Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota face each other across the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota. The entire metropolitan area has a population of approximately 3.5 million, the 13th largest in the country. Some facts about the Twin Cities:

The Twin Cities have 58 professional and community live-performance theaters, 30 museums, 51 night clubs, 949 lakes and 40,000 acres of parkland. With over 10,000 lakes in the state, Minnesota has more coastline than California, Florida and Hawaii combined.

Minneapolis was just named #4 in National Geographic's 2011 Top Ten Summer Travel Destinations. Click here to see National Geographic's page about Minneapolis.

Minneapolis is ranked among the top 55 world cities by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network, as a world class city in a group that includes Barcelona, Berlin, Kuala Lumpur, and Buenos Aires.

Minneapolis was number 3 on Frommer's Travel Guide's list of "places not to be missed in 2007," behind Krakow and Tokyo.

Macalester College will provide the room and board for out of town gathering attendees. Macalester is highly rated liberal arts college set in a quiet, older neighborhood of St. Paul.

Attendees will stay at George Draper Hall dormitory. More detail can be found on Macalester's web pages for George Draper Hall. Lodging will bear similarities to other campus dormitories of past gatherings. Each attendee will be provided a bedroom (beds are extra long twin-size) and sharing a bathroom with 2 to 4 other attendees. Each floor has a kitchen and common area. For those desiring amenities like cable television and mini-bars there are dozens of hotels in the Twin Cities from which to choose. Clanspeople don't have to lodge at Macalester to attend activities.

Included in the fee will be eight meals at the "Cafe Mac" (pictured at right) the campus dining hall.

Adjacent to the campus are numerous restaurants and coffee shops for those who prefer a meal or snack off-campus.

The Minneapolis Institute of Art is a large art museum featuring an eclectic blend of traditional and contemporary art, both permanent and traveling collections. Among the latter will be a collection of Rembrandt's paintings, which will open the Sunday of the gathering.

The Institute's permanent collection features more than 900 Euorpean and American works dating from the 14th century to the present, an Asian collection spanning 5,000 years, a history of photography, decorative arts and more.

See the Minneapolis Institute of Art website for more information.

The Mall of America is located in the suburb of Bloomington south of Minneapolis adjacent to the international airport. It is the largest enclosed mall in the country, the size of 78 football fields - 9.5 million square feet. It houses more than 500 stores, 50 eateries, several nightclubs, 14 movie screens, an amusement park, a 1.2 million gallon aquarium, and more.

By the way, there is no sales tax on clothes and grocery purchases in Minnesota. For more information see the Mall of America website.

The St. Croix Boat & Packet Company out of Stillwater, Minnesota will be providing a sightseeing tour and meal aboard an 1800's era sternwheeler on the St. Croix River bordering Wisconsin.

The 2012 CMSNA gathering's formal dinner will be held in the "MacMillan Ballroom" of the Rush Creek Golf Club.

The club was the creation of W. Duncan MacMillan of the Cargill MacMillans (Cargill being the largest privately owned company in the country). According to Duncan's obituary in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
He played everything really well, and he was always fascinated by golf," said Dick Howell, a golf course investor and developer. The family had developed golf courses, but MacMillan wanted to develop his own - a course just for golfers without surrounding development. He wanted "to make something available for golfers in Minnesota that wouldn't happen otherwise," he told the Star Tribune in 2004. The result was Rush Creek in Maple Grove, a public course that has been the setting of LPGA tour events and the U.S. Amateur Public Links championship.

The head chef tells us he's proficient in the creation of Scottish dishes. It should be a memorable evening.

Above: the bar at Rush Creek featuring MacMillan Ancient tartan carpet.

Included in gathering activities will be a Community of the Tonsured Servant (CTS) service. This will be held in the Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel on campus (photo below).

See a page about CTS on the Clan MacMillan International Centre website. Go to the Clan MacMillan International Centre homepage, click on "Site index" in the sidebar then click on "Community of the Tonsured Servant" in the alphabetical listing.

For more information or interest in joining CTS contact Blanche McMillan by e-mail.

For those interested in getting out on their own for a few hours, there are many summer activities available in the Twin Cities.

More than 120 miles of dedicated bikeways, many bike amenities and a strong, vibrant bicycling community have prompted Bicycling Magazine to name Minneapolis America's best bike city. Bikes can be rented at numerous locations on the street through Nice Ride (see their website).

Minneapolis features a unique collection of interconnected city lakes. The bike trails skirt them and canoes can be rented to explore them on the water. Canoes, kayaks and paddle boats can be rented at Lake Calhoun by the hour. See their website.