I just returned from a business trip to Minneapolis.  I flew into town after dark on Monday and was in a conference room all day Tuesday.  But I managed to work in a little Target Field experence.

When checking into my hotel, I asked for a map to downtown.  It didn’t have Target Field on it.  Instead, it had a blank spot that said “2010 New Twins Stadium.”

After settling into my room, I walked over to Target Field.  My first impression before even making it to the stadium was that Minneapolis was a great looking city.  Extremely clean.  Cool.  Thumbs up.

I took an elevated walkway past the Target Center toward Target Field.  One of the first signs of baseball that I saw was…

…a statue of Harmon Killabrew.  Its right next to (but not quite “under”) a sky bridge.

After I crossed under the skybridge, I saw statue in a familiar pose:

It was Kirby Puckett’s homerun trot from Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.  (FYI, my dog, Kirby, is named after Kirby Puckett).

The main approach to Target Field (down 6th Street) enters into Gate 34 (Kirby Puckett, you know), and the focal point of the approach is this big wall:

Of course, I snapped a picture of myself in the big glove:

Let’s get to the important stuff — Target Field — here is Gate 34:

I took a couple panoramas through the gate (I was somewhat amazed that you can go up and stick your camera through the gate at 9:30 at night, but you can):

…and one more:

They have some interesting signs next to the entrances at Target Field:

Of course, I had to get my picture with Carl and Mrs. Pohlad:

Nearby was a patchwork statue of (what appeared to be) Joe Mauer:

From Gate 34 (right field), I headed to the left (into foul territory), and the next thing I came to was Gate 29:

I took another shot through the gate at Gate 29 (Rod Carew):

A little ticket order machine gave me my only view of the “actual” field (which was so close but still out of sight from outside):

Before walking around the team store and heading down the 1B line, I got this picture of a display about the Twins former stadiums:

At the right side of that display is a statue of Calvin Griffith.  Had I read his plaque, I’d know who he is, but I did not.

Here is a Twins sign over the team store:

Down the 1B foul line, I found Gate 14 (Kent Hrbek — I think):

This, I assume, is considered the home plate gate.

Down the 3B line, I found this little glass room — which appeared to be some sort of train station entrance:

Right around the corner (left field), there is a walk-up train station:

Train riders can walk off the train and straight into Gate 6 (Tony Oliva):

Just past the Oliva gate, is the entrance to the Twins front office:

Further down the train track (toward center field), there are decorative wood slats (also found on the 1B side):

Even further down the train tracks, I found some art on the wall:

In straight away CF, I found Gate 3 (Harmon Killabrew):

Above the gate, there is a big huge Target sign (on the back of the scoreboard, I think):

Around the corner from Gate 3, the road turns into a freeway entrance:

Very odd.

I walked down this road, cross into the parking garage, took the elevator up to the sixth floor, and found a good spot to take a picture of this Twins sign:

I was disappointed I could never get a clear view of the two twins and outline of Minnesota in center field.

As I started to walk away from the stadium, I found that I’d missed a statue of…

…Rod Carew.  This statue is down the road from Gate 29 and the Twins stadium display pictured above.

I was happy to see that Carew was batting with his baseball cap in his back pocket:

So that was my tour around Target Field on Monday night.

On Tuesday, I started the day in a conference room with a view of…guess what???

Yep, Target Field.  I zoomed in to get a closer look inside:

And that was it for my “tour” of Target Field.

But, wait.  While on the other side of the building, I snapped a picture of the beautiful H.H.H. Metrodome:

Zooming in closer, I found something disappointing…

…the “Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome” all of a sudden has been renamed…

…”Mall of America Field.”

And with that disappointing news, the baseball aspect of my trip was finished.

Bottom line:  Target Field was beautiful.  I cannot wait to visit again for a game.