Minnesota, the second-northernmost state in the USA (after Alaska), is one of the nation's leading outdoor tourist destinations, with 68 state parks, 55 state forests and more than 12,000 lakes. The state borders Canada, the upper Midwest States and Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world.

Minneapolis and St Paul adjoin each other on either side of the Mississippi River and have a metropolitan area population of nearly three million. They are known as the Twin Cities and began as frontier towns, with German, Irish and Scandinavian immigrants.