Time your trip to St. Paul to coincide with the annual Dragon Festival.  This cultural event occurs during the first week in July every year at Lake Phalen.  Choose from various Asian foods at the food tent and then sit down and enjoy the many short cultural skits and exhibitions, including dance, martial arts, and music.   After the shows, head down to the river to watch or participate in what is always the biggest draw of the festival: the Dragon Boat races.

Dragon boat races feature long, wooden, dragon-shaped boats that seat upwards of twenty paddlers.  Rumor has it that being in synch is more important than brute strength!  You don't even have to have nineteen friends to sign up and race.  The festival organizers make it easy for you to sign up for a boat through their website.

Another can't-miss annual event is the  Minnesota State Fair.  The fair takes place from the last week of August to early September.  There you can witness monster truck racing, livestock-oriented contests, and eat foods such as corn dogs, turkey drumsticks, and cheese curds (cheese curds taste better than they sound).

The Science Museum of Minnesota is also located in St. Paul.  The Mississippi River flows just outside the windows of the museum and past the museum's ten acres of outdoor exhibits and programming space.  The Science Museum of Minnesota is known worldwide for its interactive exhibits, dynamic traveling exhibitions, and internationally distributed large format films.