This week’s Minnesota trip was in Burnsville! I woke up at 5:45am, grabbed a friend and drove to the “Heart of the City” (that is the name of downtown Burnsville). Although we saw no sunrise because of the clouds, it was still fun to get up early and do a little exploring!

Although this image is a little blurry, this is the view driving into the heart. You can see the skyline of the Twin Cities in the distance.

Don’t mind my morning mess, but this is the official heart of the city. In the summer there is mini waterfalls that kids swim in and shows at night in the outdoor theater. This is the spot people would go to take Homecoming pictures before the dance. During the winter they wrap lights around every tree in downtown Burnsville, it is so beautiful!

Here is the local ice arena. Maybe you know this or maybe you don’t but Minnesota is known for hockey. Almost everyone plays hockey here either competitively or for fun. This ice rink is where I spent a lot of time watching friends play hockey and where I learned to ice skate.

Speaking of skating welcome to Skateville! This place brings back so many memories. This was the place to go on the weekends in elementary school. I honestly have no idea how it is still open, especially after Covid, but for nostalgia reasons I am glad it is.

One thing I found interesting when talking to Penn State friends is that there are so many different grocery stores in PA vs MN. In PA there is Giant and Wegmans, but here in MN we have Cub and Byerlys. I thought I would throw these in this blog because I find it funny that you guys do not know what these stores are, like how I did not know what Giant or Wegmans was before going to Penn State.

Here is the Burnsville mall. One of the sketchiest places one may ever go. This was the place to go in middle school. Not sure if this was a thing for you guys, but it was cool to be dropped off at a mall and get Caribou/Starbucks drinks and walk around with friends. This mall recently was sold because it is really run down, there are like 10 stores in the whole mall now when it used to be full of stores. What do you do with an empty mall? That is the question locals have been asking since it was a couple months ago sold.

This early morning adventure was topped off with a fun breakfast. The Original Pancake House is a classic Burnsville stop. With so many delicious options, one cannot go wrong. The hot chocolate here is to die for, their homemade whipped cream is so good. For my meal I had the apple cinnamon waffle- it was amazing. Fun fact: MN is known for flapjacks aka pancakes. With that said if you are in MN make sure to go to a good breakfast spot and get some pancakes.

Thanks for coming along with me to Burnsville this early morning! As always, let me know in the comments if you would like to see me go somewhere specific.