Do It Now: Fall
A little taste of luxury
In late autumn, take advantage of prices that fall right along with the leaves.
If you'd like to travel like a rich person, this is a good time of the year to do it.
In November and December, most folks travel only to visit family, so rooms go begging at luxury resorts and inns.
I paid $70 to stay at the luxurious Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wis., and $95 to stay at the Geneva Inn (pictured) in Lake Geneva, one of the very few places that's right on the water.
It was nice to feel rich, even if I had to work the angles to do it.
This weekend
Prepare to be dazzled in Minneapolis.
Holidazzle Parade in Minneapolis. This delightful procession of lighted fairy-tale figures is a staple on Nicollet Mall downtown. Nov. 25–Dec. 18.
Christkindlmarket in Chicago. Vendors, many of them from Germany, bring this Old World tradition to Daley Plaza. Nov. 25–Dec. 24.
Christkindlsmarkt in Excelsior, Minn. This town on Lake Minnetonka holds a traditional open-air Christmas market (pictured). Nov. 25–27.
Holiday Stroll in Red Wing, Minn. Go for carolers, chestnuts and carriage rides and stay for a lighted parade and fireworks off Barn Bluff. Nov. 25.
Ghosts of the Great Lakes
Centuries of tragedy leave haunting memories.
This time of year, ghosts go hand in hand with shipwrecks and the malevolent late-fall storms that cause them.
Crews and passengers have been coming to bad ends ever since boats sailed the Great Lakes, starting with La Salle's Griffon, which disappeared in 1679 after leaving Washington Island in Door County.
Some say the ship was done in by an Iroquois curse on the French invaders, and that it still can be glimpsed lurking in the fog.
Lonely lighthouses also produce ghosts, such as the Upper Peninsula keeper who was found as a skeleton hanging from a tree and is said to haunt Big Bay Point Lighthouse. The Door County Maritime Museum tells about some of them in the exhibit Ghosts! Haunted Lighthouses of the Great Lakes.
Follow the fun
Join an outdoors club to make friends, see new places and save money.
Sometimes, when traveling, it's nice to let someone else run the show.
Someone who reserves rooms for holiday weekends a year in advance. Someone who plans dinners, gets group discounts on lift tickets and organizes transportation. All you have to do is sign up and go.
And costs for weekend trips can be irresistibly low, often less than $100 per person.
If you'd like to do something fun this winter, now is the time to join an outdoors club. You don't have to live in the town in which the club is based.
All quiet up north
Like the leaves, room rates have dropped.
All across the north woods, lodge owners are heaving a sigh of relief: The fall-color rush is over.
But that doesn't mean lodges don't want guests. So they've dropped their rates by up to half until the holiday and ski seasons start.
It's just one reason the last week of October and first week of November is my favorite time to hike on Minnesota's North Shore (pictured, the Brule in late October); also, mud freezes on the trails and curtains of leaves fall back to reveal new views of Lake Superior.
Rates are the lowest until the spring slush season. Rooms start at $45 at good old Cascade Lodge near Lutsen, but this is a good time to try the pricier spots: the East Bay Suites in Grand Marais, where a two-bedroom, two-bath and two-fireplace suite that sleeps six goes for $189 on weekends, or the new Surfside on Superior near Tofte, which has a spa and two-bedroom suites for $155.
Switching seasons
Late fall is fine time for wine, women and ghosts.
There’s still nice color in southern Wisconsin, Iowa and parts of southern Minnesota, but we get the sense that fall is winding down.
So we’ve updated our stories about great things to do in late October and November. Halloween is coming up, and ghost tours entertain you with the spooky parts of local history.
On wine trails, the season is just starting, with vineyards inviting folks to take a little drive and sample the wares, maybe with chocolate, appetizers or, at one winery, macaroni and cheese.
And November is girlfriend-getaway month. Men hunt for deer, and women hunt for fun things to do with their friends — shopping at a holiday fair, seeing a bawdy musical revue or getting the perfect massage.
Fall colors and a concert
Follow musicians to four nooks in the Mississippi River bluffs.
On a fall road trip, it's nice to have more to do than look at colors.
You wouldn't expect the Mississippi River Valley in southeast Minnesota to have a lot of nightlife, but four unusual venues
provide an astonishing amount of good music — for those who know about them.
