Some of my favorite places to visit are St. Paul, especially Grand Avenue and Como Park and Historic Ft. Snelling. The lakes in Minnepolis, be sure to ride the Como-Harriet streetcar by Lake Calhoun.
Outside of the Twin Cities there is the St. Croix valley and the Mississippi as it flows to south toward Iowa. The western state has beautiful prairies and fields of corn (maize). Duluth is one of my favorite places, especially Lake Superior. The Depot Museum has a great collection of locomotives. A short drive north is Two Harbors and the ore docks. Even farther north is Ely and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area -- chains of glacial lakes surrounded by pines and aspens.
It's a lovely state -- very much worth visiting and it has quite a bit of a French connection, historically speaking.
As for the French influence--some of us wish there was more of it ;-) "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
