four innings. In the fifth, the Twins finally got to Price. After Dozier reached base on an error, Trevor Plouffe singled the future all-star home to tie the game at 1-all. Two batters later, the ageless Torii Hunter drove in Plouffe for the go-ahead run.
The lead didn't last long as Kinsler recorded his second RBI of the game on a ground out, tying the game at 2-2.
Throughout the game, we realized scarfing down the appetizers was a mistake, as we were still too full to try any of the stadium food. But we weren't full enough to say no to a couple of beers, which were decently priced, compared to other ballparks (around eight bucks a pop).
Detroit recaptured the lead in the eighth inning, as Kinsler, once again, came through with an RBI double. Yoenis Cespedes made it back-to-back RBI doubles as he drove in Kinsler for a 4-2 lead and the final run of the game.
Price finished the game with eight innings pitched and gave up just five hits, zero earned runs and struck out eight.
Nightlife
Once we got back to our hotel, we debated on whether we should get a bite to eat before going out, but we ultimately elected to go with a liquid dinner for the night.Our first stop was a piano bar called The Shout House. It was a Thursday night, so we didn't expect the bar to be packed, but there were roughly 20 people inside. Lucky for us, the Thursday night specials included no cover charge and cheap Long Island Iced Tea.
We had a couple beers and then switched to Long Islands — the best decision we could have made. After a couple of those delicious drinks, we started having a little more fun with our requests. We swapped jokes with the piano players and decided to order some more Long Islands and make this our final destination of the night.
The pianists were great. They knew just about every song requested, going to a phone to look up the music less than a handful of times. After closing time, we expressed our appreciation for their talents, and they (Kevin, Terry, Mikey and Philly, who was not pictured) were kind enough to take a picture with us.
We told the guys about our adventure and how much we enjoyed the show. They said if we came back the next night, we could get in without paying the required cover charge. Around that time, our lack of food intake hit us.
We parted ways from the Shout House and started wandering the downtown area. Our cravings were pretty consistent with our Chicago trip, as we found a pizza place similar to the one in Wrigleyville. But the one in Minneapolis was more crowded and ultimately not as rewarding of an experience. But it was still pizza at 2 a.m., so it hit the spot.
Minneapolis: Day 2
We all had one certainty on our agenda for our final day of vacation in Minneapolis: Go to the Mall of America. But before that, we stopped at a couple food trucks for lunch.
Name a style of food, and there was a truck for it. There was barbeque, pizza, burritos, Chinese food — pretty much anything you wanted. We all got some burrito and quickly inhaled them. It was definitely the right choice of truck.
We picked up a day pass on the train for six bucks, and took the 20-minute ride to the Mall. Once we got inside, we were quickly overwhelmed.
The four of us first walked through the Nickelodeon Universe. It may have been made with the kids' interest in mind, but it was fun to see some of the stuff they had. There were carnival rides, life-size puzzle activities, and even a zip line from one end of the Universe to the other.
We walked through a few of the four levels of stores offered, stopping in ones that peaked our interests. After a couple of hours Ben and Nate stopped for a 20-minute massage. Ben fell asleep during his.
Probably one of the highlights was the Lego store. It was astonishing to see astounding life-size creations.
We got back to our hotel around 6:30 p.m., exhausted from wiped out from our day at the mall — something we are not used to saying.
We went back up to the "Executive Level" for a little fried shrimp and more cheese and crackers. We watched the end of the Twins-Tigers game, and grew green with jealous rage that we were not at that game.
Minnesota was down 6-1 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Twins cut the lead to 6-5. With just one out in the inning, Dozier, who earlier in the day found out he did not win the fan vote for the final all-star spot, hit a walk-of three-run home run to win the game.
After the shrimp had faded from our stomachs, we hit the downtown area on the hunt for some food. We found a place with a late night menu called Marin. We all got an order of the Duck Tacos and each got a flatbread to go with it. It was all delicious, and the beer choices, including a local beer called Lonely Blonde by Fulton, were very good. The restaurant was all outdoor seating, and with the temperature being just about perfect, it was a great way spend part of our evening.
After that, we went back to the piano bar to say hello to our new friends. Sure enough, they put us on the list the bouncer carried saying we didn't have to pay the cover charge. We enjoyed a few more beers and requested a few more songs, got a shout out from the players, and at closing time we called it a night.
Standings
This was a fun end to our second year of the journey. The Minnesota trip actually beat out the White Sox experience, but, once again, we had to go to the nearest 100th decimal place to get a leader.The bar experience and overall nightlife was great. We had a fun time in the downtown area, and it was easy to get wherever we wanted to go. The crowd during the night was great, and the bars were fun and friendly.
The stadium itself drew huge points in terms of its "sex appeal". The modern look and feel combined with the city skyline in the background was extremely appealing to the eye. The ballpark's appearance was by far the highest scoring factor for this trip.
| Rank | Stadium | Rating |
| 1. | Kauffman Stadium (Royals) | 8.4 |
| 2. | Target Field (Twins) | 8.3 |
| 2. | U.S. Cellular (White Sox) | 8.3 |
| 3. | Wrigley Field (Cubs) | 8.3 |
| 4. | Miller Park (Brewers) | 7.2 |
| 5. | Coors Field (Rockies) | 7.1 |
On deck
That wraps up our journey for this year. Be sure to check back soon as we will be updating the blog to include the where we will be going next year! Also, we'll be posting our thoughts about fun baseball topics and the current MLB season. As always, please feel free to hit us up with suggestions on things to do at any trip we are going on. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, @MLBjourneymen, and check out our Instagram account, mlbjourneymen.
"If you're going to play at all, you're out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose."
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