Dakotas & Minnesota – July 2026

July 5 – 11, 2026

A road trip through Minnesota and the Dakotas completed our 50 states, with national parks, roadside stops, and baseball.

Link to our Route

Day 1 – St. Paul, MN

Minneapolis – State #48 for us!
Watched Fargo for the first time on the plane – a fitting warm-up for a road trip through the Dakotas.
Locals call Minneapolis and St. Paul the Twin Cities, a nod to how the two cities grew up practically on top of each other, separated only by the Mississippi River.
Downtown St. Paul – Peanuts sculptures, Landmark Center, and Rice Park. We also saw the Cathedral of Saint Paul, the State Capitol, and several historic homes, including the Governor’s Mansion and the rowhouse where F. Scott Fitzgerald revised his debut novel, This Side of Paradise, while living on the third floor.
Stone Arch Bridge & Gold Medal Flour Building – The Stone Arch Bridge was built in 1883 by railroad magnate James J. Hill and is the only stone arch bridge spanning the Mississippi River. The flour building sits on the site of the 1878 Washburn A Mill explosion, when accumulated flour dust ignited and caused a deadly blast.
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden – Home to the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry, created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen and installed in 1988, along with an impressive collection of contemporary outdoor sculptures.
Baldamar (Dinner) – Absolutely amazing. We had filet mignon, an artichoke with mascarpone, honey, and pistachio dust, Peter’s wagyu burger, and the Bread Is Life appetizer – warm French bread served with strawberry butter, chimichurri, and jalapeño butter. To die for.
Graduate Hotel (Hotel) – Right in the middle of the University of Minnesota campus, home to the Golden Gophers…and apparently a flock of turkeys wandering around campus.

Days 2-3 – Sioux Falls, SD

A 4.5-hour drive from St. Paul, with a few stops along the way.
SuperTarget – A quick snack run to stock up for the road. Target is headquartered in Minneapolis, and the company traces its roots to a dry-goods store founded there in 1902.
Spam Museum (Austin, MN) – A free, Hormel-run museum in Austin, aka SPAM Town USA, covering the history and cultural reach of the canned meat since it was introduced in 1937 as a way to use surplus pork shoulder. Peter wore his SPAM shirt from Hawaii for the occasion. A fun and entertaining free stop.
Jolly Green Giant Statue (Blue Earth, MN) – A 55-foot statue towering over Blue Earth, with a small museum next door run by the local Chamber of Commerce. It has been standing since 1979 and still attracts more than 10,000 visitors each year.
South Dakota – State #49!
Sioux Falls – The metro population is around 310,000, smaller than Chattanooga’s metro area, but the city feels modern and has a strong startup culture. Its history of civic leadership and intentional development shows. Falls Park, the river greenway, SculptureWalk, Phillips Avenue, and the Steel District have all seen serious public and private investment, giving downtown a modern, vibrant feel.
Falls Park – A free viewing tower overlooking the falls and our hotel. Pink Sioux Quartzite is everywhere downtown, and the stone is well over a billion years old.
Bike Trails / Greenway Loop – We borrowed e-bikes from the hotel one morning and spent about 2.5 hours looping around town, mostly following the paved trail along the river.
Arc of Dreams – A public art installation and one of the most photographed spots in town. Two 100-foot stainless-steel arcs stretch over the Big Sioux River, leaving a 15-foot gap at the top. The gap represents the leap of faith between dreaming something and actually doing it. The sculpture was funded by donations from more than 700 local families and businesses.
SculptureWalk Sioux Falls – An outdoor gallery with new sculptures installed throughout downtown every spring. Most are available for purchase, and the brochure maps them out along with their prices, which ranged from $1,800 to $96,000.
Corn Palace (Mitchell, SD) – Founded in 1892, with the current building dating to 1921. It serves as an event venue and features murals made from locally grown corn – around 275,000 ears in total. The nine outdoor murals change every year. This year’s theme was 250 Years of America. Once the season ends, birds and squirrels slowly pick the murals apart, earning it the nickname “the world’s largest bird feeder.”
Porter Sculpture Park (Montrose, SD) – A quirky little park filled with welded sculptures created by a local artist. We wandered through, reading his poetry and admiring the work. Think Howard Finster if he had picked up a welder. Admission was $10 per person. The guestbook entry right before ours was from a couple in Chatsworth, Georgia. Small world!
The Attic East Bar and Grill (Dinner) – We tried chislic, a South Dakota specialty made with cubes of steak or lamb. We also had house-made fry bread and Indian tacos – basically tacos served on top of fry bread.
Stensland Family Farms Creamery (Larchwood, IA) – About a 25-minute drive from Sioux Falls, including a few dirt roads through cornfields, led us to a farm store operating on the honor system. We had the place entirely to ourselves while enjoying ice cream sandwiches. They also have a shop in Sioux Falls for anyone wanting a more convenient scoop.
Chef Lance’s on Phillips (Dinner) – Cheese curds, followed by beef Wellington for me and pork Wellington for Peter.
Canopy Hotel (Hotel) – We stayed two nights right beside the falls. The hotel was new, very nice, and located in the Steel District, a new mixed-use development.

