Wanna Get Away? Travel Vocabulary Quiz

by Jacqueline Schaalje

Read this article about two cool American cities and then do the vocabulary quiz.

  Ron Reiring

Wanna Get Away?

The US is not only about New York, Las Vegas, Miami and some other cities that you might know. Here we focus on two other cities that are interesting too.

Article written by Evan Parker

Tip: Did you know you can download (free) Travel Guides from Englishtips.org? Just search for the city or country you would like to read about and add “travel guide.”

Minneapolis and Kansas City are two great places for a day trip or a trip for a few days.

Minneapolis, Minnesota is the twin city to St. Paul, located on the Mississippi River. Its landscape is filled with beautiful trees and lakes. The best time to visit Minneapolis is during May through September due to the large annual snowfall in the winter. Minneapolis offers many things to do, regardless whether you like to be outdoors, love to shop or participate in a sporting event.

For those who enjoy the arts, the Minnesota Fringe Festival takes place the first week in August. This is a week-and-a-half-long event that showcases artists, performers and musicians from around the state. There are upwards of 150 different shows and one ticket gets you in for a low amount.

If you’re staying during the weekend after Labor Day you wouldn’t want to miss the Minneapolis Monarch Festival at the Lake Nokomis Naturescape Gardens. This festival includes food, music and art celebrating the migration of the Monarch butterfly from Minnesota to Mexico each year with live Monarchs in attendance.

 Derek Hatfield

Minneapolis has the largest number of bridges that cross the Mississippi River in the Midwest. Minneapolis Bridge Tours, sponsored by the Minneapolis Riverfront District, is one you would do at your own leisure by car or by bicycle. A tour map can be found at the website for the Minneapolis Riverfront District.

If you enjoy bicycling, then you’ve come to the right city. There are many people who bike in Minneapolis and the city makes it easy. If you could not pack a bike for your stay, no worries. The city makes them available through Nice Ride Minnesota by providing racks of green colored bikes along the streets. You can rent them for a couple of hours or for the day.

A tour of Minneapolis would not be complete without mentioning the Mall of America. This multi-level mall touts an abundance of shops and eating establishments as well as a roller coaster theme park sponsored by Nickelodeon, a kid’s television channel. Hotels are located nearby for easy stay because you’d be hard-pressed to see the entire mall in a day.

Kansas City

Another great place to visit is Kansas City, Missouri, located along the Missouri River. Being in the middle of the country, this city is a transportation hub featuring a train yard at Union Station and two airports, the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport downtown and the larger airport, Kansas City International, located on the North end of the city. For those who are looking for things to do, Kansas City offers a wide variety of arts, museums and sporting events.

Part of Kansas City’s fame is its culture rich in jazz music. The 18th and Vine area of the city hosts the interactive American Jazz Museum. This museum spotlights, through education and performance, the musical greats of the jazz era with ties to Kansas City. Famous musicians Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker are all featured here. Because the museum is interactive, visitors have the chance to hear jazz music, watch television performances and even create sounds of their own.

 Ty Nigh

Another unique museum to Kansas City is the Steamboat Arabia museum located in the City Market area. The Steamboat Arabia was sunk near Kansas City and recovered in 1988 along with hundreds of pre-Civil War artefacts, which are all on display in the museum.

If art is what you like, Kansas City is home to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art located in the Plaza area on the South end of the city. If your interest lies in up and coming artists, the Crossroads District is the place to be. On the first Friday of each month this area is host to First Fridays, a celebration of the artists in the district. Food is served from local food trucks and local musicians play. Galleries stay open until 9pm during this event to allow patrons to browse or purchase the works on display.

For those looking to attend a sporting event, Kansas City offers a variety of sports offered from baseball to football to soccer and hockey. You could attend a Kansas City Royals baseball game in the summer or a Kansas City Chiefs football game during the fall, but this town is more about their hockey and soccer teams. The Central Hockey League team, the Missouri Mavericks, play just outside Kansas City in Independence, Missouri. They have been successful clinching the Division Playoffs regularly.

Second to none is the Major League Soccer team, Sporting KC winner of the 2013 MLS Cup and home to two players in the 2014 World Cup United States team. The stadium doesn’t have a bad seat.

So if you wanna get away, pack up that car or jump aboard that plane and check out Minneapolis or Kansas City on your next trip.