Day 125 - The Drive to Minneapolis, MN

This morning we filled up on the free breakfast and coffee at the Hampton Inn in Sioux City before getting on the road towards Minneapolis.

The drive through Iowa was very similar to Nebraska the day before. There was a lot of corn!

Just before we crossed the border into Minnesota, we drove past the highest point in Iowa, Hawkeye Point. At 1,670ft, it wasn’t very high compared to the mountains we have seen but for a state that is pretty much completely flat, it’s probably a huge height in comparison.

We crossed the border into Minnesota in the middle of corn fields and headed into the city of Worthington where we stopped for gas. When we got out of the car, we could smell something odd. We looked around and saw a pork factory opposite the gas station, we were smelling pork scratchings! The smell was so overpowering, rather than making us crave a bag, we were glad to get back on the road and to the smell of the countryside.

Asides from all the corn stores to get excited by, we were also surprised by the number of roundabouts. Never before did we even think we would get excited by a roundabout, especially when in our home town we have so many but when you really only have corn to keep you company on a long drive, a roundabout is a nice distraction. At the start of this trip, we thought roundabouts were unique to New England but we have seen them all over the US, in particularly around new developments where we assume its easier to put in a roundabout rather than stop signals. We have been surprised at how many we have seen in the middle states where we least expected them.

Once we reached the town of Mankato, we picked up Scenic Highway 169 which was supposed to run alongside the Minnesota River. We didn't see much of the river on this drive, just more corn, corn stores and the occasional train! The trip did take us through the cute town of St Peter and with a little more time, this is probably a town we could have explore a little more but we had a game to get to at our next destination.

We finally reached the Interstate which took us into downtown Minneapolis and to the Embassy Suites where we were staying for the next two nights. The hotel was perfectly located in the downtown area, close to the baseball stadium, walkable to the metro and close to plenty to shops, restaurants and bars to keep us entertained.

As we walked into the hotel, it was heaving with sports fans who had come to watch the two baseball matches on whilst we were there and the first American Football game of the season. This could turn into a party weekend!!