Day 4 – Fargo, ND

North Dakota – State #50!
Best for Last Club (Visit Fargo-Moorhead Center) – North Dakota was our 50th state, so we picked up our certificate and T-shirt and took photos with the wood chipper from Fargo.
Brewhalla – A brewery, hotel, food hall, and collection of local shops all under one roof.
Roger Maris Museum – Tucked inside West Acres Mall, this small museum is dedicated to the Yankees slugger who grew up in Fargo and broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record by hitting 61 in 1961.
Plains Art Museum – A small contemporary art museum. The modern quilt exhibit was my favorite. Textile-art nerd moment.
Unicorn Park (Lunch) – Excellent smash burgers inside Brewhalla.
Duchessa Gelato (Dessert) – Also conveniently located inside Brewhalla.
Mezzaluna (Dinner) – A great date-night restaurant. The burrata and tri-tip were both fabulous.
Element by Westin (Hotel) – We used a Marriott free-night certificate. No frills, but a solid place to crash for the night.

Days 5-6 – International Falls, MN & Voyageurs National Park

A 4.5-hour drive north, with a couple of detours along the way.
Mississippi River Headwaters (Itasca State Park) – We stopped to see the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The river is only a few feet wide here, and you can walk across it on a line of rocks right at the source.
Paul Bunyan & Babe the Blue Ox Statues (Bemidji, MN) – The famous oversized roadside statues in Bemidji are a classic slice of Americana and an easy photo stop on the way through town. Built in 1937 for a winter carnival, they are reportedly the second-most-photographed statues in the country, behind Mount Rushmore.
Voyageurs National Park (Rainy Lake) – The park was established in 1975 and named for the French Canadian voyageurs who paddled the region’s fur-trading routes two centuries ago. We visited the park headquarters and took a private boat tour with Bruce Jean, a middle school principal in Minneapolis who runs a 30-person guiding crew on Rainy Lake each summer, among several other entrepreneurial ventures. An interesting guy and a great guide. The National Park Service also offers tours, but the timing did not work for us. Book early if you want to get out on the water. Bruce’s tour: voyageursnationalparktour.com
Thunderbird Lodge (Dinner) – Our tour boat departed from the docks right outside the lodge, so we made dinner reservations for when we returned. We tried two kinds of walleye: lemon-crusted walleye and walleye fingers. We also caught Nashville up-and-comer Colton Dawson playing in the bar.
Airbnb Loft (Hotel) – We stayed in a loft in downtown International Falls, near Voyageurs National Park.

Days 7-8 – Duluth & Back to St. Paul / Minneapolis

Duluth, MN – We stopped for a few hours to explore Canal Park, where massive freighters pass beneath the historic Aerial Lift Bridge and enter the world’s largest inland freshwater port along the shores of Lake Superior.
Thunderbirds Air Show Practice – We watched Air Force jets practicing for the next day’s air show from a Costco parking lot. Sometimes the best viewing spots are also the least glamorous.
At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe (Lunch) – A cute local spot with delicious eggs Benedict.
Minneapolis Twins Game – We checked another MLB ballpark off our list. We showed up with our captain’s hats ready for Yacht Rock Night, only to discover the event had been moved to another date. Instead, they had professional wrestling after the game. We did not stay up for that one.
Element Minneapolis (Hotel) – We stayed right beside the ballpark, making it an easy walk to Target Field.