The leaves are changing to their fall colors slowly across the state, and they've peaked in northern Minnesota, which is where my wife and I spent our weekend. Specifically in and around Ely and later in Two Harbors and Duluth. We left bright and early last Friday morning and arrived at the Grand Ely Lodge around 2PM in the afternoon. As soon as we saw the place we knew we had chosen the right place to stay. The lobby was huge and inviting and the front desk staff were very helpful and friendly. Our room was tastefully decorated in the "Up North" rustic style that you would expect and very spacious and comfortable, but the best thing about it was the breathtaking view of Shagawa Lake from our third-floor accommodations.

We spent most of the rest of our first day there exploring the grounds of the lodge and downtown Ely. Although everything had been put away for the season, the Grand Ely Lodge has a nice dock set-up, with paddleboat, canoe, kayak, fishing boat and pontoon rentals available. The downtown has plenty of little shops and outfitters to visit and a great variety of restaurants at which to dine. Two of them were recommended to us by Jack Lucking at Milo Peterson Ford in Kenyon. We enjoyed breakfast at Britton's Cafe on Saturday morning and a delicious pizza at Sir G's that same night. Backtracking a little bit, on Friday we also strolled around part of Miners Lake, which was within a stone's throw of the Lodge, spent some time swimming in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub before showering and heading downstairs to the Evergreen Restaurant. Earlier, we had made reservations for a nice table by the window, overlooking the lake and once again we enjoyed a delicious meal.

In between breakfast and supper on Saturday we visited the Fall Fun Fair hosted by the Ely Arts and Heritage Center at the Miners Dry House. We then proceeded to drive out to Kawishiwi Falls Trail and hiked the 1.5 mile round-trip trail that took us past Kawishiwi Falls with its stunning 70-foot drop. After that, we went into town and enjoyed some ice cream and perused the various nick-knacks and other items at Northern Expressions in downtown Ely. We decided to get another hike in, so we made our way out to another destination that Jack had suggested to me. It was a trail that took us along a ridge, created by the Vermillion Fault, overlooking Bass Lake to Dry Falls. The trail loops around both Bass Lake and Dry Lake. It was getting late in the day so we opted to take the shorter Dry Lake loop. It turned out that that was a good choice since the sun was starting to set as we emerged from the forest.

When we returned to the Lodge, we decided it was time to hit the pool and hot tub again before going downtown for that pizza at Sir G's. After a filling meal, we drove around for a little while before heading back to the Lodge for a good night of sleep.

We woke up bright and early in order to hit the road bound for Two Harbors and ultimately Duluth before returning home. In Two Harbors we strolled along the breakwater and checked a few of the local sites, including the lighthouse and surrounding buildings, the iron ore docks, the Edna G. tugboat and a couple of vintage trains at the depot. In Duluth we wandered out to the lighthouse in Canal Park, shopped at a few stores in the Canal Park area and grabbed lunch at Little Angie's. Before heading home we stopped at the rest area that overlooks Duluth because it's become kind of a tradition to stop there whenever we visit Duluth.

Amazingly the traffic home was moving along at a good pace and we made it home by 6 o'clock that night. Another successful and fun gall color getaway for the memory book.

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