gnatweds

This is my version of the adventures over the last three days/two nights – we drove up to the North Shore of the state of Minnesota – very near the border of Canada and the province of Ontario.

It was a last minute trip – the doc is changing rotations this month and by sheer dint of luck, he managed to get a call on a Wednesday, which meant that from Thursday afternoon till Monday, he was to be pretty much free. Hence the plotting to run off to the North, where the fall colours are meant to be peaking.

Apparently when the trees change, it only lasts for a few days/weeks so it was pretty much now or never considering that next month we’ll be in Chicago for that huge medical conference.

So we tried booking on TUESDAY for accommodations on Thurs and Fri nights, and would you believe it? Almost everything was booked solid. What was available was helluva expensive. We got ourselves into a suite at Larsmont Cottages, which is a new establishment on the lakeside.

Okay wait. Think I should explain the geography a bit: North Shore is a term applied to a looong stretch of shore bounding Lake Superior… about 2 and a half hours drive from tip to tip along this scenic road called Highway 61.

At the Southern tip is the city of Duluth. (about 3 hours from the Twin cities) It’s the largest inland port in the US of A. and like most port cities I have seen/been to – it’s well, fairly industrial. Big steel structures for bridges etc etc. Though there’re supposed to be a nice waterside/lakeside park and things to see, we gave it a miss because there was only so much time.

Five minutes out of Duluth and already the scenery is dramatically gorgeous, the maples are all this rich russet red, there are gold hues, and the evergreens like the pine trees stay stalwart green. Imagine the riot of colour mixed together on each side of the road, and you have an idea what it’s like.

Back to the geography part – from Duluth, you can drive up and hit tiny towns – which are often not much bigger than a few resorts clustered together, but there quaint gift shops , little pie places and diners spotting each side of the highway. Some of the towns as you drive up include Two Harbors, Silver Bay, Ilgen City, Toft, Lutsen and right at the northern bit is Grand Marais. From here, it’s a hop skip and jump (half an hour) to the Canadian border.

Our booking was in this place about 10 minutes from Two Harbors; nice little place. Very civil – the room has a fireplace, and the bathrooms are huge with separate Jacuzzi bath and showers…. But heh, Dr G was NOT impressed by the size of the room. I think he was anticipating Bali’s Ritz Carlton Villa type size because of what we were paying . I didn’t think it was that bad, but that said, I can’t imagine what a mere room would be like if that is meant to be a suite. A friend, Yvonne, tells us that we have to get used to the rooms here.

The resort room redeemed itself a little in G’s eyes when he realized that there was free wifi available in the rooms and throughout the resort area.

It was actually rather fancily done up and there was a small deck, AND it looked out directly at the lake. The main lodge has a fancy schmancy restaurant and a really nice fireplace/lounge area. Then again, with the prices they charging, it had better be nice man.

We arrived at 6 pm on Thursday – after getting stopped by cop no less. Got away with a warning, but hell… I think the Porsche attracts too much attention. Was going only 10 mph above the speed limit, and you know what, (yes, maybe am being defensive, and yes, I was driving at the time) the Audi in front of us was going MUCH MUCH MUCH faster, so was the Honda and the Grand Prix in front of the Audi – and we thanked our lucky stars that we brought our thick huge coats. It was bloody cold; there are fire pits where you can DIY a fire, but it was too bloody lecheh and cold; so we said eff it and drank beer and champagne instead hahahhahahah.

The next day was dreary, rainy and cold. Dr G bitched non-stop about the weather and how awful the pictures would turn out since the colours were muted… *groan* heard the same refrain “crappy weaaather” sooo many times, I was ready to biff him over the head. But he got dragged out to do some walking at a couple of waterfalls and he started cheering up a little, but the highlight was when we drove up to Lutsen (approx 90 to 120 minutes from Two Harbors).

Lutsen is actually a ski resort and the scenery was just amazing. Will need to get Dr to put up photos for you to get idea of what it’s like… but think a gorge in between two mountains and lots of brilliant reds and golds in the trees. Will be plotting a trip up in skiing season when ahem we have some kind of foundation first of course.

Grand Marais was also terribly charming – could not resist the tiny shops esp. one that yelled in a sign: “The World’s Best Doughnuts” and for a doughnut freak like me… how to not buy?

Also met a super sweet cat (even if she was a tad bit tiny and gene rolled his eyes at me trying to pet the cat) in an art gallery – oh yah; this place is quite the artists’ central – and walked around a little bit. Didn’t tarry long there even though we wanted to because we had dinner reservations back where we were staying xx hours down south. But we did take down a couple of names of lodging areas so… next time we know

Oh!!! Also… speaking of restaurants… there were a couple of hits and misses. Nokomis, which is supposed to be this super avant garde restaurant came highly recommended but I personally was not horribly impressed; New Scenic Café - which is a little humbler - had great food. But in general, the food up at Two Harbors, misses or otherwise still beats anything available at Rochester!!!

The last day, we took to driving up and down the backlanes. Gene drove into a gravel unpaved road, and I was freaking out. Still haven’t got the pump for the spare tire should anything happen after all! And of course, there was absolutely NO connection on the mobile phone. Gahhh. Heng ah, it was not that long a gravel track… about 20 minutes, but it did fry my nerves. G on the other hand was happily stopping the car every five minutes or so, and hopping out to take photos.

Am actually typing this entry was we are enroute home. We’re somewhere about 45 minutes from the cities, called Chisago county… John Mellencamp is blasting from speakers (managed to connect the iPod)… better pay attention to the route a bit … cya