Having Family Fun at Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis [PHOTOS]

There's nothing better than being a tourist in your own backyard.  I love traveling within two hours of St. Cloud and discovering new places to check out.  I headed to Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis over the weekend and had an awesome time enjoying the shopping and dinning.  There's so many great restaurants, shops and things to see.  I put together a couple of "must-see" places in my opinion.

Our first stop for drinks was at this cool Irish Pub called The Local.  This place brags about pouring the largest volume of Jameson Whiskey in the world and offers an awesome variety of Beers, from Guinness to Finnegan's and everything in between.  Friendly staff and from what I could tell an amazing menu.  You won't be disappointed if you pop in for a drink or two :)

Now I've been to both The News Room and Dakota Jazz Club several times in the past, you can't go wrong with the dining at either and the live music at the Dakota is second to none.  I had the chance to see the legendary John Oates and Stephen Kellogg there.  Stage is right in the middle of the dining area and its intimate enough to feel like the stars are singing directly to you.

Beautiful Inside and Out!

There were too many shops to name but of course no stop would be complete without visiting the huge Target at Nicollet Mall.  My daughter Macy managed to get her favorite visiting Aunt Susie to stop there a "few times" over the weekend.

Another cool thing was all the art / sculptures you could see the lining the streets at Nicollet Mall.

So many great places to shop, eat, see a show and more. Please take an afternoon to discover all the great things to see and do at Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis. PS we found a great way to get around while visiting :)

We stayed at the Hilton downtown and everything was within walking distance. That was certainly helpful.