The One with a Bunch of Minnesota History

This weekend we found ourselves with a free Saturday. What does one do on a beautiful Minnesota Saturday? You visit an indoor museum.

In order for you to understand our decision to visit museums you need to know something about me. I'm the kind of person who likes to zag when everyone else is zigging. I avoid crowds whenever I can. I have a name for the hordes of people who descend on the State Fair, Zoo, Valley Fair, and Disney World: "Them". I like going to all of those places. I just don't like going with "Them".

We had to ask ourselves what "They" would be doing on a beautiful Saturday. We decided that we didn't want to go to the State Fair or Como Zoo with "Them", so we decided to head to the James J. Hill house in St. Paul.

Noah was excited to see the James J. Hill house because he's never seen a mansion, I was excited because we were zagging, Mark & Austin were just excited that I was happy to avoid "Them." We all had fun learning about the history of this amazing house built by the railroad tycoon James J. Hill. It was very impressive to see the craftsmanship in this 36,000 square foot home on Summit Ave. The boys were excited to hear that the Hill children were all homeschooled for a portion of their lives. There was even a bona fide school room in the mansion!

When we were done with the mansion tour, we took a little time to stop at the Minnesota History Center. We have a family Minnesota Historical Society membership. We get free admission to many state history locations such as the James J. Hill house and the History Center. It makes it a lot easier to just make a quick visit to any of these locations. I highly recommend purchasing a membership. We pay for ours over and over again throughout the year.

We made a quick stop at the History Center's weather exhibit. The boys are always impressed with experiencing the mock tornado. We also visited the Greatest Generation exhibit. This was the first time we had visited this particular exhibit. They focus on the 30s and 40s with an emphasis on WWII. We were able to see a tank and go through a flight simulator as para troopers. The whole exhibit left an impression on us all. It made me so grateful for those in the military and all they've done for our country.