MSP Aircraft Viewing Area — Attraction in Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory

We headed to the airplane viewing area to record planes taking off for our travel blog. The area itself is really nice, it features a few benches and two picnic tables with at least twenty parking spots. It comes up against a barbed wire fence that is only a matter of feet from the tarmac, which is pretty impressive. You're never that close to the planes, but you're close enough to see which airliner it is and to get decent photos. The planes drive past before disappearing around a turn in the tarmac where they take off, so you never get to actually see take off. You do, however, get to see planes landing. They come through constantly, so it's never long before you're watching another plane do it's thing. The thing about the barbed wire fence I mentioned before is it makes for crummy photos of the planes. If it's quiet enough that you can stand on the picnic tables you'll get decent photos, but there was someone there with a ladder he was using to get high enough and honestly I think it was a great idea. If you're big into photography you'll definitely want your telephoto lens, because the planes aren't close enough to get nice detailed shots. Some people had radios that could tune into air traffic control, so it was fun to hear where planes were going and coming from. Bring sunscreen and sunglasses and you're in for a fun time! One hint I have is if you'd like to get shots of planes actually flying over you, head to Mall of America and park in one of the lots on the north side (it has to be one of the lots within view of the star sculpture). While eating lunch at least ten planes flew over, all...

We went here after a Target run, and we we're bored and we saw a sign so we went. It is hard to find without Google maps. Once you get there it is a good experience. We took a wrong turn, and it turns out that the university of Minnesota has 50-70 bee hives in the airport that the veterans next to the airport take care of, and local hero Andrew Zimmerman from bizzar foods buys from them. But back to the airport. Once you find it on the drive there you drive through a tunnel that is under the runway, and we saw a plane go over us. The viewing place was in the middle of the runways and the day we went the way the wind was blowing the planes were landing rather than taking off, but nonetheless it was still cool. I would...

What is so cool about the MSP viewing area beyond the airplanes is that there is a community of airplane enthusiasts built around spending time there. People get to know each other, care about one another, share really cool photography, and make you feel welcome. It is a great place to bring a picnic lunch with your kids and watch as planes take off and land. A lot of people back their SUVs/trucks into a spot and use their trunks like seating which we also really enjoy doing. Both our kiddos really enjoy their time there and there are often other kids there that they can play with. Great family activity and there are restaurants and a Target just across the highway....