King's Arms Tavern

If you are exploring Colonial Williamsburg and need a place to eat lunch or dinner, make a stop at King's Arms Tavern (best make reservations, though).

With most of the menu dating from the 1800s or the original menu of the tavern.

We ordered the pork chop (shoat) and the beef tenderloin. Both were very good and served with seasonal vegetables.

On the very, very hot summer day we were visiting Colonial Williamsburg, something cold and refreshing to drink. The wine cooler - made with lemonade and raspberry wine served over ice, was the perfect refreshment. Ice cold, refreshing, delicious.

This is Oktoberfest

Maypole Dancing at Busch Gardens Oktoberfest

Practicing marching at Colonial Williamsburg

Big Daddy Falls at Water Country USA

Sofitel Minneapolis

The Sofitel Minneapolis is a perfect hotel for anyone visiting the Twin Cities who wants to avoid the over-priced hotels in Minneapolis.  The hotel is about a 15 minute drive from Minneapolis and 25 minutes from St. Paul, making it easy to get to the cities.  However, the hotel is usually almost half the price of the inner-city counterparts.

Located right on the edge of Bloomington, MN, the Sofitel looks a little plain from the outside.  However, once you enter the front door, you'll gaze at the open-air lobby with amazement.  The French-chain hotel did an outstanding job of creating an ambiance to make guests feel welcome and feel like they are staying in a luxurious hotel.

The front desk staff is quite friendly and greets everyone with a "Bonjour!".  Once we reached our room, we found it extremely clean.  The bathroom was quite nice with a glass door shower and as soon as you laid down on the bed, you didn't want to get up.

I'd highly recommend this hotel to anyone who is visiting the Twin Cities or the Mall of America!

Rice Park

Charles Schultz, the creator of the infamous Peanuts comic strip and its characters, was born in Minneapolis in 1922 and grew up across the river in St. Paul.  As one of the Twin Cities most famous sons, statues of his creations were erected in Rice Park in downtown St. Paul in the early 2000's.  

This small park, has the Peanuts characters in some of their most famous poses in bronze.  Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and more are all here to get their picture taken with you, and it's free to do.  

If your a fan of Peanuts, you should definitely make a quick stop here when in the region and say hi to your favorite one.  You never know...they may talk back!