Duluth

James had some business with this hotel in Duluth Minnesota, so I went with him. We flew in on Monday and came home Thursday night. Just about the perfect length for a little getaway. (James's Mom might disagree with this statement, since she was watching all 4 kids. She probably thinks 4 hours would have been just about right.)
This was the hotel we stayed at. It used to be a brewery, but it didn't smell like beer or anything. In fact, it was quite the swanky place. Valet parking, they took our bags to the room for us, and they had a pillow menu. You call the front office and request they type of pillow you want. Crazy! And you can see how close it is to the water. That's Lake Superior.

We took a cool boat cruise one night for about 2 hours. There was pizza and ice cream, which was great, but the best part was the awesome nautical music. If the soundtrack had been available for purchase, I'd have been tempted. Then I could drive along in my car listening to classics such as "What it's really like on a ship" and "I'm a scallawag". The picture of our hotel was taken from this boat.

We also went to the train museum. This is a snowplow train.

More lovely lake views

We also toured some huge fancy homes. About 100 years ago, Duluth had the most millionaires per capita of any city in the US. The Rockefellers retired there. It's because of the ports. All the railroad and mining bazillionaires did a ton of business in Duluth. Now their homes are open for tours, or they've been turned into B&B's, or they've been turned into Frat houses. Anyway, it was a great trip and it would be a fun place to visit with kids.