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Duluth Adventure
Oct. 25th, 2016 08:17 pmThe weekend kicked off on Thursday late afternoon when, just before leaving work, I got the news that my beloved family-of-choice Aunt Pat had died suddenly. She was one of my mother’s best friends and a terrific lady. Post to follow shortly as I organize my thoughts for speaking at her funeral in NYC on Saturday, something I'd hoped to put off for many years to come. :-(((
This, needless to say, made the Duluth trip, our only purely vacation trip of the latter part of the year, a lot less fun than it might have been. This is no reflection on Duluth, which was pretty much best foot forward all weekend. The weather was gorgeous, the fall colors spectacular. We got in later than planned - it’s normally a 2.5 hour drive but construction and a late start got us there in the early afternoon. We went directly to Glensheen, which is a large and lovely historical estate/museum at the north end of town. It is known for its beauty and the quality of the restoration/confirmation on the home and grounds (and the murders that took place here in the 1970s, which are not to be discussed inside the house, according to some of the staff). At any rate, it is quite pretty – I particularly like the green-tiled sun porch, which looked like it would be brutally cold in winter, but very nice to look at.
We stayed at Olcott House, which is a very pretty B&B in a historical building. Nice innkeeper, nice space, pleasant companions at breakfast, not so nice aging mattress. So we were light on sleep due to that and grieving, which also made things less fun than they might have been otherwise. But so it goes. Friday night was dinner at the fabulous Pickwick’s, a pub in operation since 1914 or thereabouts. Saturday morning, we stopped by Chester Creek Books and Antiques, which is a lovely store inside an old converted church. Reader, we bought books. I know, huge surprise. Best find: Easton Press edition of C.J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station, which I have never read. Then we were off to lunch and Duluth Trading, before moving on to the Tweed to meet our friend Matt and peruse Shakespeare’s First Folio. This was fun and they did a nice exhibit on costumes and art, as well as providing a copy of the tome that one could leaf through. We then braved the crowds at Canal Park to go to Duluth Pack, before heading back to the B&B to change for the ballet. After that, we were off to dinner at Va Bene, which was tasty and then on to DECC for Dracula. Minnesota Ballet put on a fine performance, with some great dancing, and some very Edward Goreyish sets, which I loved. Other than the hall being a tad cold, it was a swell time.
Sunday, we drove part of the Skyline Parkway, which circles the top of the city with a spectacular view of the harbor and the woods on the other side. it was very lovely, as was our stop at Enger Tower. From there, we managed to get lost for a while, which was unpleasant, but wound up At Sara's Table for lunch, which was very tasty. Then we started driving home and got stuck in traffic so we got home a lot later than planned. Overall, mixed bag on the vacation front. But will definitely check out Duluth again.
This, needless to say, made the Duluth trip, our only purely vacation trip of the latter part of the year, a lot less fun than it might have been. This is no reflection on Duluth, which was pretty much best foot forward all weekend. The weather was gorgeous, the fall colors spectacular. We got in later than planned - it’s normally a 2.5 hour drive but construction and a late start got us there in the early afternoon. We went directly to Glensheen, which is a large and lovely historical estate/museum at the north end of town. It is known for its beauty and the quality of the restoration/confirmation on the home and grounds (and the murders that took place here in the 1970s, which are not to be discussed inside the house, according to some of the staff). At any rate, it is quite pretty – I particularly like the green-tiled sun porch, which looked like it would be brutally cold in winter, but very nice to look at.
We stayed at Olcott House, which is a very pretty B&B in a historical building. Nice innkeeper, nice space, pleasant companions at breakfast, not so nice aging mattress. So we were light on sleep due to that and grieving, which also made things less fun than they might have been otherwise. But so it goes. Friday night was dinner at the fabulous Pickwick’s, a pub in operation since 1914 or thereabouts. Saturday morning, we stopped by Chester Creek Books and Antiques, which is a lovely store inside an old converted church. Reader, we bought books. I know, huge surprise. Best find: Easton Press edition of C.J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station, which I have never read. Then we were off to lunch and Duluth Trading, before moving on to the Tweed to meet our friend Matt and peruse Shakespeare’s First Folio. This was fun and they did a nice exhibit on costumes and art, as well as providing a copy of the tome that one could leaf through. We then braved the crowds at Canal Park to go to Duluth Pack, before heading back to the B&B to change for the ballet. After that, we were off to dinner at Va Bene, which was tasty and then on to DECC for Dracula. Minnesota Ballet put on a fine performance, with some great dancing, and some very Edward Goreyish sets, which I loved. Other than the hall being a tad cold, it was a swell time.
Sunday, we drove part of the Skyline Parkway, which circles the top of the city with a spectacular view of the harbor and the woods on the other side. it was very lovely, as was our stop at Enger Tower. From there, we managed to get lost for a while, which was unpleasant, but wound up At Sara's Table for lunch, which was very tasty. Then we started driving home and got stuck in traffic so we got home a lot later than planned. Overall, mixed bag on the vacation front. But will definitely check out Duluth again.
