Often, the mentality with work trips is “Sure, this may be a cool city I’m in, but I’m just in the airport, the bland hotel nearby, and some windowless conference room.”

It happens. In general, traveling for work is not glamorous. But I try really hard, even when I’m on a tight schedule and pretty fully booked, to squeeze in a taste of wherever I am. Such was the case on a 24-hour trip I took to Minneapolis this week to give group presentations (in one of those windowless conference rooms about six minutes from the airport).

I did a little research beforehand (mostly playing around on Instagram) and headed to an area of town that seemed fun. Here are some cool places I checked out (there were tons more in the neighborhood) in case you ever have a few extra minutes in Minneapolis:

I’m probably not cool enough for Spyhouse Coffee. Everyone inside this hip coffee shop had that laidback Midwestern vibe meets Brooklyn hipster thing going on. But the Spygirl Latte, which is made with lavender and honey, was creamy and perfect and I’d travel back to Minnesota just for one more warm mug of that.

Glam Doll Donuts seriously feels like you’re in a grown-up, pink-soaked dollhouse where donuts are served. It’s a fun spot and the made-from-scratch donuts are mindblowing. This “Night Moves” donut was made with blackberry hennessy icing and blackberry jam. Next time I’m trying the one with the dark chocolate bourbon filling.

Greater Goods gift shop was adorable. It’s a bright and cozy shop where they give back a portion of all their proceeds to a different local charitable organization each year. I loved their stationery and candles.

My favorite stop (predictably) was GYST Fermentation Bar. I want to pick up this restaurant and move it about one thousand miles to the southeast. Dedicated entirely to fermented foods, the modern and cheerful restaurant (pictured at top) features cured meats, artisanal cheeses, wines, pickled veggies, chocolates, breads… basically all of the world’s greatest foods. My dream meal would be ordering their “Motherboard” and a bottle of wine to split with friends.