One Fine Weekend in Roseville, Minnesota

September 21, 2016

Disclosure: The Roseville Visitors Association and the Courtyard Marriott Minneapolis St. Paul / Roseville hosted our stay in Roseville. However, all opinions are my own.

One Fine Day is a series inspired by my favorite now-defunct Chicago Tribune column of the same title. The posts in this series are short, sweet, sometimes themed, and always a charming snapshot of a city.

Over the years, I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Minneapolis and St. Paul visiting friends and exploring the cities. However, it wasn’t until this summer that I experienced the cities’ wonderful suburb of Roseville, Minnesota.

Located just north of St. Paul and slightly east of Minneapolis, Roseville offers delicious dining, superb shopping, and an impressive handful of hotels. Typically in One Fine Day, I’ll share my favorite way to spend 24 hours in one city. But we had such a great time exploring what all three cities have to offer, I knew I couldn’t consolidate everything into just one day. Instead, it seemed more appropriate to share how to have one wonderful weekend in Roseville, Minnesota.

We started our weekend with a visit to Bent Brewstillery, a local favorite that’s part craft brewery and part small batch distillery. The Nordic Blonde and Bent Anchor poitín were both fast favorites. But you really can’t go wrong with anything on their menu.

After sampling truly stellar local brews, we headed to our hotel. We spent the weekend at the Minneapolis St. Paul / Roseville Courtyard Marriott, which served as a wonderful home away from home during our trip.

After a long day of exploring, there was nothing better than relaxing on our insanely comfortable bed and unwinding with a little HGTV. In the cool mornings, we enjoyed sipping our morning coffee in the serene courtyard seating just off the hotel lobby. I think it’s safe to say that everything about our stay was perfect, right down to the fair-themed art on the walls.

Our main reason for visiting Roseville was to experience our first Minnesota State Fair. We woke up bright and early to get to the “Great Minnesota Get Together”—as Minnesotans affectionately call it—before the crowds. Our hotel was located conveniently close to one of the fair’s free park and ride locations, and after a short bus ride we emerged onto the fair grounds.

We spent a full day exploring all of the Minnesota State Fair’s traditions and sampling its many food offerings. While the Iowa State Fair will always have a special place in my heart, we can’t wait to get back up north again next year.

The next day we explored new areas of neighboring Minneapolis and St. Paul (more to come on that later).

After a day of exploring the Twin Cities, we grabbed dinner at the Roseville, Minnesota location of New Bohemia a traditional “wurst and bier haus” that offers delicious sausage and a wide variety of craft beers. We snacked on sausages on the patio and tried to pick our jaws up off the floor when our waitress brought out what could definitely qualify as world’s largest (and most delicious) soft pretzel.

Need to fit in a little shopping? Look no further than the Rosedale Center. As someone who’s overwhelmed at the thought of the Mall of America, Rosedale Center was perfect. The location offered all of our favorites without the massive crowds or confusing layout. We took advantage of some seriously amazing Labor Day sales at a few of our favorite shops in this perfectly positioned mall before heading home.