Weekend Recap: Brought to you by Black Friday in Duluth

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend full of food and family. I ate lots of turkey and pie, played a few board games, and just vegged my way through Thursday evening. 

I like to view Thanksgiving Thursday as a day to carbo-load and rest before the exhausting events of Black Friday. I love to shop, and I love to Black Friday shop. There is something so exciting about one day sales, hoards of people, and hearing Christmas music play in public again. But this year we  avoided the rush of midnight sales, and opted for a tourist day in Duluth. 

It’s an annual tradition for my college friend Mackenzie to stay with me over Thanksgiving break. Being she’s from Washington state, I like to give her at least one Minnesota Experience each year. In the past I’ve taken her ice fishing, shopping at the Mall of America, and we’ve traveled to Duluth in a few different seasons, but winter is by far our favorite time to visit the Superior city. 

We started our day with some Black Friday shopping at the Duluth Mall. It was insane! The walkways were packed, checkout lines had wait times of 30 minutes or more, and the food court didn’t have one open table. We were only slightly successful in terms of shopping. Each of us checked one or two things off our Christmas list, but nothing too major. 

After shopping, we found a quiet coffee shop to waste some time before dinner. Mmmm a warm peppermint mocha was just what I needed to refill my Christmas spirit after a hectic shopping trip. 

After a delicious dinner at Duluth’s Black Woods Grill, we split our evening between two Duluth tourist destinations. 

Bentleyville Tour of Lights

This was our second year visiting Bentleyville on Thanksgiving weekend and it was even better than the first. The weather was a warm 40 degrees, making for a comfortable walk around the park, if it weren’t for the incessant rain. I would describe it as a soggy evening, a warm soggy evening. 

We had time to kill before our Glensheen tour. So much time we were able to walk around Bentleyville twice AND roast a few marshmallows. 

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AND we met Mrs. Clause!

Glensheen Mansion

Finally, we ended our Black Friday adventure with a 9:00 lights off tour of Glensheen Mansion. Kenzie and I had toured the 1908 mansion last spring, but were excited to see it again, this time decorated for Christmas. The Glensheen manison was built in the early 1900s by the very wealthy Congdon family. Chester Congdon, who made his wealth through investments in iron ore and other natural resources, built the 39 room mansion on the shore of Lake Superior to be used as the family residence for him, his wife, and their seven children. 

Now used as a historic site, Glensheen gives tours of the restored home in addition to using the spacious grounds for events year round. During the holiday season, Glensheen decorates their beautiful grounds with a super tacky Christmas display which we thoroughly enjoyed walking through. 

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There were blow up decorations, Christmas bulbs strung through the trees, sharks in fountains, and lots and lots of lights. Along the path we encountered a bonfire raging for cold estate wanderers. We spent a good amount of time drying off by the warmth of the fire while listening to the lap of Lake Superior on the rocky shoreline. 

The tour of the mansion was my favorite part of the day. Each room had it’s own Christmas tree, decorated with coordinating ornaments. And the entire house was lit only by the light of the trees! I didn’t take many pictures because I was really enjoying the tour and the light was a little too dim for my camera. The one picture I did take (seen above) is of the tree in the family’s library. This tree is decorated with the Congdon family’s actual ornaments!

And last but not least, my locket:

I was bundled up for most of the day, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to wear some Origami Owl!

I filled my locket with black stardust and crystals (because it was Black Friday, duh) and a few Christmas light bulbs from last year’s Holiday Collection. I’m bummed there weren’t more Christmas light charms added to this years collection. I believe lights are one of the best little charms of the season. Do you agree? Is there a lights display near you that you visit during this sparkly season?