I'll be at Mayo for at least a few days it sounds, maybe even more than once. Still trying to figure out my long haul covid crap or whatever else is going on. There might be a whole day or half day where I don't have anything scheduled though. Are there any places to shop outdoor gear, eat good food, or explore in Dec/Jan? I've never really spent any time in the city or area...just some pass-through trips

Sorry to hear of your struggles and intrigued to hear what they discover that will help you recover.

Not sure how close you need to stay on a daily basis, but Redwing us about an hour north, where the boots are made, along the Mississippi river. Eagles congregate, nice little town. Good burgers at a hole in the wall bar downtown.

White Water State Park is nearby, Mayo Medical museum, Oxbow Park/(Free, donations appreciated) Mayowood.

Mayo Medical Museum

Oxbow Park

Mayo Wood

Things to do in Rochester MN

Drive down to Winona. If you’ve never been there, it’s a pretty neat city to drive around.

Take the back way through Lewiston instead of the interstate.

I just returned from Rochester last night. I have a few favorite spots.
If you like ribs John Hardy’s make real smoked ribs and I love their Jo Jo potatoes, go there every time.
Newt’s makes good hamburgers.
Chester woods County park about 8 miles east of Rochester is nice and has good trail, also has ice fishing if the ice is thick enough.
There a a couple Indian Restaurants which I’ve have gone to, the Indian Garden has a buffet at noon with a lot of interesting food.
At Owatonna Cabelas has a very large store, it’s in the 50 mile range from Rochester
A person can spent plenty of time wandering the Clinic checking out the art and the museum.
And don’t forget Carols Corn in the sub level under the Kahler hotel.
Like Duckman said the drive to Winona is very nice. You can always check out the Wenonah factory and maybe buy some accessories.
Hope and pray Mayo can help you. They are keeping me alive and took exceptional care of my wife.

Carl

Define "near"?
Twin Cities are less than 90 minutes. St. Paul being the closer option.
Divided 4 lane to the cities.

alpinebrule: "Define "near"?
Twin Cities are less than 90 minutes. St. Paul being the closer option.
Divided 4 lane to the cities."

Half hour drive or less (unless we get a full day somehow)

I've been to Owatonna Cabelas a ton, don't need to go there. Thanks for the river town suggestions. I debated about ice fishing but hauling all the stuff...we'll see.

The National Eagle Center at Wabasha is a good site to visit. I'd guess it's 40 to 45 min. from Rochester.

We did the Mayo art tour when we were there several years ago. It was very interesting. Mayo has purchased quite an array of art that is scattered throughout the clinic. Not sure if they still do it since Covid.

cyclones30: "

alpinebrule: "Define "near"?
Twin Cities are less than 90 minutes. St. Paul being the closer option.
Divided 4 lane to the cities."

Half hour drive or less (unless we get a full day somehow)


I've been to Owatonna Cabelas a ton, don't need to go there. Thanks for the river town suggestions. I debated about ice fishing but hauling all the stuff...we'll see. "

1/2 hr is tough. Lanesboro is probably 45 min, and most of the river towns ( Winona, Kellogg, Wabasha, Red Wing in Mn, Fountain City in Wi) would be about an hour or a bit more.

I'm making a bit of a guess that since you are dealing with covid after effects hiking is largely out mainly due to the potential large elevation changes if you head towards the Mississippi.

Lanesboro has some theater and live music this time of year, and a few good places to eat, some maybe seasonal.

Winona has a few museums, Minnesota Marine Art Museum being the more prominent one. The downtown Cafes'/ coffee shops are good to eat at, Nosh is newer, heard its good, haven't been there. The Frozen river film festival is coming up in February. Wenonah Canoe, Enlightened Equipment and Sanborn Canoe (technically in Goodview, but that's splitting hairs) are all there. Not sure what the canoe places retail setups are, EE isn't fully setup for retail, but they've always been very helpful when I've stopped in.

Fountain City has Elmers toy and auto museum, Monarch public house is a good place to eat.

Kellogg has lark toys.

Wabasha has the Eagle Center and The Olde Triangle Pub is a good place to eat

If you're interested in micro brews almost every town has one or more and a few scattered in-between.
And I'm sure there are many other things I've left out.

Wish you well in your treatment and recovery.

There's always the Spam museum in Austin.

Porkeater: "There's always the Spam museum in Austin. "

If it'll fix my issues I'll eat it every day :)

Janky Gear just opened in Rochester about a month ago. Haven’t been there yet, but might be worth checking out.

Janky Gear

Chatfield (about 20 minutes south on US 52) is one of the towns that has offseason catch and release for trout and has a nice, easy to walk stream that runs through a cow pasture and then a city park if you want to fish a bit of open water when the weather allows.

Forager Brewery has good enough food that I'd recomend it regardless of whether or not you're into beer (but the beer is also solid). foragerbrewery.com has the menu, tap list, etc.

Carley state park (south of Plainview) is a bit closer than whitewater and usually less crowded. There's a nice loop trail around the whole park that's good for a couple hours but there are also shorter trails you can do.

Sportsman's Rack is another secondhand gear shop that has kind of a swap meet vibe. The guys who run it are pretty cool and I've gotten some good pieces of gear (mostly hunting stuff and fishing tackle) at low prices there. I haven't been down there in a while but they should have a pretty good selection of rods and tackle - jigs at very reasonable prices, a bunch of NOS Northland tackle still in the packages, and a wall of crankbaits, spinners, and spoons for $1-5. It's easy to kill at least an hour browsing in there. They're at 4867 19th St NW, which is the last industrial park on that road before you're driving to Byron.

If you are up for some easy hiking, consider Indian Heights Park. It is in NW part of Rochester, so you wouldn't have to leave the city. There is some incline to start, but it is but fairly short. Some decent trails at the top going around a quarry rim and trails into the quarry as well. Some nice views of the city from up there. You may even stumble upon a deer or 2 from the small herd up there.

I just go to Kasson and visit housty9, haha. Great you got in, they rejected me. Haha. (My dr sent a referral).

I've only been to Rochester, once. It was to buy a used Advantage, so I can't answer your question. However, you are in my prayers. Praying for an accurate diagnosis and a complete recovery from the issues.

nctry: "I just go to Kasson and visit housty9, haha. Great you got in, they rejected me. Haha. (My dr sent a referral)."

Yeah I got rejected twice. Third try was a charm I guess

DownStrm: "I've only been to Rochester, once. It was to buy a used Advantage, so I can't answer your question. However, you are in my prayers. Praying for an accurate diagnosis and a complete recovery from the issues."

Thanks! It's been a long....haul I guess that's why they call it that. Hoping to get some stuff moving in the right direction at least

Mr. Pizza south

canoepaddle: "Mr. Pizza south"

It's good. Spent a lot of time in there as a teenager.

I used to go to the north location and get the slice and a drink combo for lunch all the time when I was permatemping at IBM.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up not really having any larger chunks of free time which was good and bad. We beat the snow up there, had 2 days of appts and got out before the next storm(s)

We did make it to the BBQ place suggested here, good food and sauces

LindenTree: "White Water State Park is nearby, Mayo Medical museum, Oxbow Park/(Free, donations appreciated) Mayowood.


Mayo Medical Museum


Oxbow Park


Mayo Wood


Things to do in Rochester MN "

This is a good list. I'm down there once a year (usually the summer) for an annual checkup. The Quarry Nature Center is a nice place about 10 minutes from downtown to just hang out and walk some flat trails in the woods. I go there every time that I'm in the area.