I am a Minneapolis-raised person who has travelled the world and still lives in Minneapolis. We have fresh water, lots of parks and lakes, the great Mississippi River, and a lot of art and culture.
One great thing to do in Minneapolis is to canoe the chain of lakes. Rent a canoe at Bde Make Ska, canoe north through the channel to Lake of the Isles. Explore the shores of the islands to see the great blue heron, painted turtles, snapping turtles and leatherback turtles (endangered), then canoe on a bit west towards Cedar lake. Head for one of the many fine beaches: Cedar Lake East Beach (Also known as Hidden Beach) (on the far north-east side), the Point (on the west side), or the Main Beach (on the south side of Cedar Lake) which has a new restroom paid for by a local anonymous neighbor and patron. Enjoy this pristine area before the Kenilworth light rail train comes through 200 times a day by 2022. You will see lots of fish in the clear waters and muskrats too. Cedar lake is the cleanest in the chain, because it is not surrounded by city streets the whole way round, limiting yucky pollution runoff.
I swim in Bde Maka Ska and Cedar Lake each year and have never had any problems from the water. The pollution seems to settle down at the bottom because there are plenty of fish and water birds which make their home in these clean city lakes. Cedar and Bde Maka Ska are each very deep also.
Plan on four hours for your canoe adventure. Bring a picnic to enjoy while you relax on one of Cedar Lakes many fine beaches.
For extra curious, keep paddling north west on Cedar, and you will pass under a tiny bridge, through a narrow channel into the tiniest lake, Brownie Lake.
As teens, we used to hang out in the woods around Brownie Lake and at a very high place near Hidden Beach Called “The Mound”. This is a beautiful wild area right in the city.
https://www.minneapolisparks.org/parks__destinations/parks__lakes/brownie_lake_park/
