You Forgot: Grandma’s Visiting This Weekend!
Written by: Tyler Manske
You’re scrolling on social media again. You told yourself at 5:30 pm that you’d only watch one more cat video, and now it’s 8:45 pm. As you put your phone away, you get a message from <3 MOM <3:
“Don’t forget, Grandma’s visiting tomorrow”
You completely forgot Grandma was visiting tomorrow! You don’t have the time to plan out a whole day! Well, have no fear: Tyler has all your planning needs covered. You’re gonna need at least these three things to make everything go smoothly:
The Breakfast:
You’re kidding yourself if you think you’re gonna sleep in. Grandma will insist your family needs to be the first ones in the door for breakfast, lest you contend with the crowd. Here are some downtown breakfast joints; listed in order of which opens soonest, of course.
Sweetwaters - opens 6 am
Nice and cozy, and it opens at 6 am! Located in the brand-new Olive Ann hotel, Sweetwaters has great coffee and treats to start your day.
Urban Stampede - opens 7 am
They make their own bagels and breakfast burritos, in addition to other great snacks. A great selection of coffee drinks that’s constantly rotating.
Bernies - opens 8 am
Your go-to cafe and bakery with bottomless black coffee. All their pastries and bread are made in-house! You might have heard of the owner from her Food Network show Girl Meets Farm.
The Activity:
Of course, you could crack open an embarrassing photo album featuring pubescent you and your antics, but we don’t need to relive those days if we don’t have to. Luckily, downtown Greater Grand Forks has many options for senior citizens.
BINGO! You knew this was coming. Here’s some great downtown locations that have bingo (and other games)
Bar Bingo is on Thursdays from 7-9PM. Free to play, 21+ Only
Bingo is on weekdays beginning at 6:30PM. 21+ Only
Wednesdays and Thursdays at 1pm. The price of a bingo card is $2.00 and that allows a person to play 15 regular games and two jackpot games. After these games, people can buy more cards for the same price and play an additional four games with an 80 percent payout. According to state gaming laws, Bingo at the Grand Forks Senior Center is available to people 18 and older.
Grand Rides Bike Share
The Grand Rides Bike Share program allows you to rent bikes and cruise around downtown and the Greenway/Bikeway, completely free of charge! And soon, they’ll even have e-bikes and Adaptive Bikes courtesy of the AARP!
Downtown Axe
It’d be pretty cool to watch Granny throw axes and ninja stars, wouldn’t it? You’re lying if you disagree. Downtown Axe can make Granny’s latent Viking dreams a reality.
The Dinner (or Supper, depending on Granny’s heritage)
Finding the perfect spot for dinner with Granny is important. It’s important for the atmosphere to be quiet, respectful, and clean. Grandma has all the best gossip about your extended family members, and you won’t be able to coax her into talking about it unless you can hear what each other are saying.
Quiet, farm-to-table restaurant with great quality food at affordable prices. Grandma will surely sure be impressed when she reads that the well-done burger she just ordered was from Szymanski Farms just over the border.
Grandma’s going to love the vibe here. Constructed to resemble a 1940’s Steakhouse, they have more to offer than just incredible steak! Harry’s has a wonderful wine list and some of the region’s finest bartenders, too.
Need a lot of options? Blue Moose has a deep bench when it comes to menu choices. They have something for everyone, and they do everything well. Weather permitting, you can sit outside for a view of the Red River.
Pick at least one of these breakfast, activity, and dinner options and you can’t possibly fail to impress your grandma (or any other family visiting)! For more great ideas, check out the other great articles on the DDA’s blog here.
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