In Red Wing, the jewel-box 1904 Sheldon Theatre (pictured) is best known, and it's hosting Kathy Mattea Oct. 8 and the
Cab Calloway Orchestra Oct. 20.
Just west of town, in a renovated barn at Hobgoblin Music's Music Loft, the
Soap Box Players present 30 Plays in 60 Minutes Oct. 8-9 and 15-16.
Seeing red on the North Shore
For bursts of color, try these trails through maple forest.
This time of year, crowds of leaf-peepers mob Minnesota’s North Shore, looking for fabulous fall color.
Late September-early October generally is peak for inland maple forests.
Nearly everyone heads for Oberg Mountain (pictured, the view last fall). But if you’d like to try something new, naturalist/author Andrew Slade provides ideas in his excellent new book “Hiking the North Shore.’’ For “good maple hikes,’’ he suggests:
Leveaux Mountain, which starts across the road from the Oberg trailhead, near Tofte, a 3.2-mile loop.
10 great trails to ride in fall
Here's where to get your fill of flora, fauna and fall colors.
It was a classic fall weekend when we rode the Willard Munger State Trail in eastern Minnesota.
It's a peaceful corridor through forest that, on the second weekend of October, surrounded us with a warm palette of honey
and cinnamon, mixed with evergreens and the white of birch trunks and milkweed pods. From time to time, we went through one
of the small towns on Highway 61, immortalized by Bob Dylan.
But we were among the few bicyclists on the trail. Where was everybody? Probably on I-35, rushing to and from the North Shore.
Too bad, because the Munger State Trail is a destination in itself, especially when combined with a hike through nearby
Banning State Park, a gorgeous place that also suffers from drive-by syndrome.
Eyes on the skies
On bluffs and ridges, it's time to watch the hawk migration.
In September and October, hawks fill the skies, swooping down from northern forests and prairies by the thousands.
Experienced birders wait for them on the shores of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, counting raptors overhead and banding those they can catch.
That's a great opportunity for amateur birders to see a raptor up close. And, unlike eagles and most other birds, they're best viewed in the middle of the day.
In Duluth, raptors are funneled over Hawk Ridge by the vast expanses of Lake Superior,
and birders can follow the hawks for several minutes as they pass overhead.
Home of horsepower
In Wisconsin, see where race cars, snowmobiles, outboards and motorcycles were born.
In Wisconsin, boys like to go fast.
That's why they invented the outboard motor (Cambridge), the Harley-Davidson motorcycle (Milwaukee), the race car (Menomonie) and the snowmobile (Sayner).
Here's where to go to pay homage to your favorite machine.
Sayner, the snowmobile. In the northeast Wisconsin town of Sayner, the Vilas County Historical Society Museum exhibits the 1924 "motor toboggan'' built by Carl Eliason and his models through 1953.
Scenery in the studios
On autumn art tours, treasure hunters strike gold (and orange and red).
In September and October, artists everywhere throw open their studio doors, inviting the public to see some fall colors along
with fine art.
It's so tempting because of the scenic landscapes in which so many artists live: the bluffs of northeast Iowa, the coulees of southwest Wisconsin, the towns around Lake Pepin, the lumpy terrain of the Ice Age Trail.
"This is such a pretty area in the fall, and we thought it would be nice to have a tour where people could travel through
it,'' says potter Diana Johnston, who helped found southwest Wisconsin's Fall Art Tour, the region's oldest.
"It's such an adventure — you've got your map in hand, and you're trying to get where you want to go.''
Big birds on the move
On the Mississippi, tundra swans and bald eagles are heading south.
Tundra swans and bald eagles are on the move along the Upper Mississippi River, along with the people who love to watch them.
One of the best places to see tundra swans is the observation deck three miles south of Brownsville, off Minnesota 26 in the far southeast corner of the state. Aerial surveys on Nov. 15 counted 10,200 tundra swans in the sloughs near the overlook, which is equipped with spotting scopes and an interpretive kiosk.
There's a second overlook two miles farther south, and a third on the Reno Bottoms. Farther north, around the confluence of
the Zumbro and Mississippi, Weaver Bottoms
is a good place to look.
Rieck's Lake in Alma (pictured), on the Wisconsin side across from Wabasha, is the traditional swan-watcher's hot spot. Sedimentation has reduced numbers, but it's still a good place to see tundra swans up close. Call the hot line, 608-248-3499, for the latest information. For more, see Wings over Alma.
