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Mini Golf Travel: Artsy but Fun in Minneapolis

The Walker Art Center now has two mini-golf courses, and we couldn't come up with a better description than the curators did:

In the mockumentary film "This Is Spinal Tap," bassist Derek Smalls suggests that the difference between miniature golf and regular golf is the size of the ball. While the ball remains the same, virtually everything else about mini golf grows--at least on the course of Walker on the Green: Artist-Designed Mini Golf.

For $8 you can play through one of the seven-hole courses, which were designed by local artists. What should you expect? You'll find a pachinko-style hole, a "Water Hazard" hole, pictured, that employs empty bottles as obstacles and even the "Big Kahuna," a sort of frozen-in-place wave. The fun continues until September 7.

Related Stories:
· Walker on the Green: Artist-Designed Mini Golf [Jaunted]
· Highbrow Mini Golf and Public Art [PSFK]
· Golf coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Aaron Landry]

Movies / → All Tags

To Do in Minneapolis: Urban Exploration

The authorities see them as a threat, and others just see them as mischievous thrill-seekers. In reality, urban explorers are simply a loosely knit group of ordinary people wishing to document and understand our deteriorating and forgotten urban history. Documentary filmmaker Melody Gilbert (A Life without Pain, Whole) first heard about this subculture through a story about six urban explorers in St. Paul who were arrested as suspected terrorists. Traveling from Minneapolis to Miami to Glasgow to Paris, Gilbert reveals an extraordinary underground world of individuals bonded by their innate sense of curiosity and adventure. "Urban Explorers is not a typical social justice documentary that sets out to change the world. In the end, I hope this film helps people see the world in which they live a little differently than they did before" (Melody Gilbert). 2006, U.S., video, 85 minutes.

Melody Gilbert's film Urban Explorers, which...explores the...exploration activities...of city spelunkers, premieres in Minneapolis next week as part of the Women with Vision Film Festival. If you've ever traveled somewhere and wondered what sits beneath the beaten path--in abandoned buildings, subway tracks, and elsewhere--you'll want to catch Gilbert's documentary about those who not only wonder about, but seek out, the hidden spooky treasures of the city.

@ the Walker Art Center Cinema, March 16 at 9:30 p.m. / March 17 at 4 p.m., $8.

Related Stories:
· Urban Explorers [Official Site]
· Urban Explorers - information and showtimes [Walker Art Center]
· Women with Vision '07 [Official Site]

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Graves 601 Hotel

The city Minneapolis does not always conjure up images of style immediately. Wipe the slate clean, and consider Minneapolis' own Graves 601 Hotel. It was just awarded the state's only Four Diamond rating from AAA for its hotel and restaurant.

Great views are promised from its 22-story tower design and rooms feature plasma screens, backlit photographs, rain showers and Hermes soap. The Cosmos, the hotel's restaurant, has received positive reviews from T+L and Wine Spectator.

Bed & breakfast packages start around $250/night on weekends.

Related Stories:
·   Graves 601 Hotel [Luxist]
·   Graves 601 tops local AAA ratings [Twin Cities Business Journal]