MaltTees

A few weeks ago, I posted about my affinity for online deals. This may be becoming more of a problem as my enthusiasm for such deals begins to border on fanatical.

But, I did hear that the people who get the most pleasure out of spending their money are those who spend money on experiences rather than things. According to that logic, my Groupon fanaticism will make me a happier person in the end. Fine by me. 🙂

The latest deal I purchased was for a place in Richfield called MaltTees Mini Golf and Malt Shop. This deal was clearly not to be passed up given that drinking milkshakes and playing mini golf are two of Noah’s and my favorite pastimes. The deal was almost too good to be true! For $20, you get two rounds of mini golf, a surrey rental, $5 credit towards the malt shop, and two pumpkins. Whaaaaaat a deal, right?!

MaltTees is located within Victory Memorial Park, and we enjoyed a thirty minute bike ride to get there. After arriving, it was straight to the mini golf course:

Since we were keeping score, things got pretty serious:

Noah took home the win this time due to some mental lapses on my part….to be avenged another day!

By the end of the round, we were ready for a snack. Due in part, I’m sure, to some not-so-subtle product placement within the course:

The malt shop offered a basic menu of concessions-style food as well as several malt/shake varieties:

Although tempted by the pumpkin flavored malt…

…we settled on oreo and m&m:

After the shakes, it was on to the pumpkin patch:

As you can tell from the bouncy houses in the background, we were a bit older than the average consumer of this deal. #kid.at.heart

Although we were entitled to two pumpkins with our deal, we realized that we only had my bike bag to transport things home in, so we were limited to one small-ish pumpkin. We found the best one in the whole patch:

and then nestled it cutely into the bike bag:

All in all, this was a great activity and we had a lot of fun. If anything, we would have liked more time to walk around the park, but we had to get home for other things.

Let there be LIGHT

The Twin Cities faced some major storms this week. Big rain, big winds, big wreckage, big time power outage. Yup…over 500,000 people without power. I’m going on 3 days now…and I’m not holding my breath. But, I am getting creative with solutions:

Plus, it could be worse. This could be my car:

Or I could have been hiding behind this tree:

So what does one do when there’s no electricity? Well, in my case, I find a boyfriend who has power (thanks, boo). But, more seriously, maximize the daylight! How? Easy: food and fun.

Today, food manifest itself in the Finnish Bistro in the Como neighborhood.

This adorable bistro is connected to a Dunn Brothers, but it has its own unique menu and bakery display case.

The menu was chock full of sandwiches, salads, soup, and breakfast dishes. We ordered a caprese sandwich and a yogurt parfait:

Both were delicious! The sandwich came with ample amounts of pesto, and the yogurt parfait included a generous portion of berries.

With food out of the way…time to move onto fun! This included a bike ride into downtown St Paul ending at the Science Museum.

During the warmer months, the Science Museum includes an outdoor mini-golf course. After my mini-golfing adventure at the Walker, I’ve been quite keen on the sport. The course at the Science Museum is part of an outdoor garden:

super.cool.

Each hole provides visual and written information about how moving water impacts the landscapes it travels through:

There was even a small garden of strawberries along the course!

We were there right before closing, so we didn’t look through the actual museum at all, but I am looking forward to going back soon to see the museum’s inside!

Mini-Golf…it’s an art

If you have any knowledge of Minneapolis icons, you are probably familiar with the cherry on the spoon sculpture.

This beauty is located at the Walker Sculpture Garden – a must see destination for anyone living in or visiting Minneapolis! The outdoor garden is full of interesting sculptures, green lusciousness, and – best of all – it’s always FREE. This summer, there is an exciting addition to the general sculpture garden attractions: artist designed mini-golf.

If you like:

1. art
2. mini-golf
3. unique community events
4. having fun in general

Then THIS is the event for you. Open 7-days a week until September 8, this installation has two 8-hole mini-golf courses, and each hole is designed by a different artist.

The various holes are a mix of traditional and untraditional mini-golfing. For example, if you use this gnome to help you get your ball in the hole, it doesn’t count towards your stroke count:

One hole plays with the idea of ‘mini’ golf and makes the putter walk into a giant golf ball, only to be immediately turned into a giant themselves, overlooking the Walker and sculpture garden

 

Another favorite required you to steer the ball through a series of holes to try to get the most points:

All of the holes were interesting to look at and included an additional artistic layer beyond what met the eye:

We only golfed one of the 8-hole courses and definitely plan to return before the end of the summer for the other course!