On the ropes in Lanesboro
Try walking a high wire on Halloween.
Are your Halloween plans up in the air? Imagine walking on a cable three stories above the forest floor, with nothing to hang
onto except a rope swaying overhead. Now imagine doing it at night, helped along by ghouls.
That's the Haunted High Ropes course at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, just west of Lanesboro, Minn., on a bluff overlooking the North Branch of the Root River. It's 6-10 p.m. Oct. 29 in 2010, and the $20 tickets go on sale Oct. 4; call 507-467-2437.
For more, see Escape to Eagle Bluff.
Head toward the (twinkling) lights
At Christmas, tourist destinations pull out all the stops.
If you have money, now is the time to plan a holiday getaway.
Air fares are at historic lows, and hotel rooms always are cheap close to Christmas. And there's a lot going on.
Fly to Chicago to shop at the open-air Christkindlmarket, ice skate in Millennium Park and hear the Apollo Chorus sing “Messiah’’; for more, see Chicago at Christmas.
In Milwaukee, watch fireworks during Christmas in the Ward, see “Plaid Tidings’’ at the Skylight Opera Theatre, tour the decorated Pabst Mansion and see the lights in Cathedral Square (pictured); for more see Milwaukee at Christmas.
Save on the ski hills
Get a deal now on a season pass.
Alpine skiing and snowboarding is expensive, without doubt. So if you plan to ski this winter, buy a season pass. Better yet, buy one during the October and November sales.
Hit the hills just five times (Spirit Mountain) to 10 times (Afton Alps) and your pass is paid for.
If you don't buy a pass, you'll still save if you buy online, especially for multi-day passes. Every resort offers many kinds
of specials, so always check in advance.
At Spirit Mountain in Duluth, the "First Time'' pass, for skiers who haven't held a
season pass during the last five years, is only $139 through Oct. 31. Regular passes are $179. Buy one at Spirit
Mountain, and a Giants Ridge pass is $99.
Ghouls ahoy
On Great Lakes, two haunted ships are spoiling for a fright.
It began with a sepulchral fugue, crashing through the frigid iron innards of the ship. Then there was a shriek. And throbbing blood-red lights.
At a fork along a curtained gantlet, a hand-lettered sign advised, "Choose wisely.'' We chose. Another sign said, "You chose
poorly.'' Then the ghouls began to crowd in, chattering like monkeys: "Where you goin'? Where you goin'?''
A skeleton slowly turned to face us. We climbed a Plexiglass ramp over an open coffin and into an electrocution chamber. A tortured face poked out of the wall. Behind us, the tunnel closed.
The terror stretches through October on the Great Lakes. In Duluth, the S.S. William A. Irvin in Duluth becomes a claustrophobe's nightmare. The 610-foot ore carrier once was the Great Lakes flagship of U.S. Steel. But in October, it's taken over by university theater students, who take full advantage of its narrow hallways and rooms full of hidden nooks and crannies, turning the Irvin into the Haunted Ship.
Hot tip/A different North Shore
Didn't reserve for fall-color season? Thunder Bay has rooms.
In September, the stampede to Minnesota's North Shore begins.
Leaf peepers who descend on the craggy shores between Duluth and Grand Marais are out of luck if they didn't reserve far in
advance for weekends between now and Minnesota's long school break, Oct. 15-18 in 2009.
But those who drive a little farther, just an hour beyond Grand Marais, will find everything the Minnesota shore has and
more. Thunder Bay, Lake Superior's largest town, no longer is a great bargain, thanks to the weak U.S. dollar. But in fall,
it does have one thing the North Shore doesn't: plenty of hotel rooms.
Rooms still are available every weekend at the Prince Arthur Waterfront Hotel, where rooms have a killer view of the harbor and the Sleeping Giant. They're not expensive, but you also can pay just $20 per person at the International Hostel, halfway between Thunder Bay and Sleeping Giant Provincial Park.
What to do around Thunder Bay? Hike the Sleeping Giant, see
Kakabeka Falls (pictured), explore Ouimet Canyon, tour Fort William Historical
Park (on Oct. 17-19, the tours are haunted). And eat, of course.
© Beth Gauper, 2007 - 2012 all rights reserved
