Note: In the Pop Traveler, Pop Candy readers name their city's top pop-culture hot spots/events. Wanna write about your town? Holler at popcandy@usatoday.com.

By Amanda Fretheim Gates, Special Correspondent for Pop Candy

I was born and raised in Minneapolis-St. Paul (a.k.a. the Twin Cities), and it's the perfect place for me. The people are friendly, the cultural offerings stellar, the sports exciting (if not depressing at times) and the outdoors flourishing all year round.

By living in a neighboring suburb, I'm never more than 15 minutes from a play, museum, park, lake, farm-fresh dining and tax-free shopping. Plus, our summers? You can't beat 'em.

While it was hard, I made a list of 10 things that make my cities pretty darn special:

1. First Avenue. Not only is First Avenue one of the best concert venues in the country, it was the backdrop for Purple Rain. Nearly every band you can think of has played the venue since it opened in 1970, including Prince, U2, R.E.M., The Replacements, Wilco and B.B. King. Just take a look at the stars painted on the side of the building; they list every single name. First Avenue is a symbol of our great local music scene; hear great jazz at the Dakota, see a musical drag show at the Gay '90s or keep it local and simple at The Turf Club.

2. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. We have nearly 60 museums in the area (by the way, only Chicago and D.C. have more), so to pick just one is nearly impossible. But I've always loved the MIA the best. First, it's free. Second, you can see everything from a piece of 5,000-year-old pottery to a Van Gogh painting. Third, the special and traveling exhibitions—like works from the Louvre and by artists like Georgia O'Keeffe—always amaze.

3. The lakes. I know -- obvious right? We're The Land of 10,000 Lakes (it's actually more than 12,000). But I grew up on a lake swimming and boarding, so I can't imagine life without water. Minneapolis has the particularly awesome Chain of Lakes that Minnesotans use to bike and run around, sail on, kayak between and sun ourselves by. We're water babies, definitely. And then when these lakes freeze over? We play hockey; just two weekends ago we welcomed players from all over the world to compete in the U.S. Pond Hockey Championship.

4. Target. Yes, we have Mall of America, which is great. But, Target? We love us some Target. The first-ever Target was built in a St. Paul suburb in 1962. It's hard to express my love for this affordable superstore, but if I'm not there at least once a week then that's a very strange week. Target has its headquarters in downtown Minneapolis next door to a massive, two-level store. I mean, there's an escalator for your cart—how cool is that?

5. Skyways. One reason it's easy for me to get to Target so often is that I'm attached by skyway to it from my office in downtown Minneapolis. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have miles of skyways that keep us out of the elements and bypassing stoplights. It's like a city above the city; the skyways connect us to dining, shopping, entertainment, parking, condos and offices. Visitors take to the skyways pretty quickly, too. Derek Jeter, Snoop Dogg and other celebrity sightings have been made.

6. Hennepin Theatre Trust. We have some 30 theater companies in town (Tony Award winners to boot!), but along Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis sit four of our most iconic and historic structures. It's here that I saw my first Broadway show (Beauty and the Beast) and where The Lion King made its world premiere back in 1997. People here love the theater and love to support it. It's hard to find a person around who hasn't seen a play, musical, comedy act or concert at one of these venues. Along Hennepin Avenue, you'll also find our own "Walk of Fame" with stars honoring Minnesotans such as Happy Days' Marion Ross, Bob Dylan and Loni Anderson.

7. Local brews. We're a hardy crew and love our beer, so it's no surprise that more and more local breweries keep popping up around the cities. St. Paul-based Summit beer is No. 1, filling glasses since it debuted Summit Extra Pale Ale in 1986. Along the Mississippi River in Northeast Minneapolis sits a huge sign for Grain Belt beer (a personal favorite), which started brewing in the late 1800s. Surly Brewing Co. is a story of the American dream when one local man who loved to brew beer in his garage made his hobby into an empire, just a few years ago. You won't find a hipster in town who doesn't rave about Surly Furious.

8. Public art. I love all the public art displayed around the Twin Cities. It pushes home even more that we're truly a cultural capital. The gigantic Spoonbridge & Cherry in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is panned over before many televised sporting events. And if you're Minnesotan and do something fabulous, well, we like to honor you in bronze. Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, was a St. Paul native, so in our capital city you'll find whimsical statues of Charlie Brown, Lucy and Peppermint Patty. They're so cute and great for a photo op. We also honor in bronze F. Scott Fitzgerald, Herb Brooks (1980 Olympic hockey team "Miracle on Ice" coach), Kirby Puckett and Mary Tyler Moore (her fictional character, Mary Richards, was from here).

9. Authors and screenwriters. The Twin Cities area is considered one of the most literate areas in the country, thanks to all our independent bookstores and library usage. But we also boast so many wonderful writers, past and present, born and raised or transplanted: Garrison Keillor (A Prairie Home Companion broadcasts from St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theater), Neil Gaiman, Laura Ingalls Wilder, John Sandford, Sinclair Lewis, Anne Tyler, Diablo Cody and Joel and Ethan Coen.

10. Jucy Lucy. Or, the Juicy Lucy or Juicy Blucy, depending on where you go. Like we love our beer, we also love our burgers, particularly two patties smooshed around oozy cheese -- a.k.a. The Jucy Lucy. Two Minneapolis establishments located just blocks from each other, Matt's Bar and the 5-8 Club, lay claim to the best of this burger. Food Wars even came by to settle the score (Matt's won that showdown). However, other restaurants in town stuff burgers as well. The Blue Door Pub fills yours with everything under the sun, including jalapenos, blue cheese, Canadian bacon or mushrooms. At Vincent, the namesake burger is filled with short ribs and gouda cheese. You haven't visited the Twin Cities until you've scalded your tongue on the hot, gooey cheese of a Lucy.

Amanda Fretheim Gates is a Minneapolis-based writer and editor who covers dining, shopping, travel and entertainment by day and muses about TV, books, movies and parenting by night. Learn more about her at www.amandagates.com and @AmandaMusings.

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