What to Do in Rochester

What to do in Rochester…

The following is a list of activities that can easily be done in Rochester. Some may seem trivial, silly, or even dumb to you, but to the eye of a person from another land, these are all great ways to show/experience a slice of Americana. And as you think of your own ideas, don’t discount something because YOU wouldn’t want to do it or you’ve done it a hundred times.

Rochester specific: 1) Main entrance of world-famous Mayo Clinic Mayo Building/Gonda building 2) Sit in the subway – people-watch! 3) Visit the small shops below Kahler/Mayo 4) Silver Lake 5) Picnic at Oxbow by the river!! 6) Minnesota animals at the Oxbow Zoo (12pm – 4pm) 7) Soldier’s Field Memorial 8) Mayowood mansion 9) Plummer House 10) Historical Society Center

Tour a: 11) Fire station 12) Police Station / the jail 13) school 14) hospital 15) IBM

Slices of Americana to see and experience: Don’t just drive by places – go inside, no matter how silly it may seem. 16) Walmart 17) Dairy Queen 18) Video Stores 19) Some “Mom ‘n’ Pop” stores (Rochester has a lot of chain stores) 20) McDonald’s 21) Subway “What?! You have *fresh* sandwiches made in the US?!” 22) Famous Dave’s 23) A restaurant or two - a steak house! 24) Into a bar …only to look at (The German teens have undoubtedly been inside many German “bars”) 25) Menards/Home Depot 26) A bakery / bread store 27) Your bank, while running some errands 28) Your favorite grocery store 29) Another grocery store 30) A gas station & pay-at-the-pump 31) The library 32) A near-by farm 33) A construction site 34) Your school 35) Another school 36) Your church 37) Another church 38) drive around and count the number of American flags on houses/businesses/car dealerships/cars 39) To the mighty Mississippi – It’s world-famous! (Hot tip: Alma, Wisconsin) 40) Minneapolis – numerous possibilities 41) Mall of America

Miscellaneous ideas that they’ll enjoy/learn from/get a kick out of: 42) bake an apple pie 43) bake chocolate chip cookies 44) Picnic at a park (Essex is a bit quieter) 45) Use drive-through at a bank, video store drop-off, coffee place, or fast-food (not found in Germany) 46) Take a test drive in an American luxury car or an SUV!!! 47) Let them veg out in front of the TV 48) news shows / prime time TV / Jerry Springer / soap operas (standard AND unique shows) 49) Watch some movies, Make popcorn…. milkshakes… 50) Talk radio – MPR (generally not much of this in Germany) 51) Go to Aquarius (age limit?) 52) Eat Mexican food! 53) Play video games 54) go play paintball 55) Use the computer and let them be online continuously! (Germans often pay by the hour) 56) teach them a card game (game-rules knowledge is a light “souvenir” take home) 57) play a board game 58) go to a Honkers game (St. Paul Saints, Twins) 59) play catch – they’ve likely never worn a baseball glove 60) take them to the batting cage 61) go to a softball game (city league at McQuillan / church-league) 62) play mini-golf 63) theater 64) Rochester tour of types of homes and city areas 65) drive/walk through back streets and neighborhoods, ones you’ve never been down, too 66) Native American things / cowboys 67) John Wayne movie-night 68) Little House on the Prairie episodes (Hallmark Channel in the a.m.) 69) Pioneer Days 70) GO CAMPING 71) show your photo albums 72) walk through a cemetery (old country-side ones are fascinating) 73) book shopping!! 74) live bands, outdoor concerts 75) Go for walks in your neighborhood 76) Visit your neighbors, relatives 77) Grill out 78) Board games (international games like chess break the language barrier) 79) Take them to work for an hour or two 80) Go to any local festivals – check online (Rochester site?) 81) Swimming at Foster-Ahrens 82) Go out with your friends for burgers & pop / pizza 83) Call up other guest/host combos to learn of any special happenings

Unfamiliar Foods: 84) bagles & cream cheese?? 85) Mt. Dew 86) root beer 87) frozen pizzas (I thought Germany’s were awful! ☺ ) 88) wild rice 89) peanut butter 90) Oreos 91) Jello 92) pudding 93) macaroni & cheese 94) Mexican 95) chocolate chip cookies 96) an American cake (they will likely thinks it’s insanely sweet & maybe not like it) 97) cranberry juice