Girls Weekend

This past weekend I was able to take a short overnight trip to Duluth with a couple of friends...and I am so glad I did! On Saturday morning at around 10am, Gabbie, Maria, and I piled into the car for the 2 1/2 hour mini-road trip to the beautiful port city of Duluth.

Sitting comfortably on the shores of Lake Superior, Duluth is a city that has a certain old-time charm without feeling dim or dirty. In its hay day, Duluth was a great industrial area and shipping town, as it is the last port on the chain of the Great Lakes. Industry went down dramatically, like so many industrial areas, in the post-50's era. Now the city has been built up to encourage tourism, mostly from the Twin Cities and perhaps over the Wisconsin boarder. I've had the delightful opportunity to visit Duluth 3 times. This third occasion was certainly the most leisurely, the type of trip Duluth seems meant to be.

We checked into our hotel early without any issue from the congenial staff at the Comfort Suites on the Canal Park area. Once we were settled in our accommodations, Gabbie, Maria, and I ventured to Superior Street to find the highly recommended Va Bene Restaurant. Though the walk there seemed long (it ended up only being about 20 minutes or so as it was just over a mile from the hotel), the panini sandwiches were an excellent reward. Ok, so was the gelato :)

We walked back along the shoreline of the lake, taking our time and stopping here and there to play on the rocks. A friend of Maria's came to meet us at that point, so we went back to the hotel to wait for her. Afterwards we took a walk around the whole Canal Park area, looking in shops, going out to the lighthouse, and watching the lift bridge go up and down a couple of times. It was such a beautiful sunny day that we couldn't justify staying inside any where too long.

Dinner was, of course, at the famous Grandma's Restaurant. It was a great time and I loved the Walleye Cake Salad that I ordered. After dinner we found our way over to the (only) bar in Canal Park, Grandma's Garden Sports Bar. It was full of college kids and bachelorette parties, which was not really our cup of tea, but we still had a good time dancing and having a couple drinks.

In the morning, we went to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary. For a smaller diocese, I was impressed by the beauty of the building. The location was perfect. Walking out of the main doors, one has the most spectacular view of the great lake. For some reason, it reminded me of the church in Galway, Ireland that I spent some time at last year on the Folk Choir trip. Unfortunately, it was very cold and starting to rain after mass, so we thought it would be best just to start heading home.

There were definitely some more places and locations we would have liked to see, Gooseberry Falls, a famous pie shoppe, Enger Tower, and some more outdoor locations, but since it was so nasty out we decided we will have it do those things next time we are in town.

Duluth is a perfect location for a peaceful weekend get-away in the summer or fall in Minnesota. I recommend it, but really only for two nights at the most. Any longer and you'll probably run out of things to do.