A Girls Weekend in Duluth

I recently had a girls weekend in Duluth and we had a blast! Duluth is a perfect city for a weekend getaway or even for a day trip. The last time I traveled to Duluth, I went solo to see a power lifting meet, and that was two summers ago. I’ve also been up there for Grandma’s Marathon, which is an experience in itself. If you’re in driving distance to Duluth, I definitely recommend it.

Our trip start early Friday morning, we drove up early so had the majority of the day to explore. After we arrived, we were all hungry so we grabbed an early lunch at Grandma’s Restaurant, the major sponsor for the very popular Grandma’s Marathon. This was a weekend of no tracking and only enjoyment, so I ordered a Lift Bridge Mango Blonde and a turkey club wrap. Sure – it was 11 in the morning, but that’s not too early for a beer during girls weekend. After lunch, we walked through some of the shops in Canal Park before heading back to downtown.

The blocks behind and next to our hotel were hosing a street fair during the day and a street dance in the evening. One of the vendors was giving away free ice cream which I couldn’t pass up on. Then we browsed down the street a bit further and found a small vendor offering women’s clothing. Because we were living our best lives, we purchased matching maxi dresses to wear on one of our nights out.

For our first night out, we visited Vikre Distillery near the Aerial Lift Bridge in Canal Park, before making our way to the 310 Pub which has a variety of drinking games to play – corn hole toss, beer pong, pool, darts and more. We also grabbed some frozen yogurt at Jacq Frost which had awesome color changing spoons. I of course had to use the historic city’s backdrop for a very Instagram-worthy photo.

On Saturday, we toured the historic Glensheen Mansion which sits directly on Lake Superior just a few minutes from Downtown Duluth. The estate has a beautiful garden, tennis courts, and the beautiful house of course. Nearly everything in the house is original and preserved from the era it was built or used. While being a historic tourist destination in Duluth and a beautiful location for weddings, the mansion is also known for the murder of Elisabeth Congdon, one of the daughters of Chester Congdon who originally owned the house. The tour doesn’t talk about the incident, however there’s plenty of articles online with more history.

After the tour we grabbed some early lunch and did a quick stroll through the Rose Garden near Leif Erikson Park. The weekend we were in Duluth happened to be the one weekend it’s 90 degrees, so we kept our outdoor activities to a minimum. Originally, we had planned to do some hiking on Saturday afternoon, but we knew that we wouldn’t have fun given the heat so went to Park Pointe instead – best decision we could have made. Lake Superior was definitely colder than the lakes in Minneapolis, but in the 90 degree sun it was perfect timing.

For Saturday night, we ate at Fitgers Brewhouse where I had the Apricot Wheat brew with a very Minnesotan wild rice burger. For dessert, we walked over to the Portland Malt Shoppe and grabbed some delicious ice cream cones.

I love going to Duluth! It’s a great city with so much to do, great Minnesota dishes, and a good selection of breweries to choose from if that’s your scene. I’d love to take a weekend trip back during the fall. We were even talking about having a couples weekend the next time around. For now, I have the wonderful memories with some of my favorite girl friends!