Minnehaha Park Adventure

I stayed in the US for 2 weeks. I arrived on a Saturday evening and spent my Sunday exploring the Mall of America alone. But on our second weekend, and probably the only weekend where we could explore, we checked out the Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I honestly don’t know what to expect. It was my friends who searched for places we could explore via train (since we don’t have a car in Minneapolis and we all agreed that we can’t drive on the snow if we don't want to have a very painful death).

And one of the first places that came up is the Minnehaha Park. The METRO Blue Line has a Minnehaha Park Station. So it’s literally one train ride away from our hotel and perfect for us.

I was in Minnesota in January. Yep! Just so you know, it’s the coldest time of the year in that place. As in –26C cold. Not a perfect time for this tropical girl. I was literally frozen the entire time. While I’m glad that I was finally able to tick that “Experience snow.” on my checklist, it’s still crazy.

My butt got wet and frozen because I sat on the snow-covered chair but kebs!

We can’t find a warming cabin in the area so we walked for around 30min in the open cold. I was wearing my heat tech (tights + turtleneck), 2 leggings, 2 socks, 2 gloves, jacket, scarf and my beanie. But still, I’m super cold. Di keri mga bes! Yung ginaw, sagad-buto! Pero awra padin for the pictures. Smile smile kahit nangangatog.

This cabin is closed when we got there. I'm not sure what it is though.

The entire park is covered in snow. Thick, white, powderish snow all over. Walking around is difficult specially for me coz I’m not wearing the correct footwear. I was on my running shoes! Coz I don’t have winter boots and this kuripot thinks that winter boots are not needed. Bad decision! Very bad!!

We're trying to look for the Minnehaha statue but can't seem to find it.

If there’s one thing magical in a snow-covered park is the fact that everything is picture perfect. While taking photos is a different story. But still, even if I’m a trigger-happy photographer who doesn’t think of composition or lightings, etc… I was still able to capture really nice photos in the area. That’s how beautiful it is.

But definitely the highlight of our adventure is the Minnehaha Falls! The FROZEN MINNEHAHA FALLS!!!

Since it’s January, the coldest time of the year, Minnehaha Falls is frozen the time we visit. As in ice-sculpture levels of frozen.

Look at how gorgeous it is!!! Ice everywhere. And snow-covered everything!

It’s obviously a popular tourist spot because there are a lot of tourist in the area when we arrived. There are kids, millenials, dogs, elders! Everyone want their pictures taken with the frozen falls as their background. Some are even going behind the frozen falls! Some are sliding their way down. I heard it’s more magical behind those ice but I didn’t go far. I stayed on the “land”. 

However, we later on found out that going down to the falls is actually prohibited. We didn’t notice the no trespassing sign on our way down because it was unceremoniously kicked to the side. And there’s no park people in the area to tell people off (not that it's necessary coz people are supposed to read signs and not kick them to the side).

So next time, please do not go down on the falls area even if there are a lot of people going there. When I googled about it, there are a lot of accidents that happened on that place already. We are just lucky that the place is ice-frozen when we arrived. Also, the stairs are really slippery. I was holding on for dear life the entire time. I was asking myself why the heck I even dared go down!

Anyway, you could take the picture of the beautiful falls in this area…

You could go around that area to capture a more beautiful shots.

I did a simple vlog of our Minnehaha adventure. I did a lot of videos on my Minnesota trip because it's difficult to take pictures in the cold. But my Panasonic Lumix GF3 is not really for videos. So it's shaky and not really nice. I'm thinking of getting a camera for my vlogging, any suggestions?

Anyway, here's the vlog!! Hope you like it!

Minnesota is an awesome place. I know that it’s not that popular vacation spot for us Filipinos but it’s a great place to stay. The people are warm and nice, the commuting scene is really convenient (trains and bus everywhere), and a lot of nice areas to visit.

And if you want to experience the REAL winter, go to Minnesota!!!


P.S.: Wanna see the Minnehaha Falls during summer? Check out this post by my best friend. Grabe! Hindi ko nakilala si mareng Minnehaha!

Minnesota Travel USA