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Name: Grand Superior Lodge on Lake Superior
Location: 20 minutes north of Two Harbors, MN (Google Map)
URL: http://www.grandsuperior.com/index.htm
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
Review: An easy 4 out of 5 starts! Amazing location right on Lake Superior. Amazing accommodations. Free parking. Not too far from the Twin Cities, just three hours north. Restaurant right on site (Splashing Rock Restaurant) though this is part of why I give only four stars- review pending. For a great place to just unwind and hang out, I love this place. Rates in the “winter months” are quite affordable and there are benefits to staying 2+ nights or staying midweek. We stayed for four days and three nights and were given a $75 gift card for the restaurant. Pretty cool deal. I think one of the coolest thing is all the different room options. Many places are flat rates for all the same room types. Here, you get what you pay for and can choose what you want.
We stayed in a one of the new cabins in what is referred to as the guest room. A perfect arrangement for two people. Full bath, queen size bed, wet bar including mini fridge, microwave, sink, toaster, coffee pot, utensils and silver ware for two. In room flat screen TV with DVD player and Dish Satellite TV. Within our cabin you could also stay in a similar room with a full deck and view of Lake Superior as well as an in room Jacuzzi tub. Or, if you have a larger group, the downstairs unit has a living room, full kitchen and bedroom. And that’s just one side of one building. There are MANY cabins throughout the resort. Read and see more about the room types on the website and view the different rates for each season. Enjoy the additional photos below.
Oh…and I think this qualifies as a brand new city to stay the night. Granted I’ve been to Duluth but this is an hour north, never been there, stayed three nights! I’m counting it. One more city to go to reach my 2010 Goal of visiting two new cities!
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
Last weekend, my boyfriend treated me to my first experience at a Minneapolis treasure called Al’s Breakfast. As an American, breakfast is more than a meal, it’s an experience. It’s a bonding time between family and friends, it’s an experience to be enjoyed and relished, it’s oh so very good on so many levels. Pancakes, waffles, omelets, bacon, sausage, hash browns…how about coffee (something that resonates with all you Finn readers out there I’m sure 
) Traveling to Minneapolis in the future? A current resident? You MUST get to Al’s.
Essentially Al’s is a diner type cafe that seats 14 people at a time along a single straight counter. While you wait to eat, you stand approximately one and a half feet behind the current diners and…wait. Sound awkward, well, to stand and wait, it can feel that way, especially your first time. But once you sit down at the counter, you get it. The whole place is really about 7 feet wide, leaving about 3 feet for the customer side. This is part of the experience (check the video for a better understanding of this) You come in, sit down, eat and leave, enjoying the fast service and AMAZING food. Couple of words of advice- keep your party to 3 or less OR, be prepared to eat amongst strangers or after or before the rest of your group unless you are the very first people in line before it opens and can grab the number of seats needed.
In terms of ordering, I had the Winter Special which includes scrambled eggs with fresh spinach, feta, tomatoes, scallions and toast. I also had one of their pumpkin pancakes to celebrate fall- holy cow, talk about YUM!!! You can view the entire Al’s Breakfast menu here on Urban Spoon.
Also, for a full experience, below are photos and a video of the inside of Al’s. If you’re local, go immediately. If you’re outside Minnesota- Al’s is reason enough to make a visit!
Video from Inside Al’s
Photos on the Flickr Feed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frozenreindeer/
Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown
413 14th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN
(612) 331-9991
On Friday, July 25th, 2008, Tarja Halonen, the president of the republic of Finland became honorary Dr. Tarja Halonen. The ceremony took place at 10am in the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) as part of FinnFest 2008 in Duluth, Minnesota. Below is a photo and video recap of the days events including the music of the Sieur Du Luth Festival Orchestra; a welcome address by UMD Chancellor Kathryn A. Martin; The singing of the Finnish National Anthem (I did not include the U.S. National Anthem but might upload later); The Honor Song; The presentation of Tarja Halonen’s degree; Tarja Halonen’s speech and address to the crowd, followed by the performance of Finlandia conducted by Gaetano Colajanni. Enjoy!
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PHOTOS
Photos From left: 1) waiting outside the DECC for Tarja Halonen; 2) stage prior to Tarja Halonen’s arrival; 3) arrival of Tarja Halonen’s husband and Delegation of the President of the Republic of Finland; 4) The color guard leaving the stage; 5) Performance of the honor song by MA-IIN-GAN singers; 6) Procession of Tarja Halonen to stage
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VIDEOS
Part 1 – Academic Procession of Tarja Halonen to stage
Part 2 – Tarja Halonen walking to stage
Part 3 – Welcome Address
Part 4 – Finnish National Anthem
Part 5 – Introduction of Tarja Halonen
Part 6 – Awarding Tarja Halonen her degree
Part 7 – Tarja Halonen’s Speech
Part 8 – Finlandia performance (part 1)
Performed by Sieur Du Luth Festival Chorus and Orchestra. Conducted by Gaetano Colajanni
Finland performance (part 2)
DECC arena seating view 9:20am
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
They just announced that they are expecting a full house at Tarja
Halonen’s address.. Long way to go!
DECC arena inside for Tarjs Halonen’s address @ FinnFest
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
We’re in and we have great seats to see the stage and the arena
filling up with people. It’s 9:15 so we have about 45 min. Til we
start. Stay tuned!
Outside decc arena FinnFest ’08 Tarja Halonen speech
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
It’s 8:30 and the line has started! Secret service has arrived. We
have coffee and pulla! Time to start waiting!
*BE SURE TO CHECK OUT NEW FLICKR PHOTOS TODAY!
So, I would call today the first “official day” of FinnFest 2008. We headed over to the DECC around 9:30am after breakfast and there was a swarm of people everywhere- a complete turn from yesterday. We headed straight to our first event of the day which was a presentation on “The Titanic’s Missing Woman: Solving the Confusion over Mrs. Latinen’s Fate” with Greg Isola. This presentation was interesting and the research behind it is not only immense, but extremely education. Greg Isola went into detail about the number of Finns that were in fact on board the Titanic when it sunk in 1912. I want to make sure this research gets a good representation so I’m going to put together an informative post and get it up on the blog along with a short video entry by Greg (hope he doesn’t mind the first name basis). I should have it up within the next couple of days when we’re settled back at home and I can go over all my media.
So, next up was an hour of “play time” involving time spent in the tori and some great fun to be had in the food court. Case in point involves the great Finnish snacks for sale.
Like I mentioned, it was packed today at FinnFest which was great. It also brought in some free coffee periods throughout the day which we jumped on. We had ourselves some AMAZING hot dogs and found ourselves serenaded by some traditional Finnish accordion music (or Harmonikka musikkia). You can take a look below at the video for day 2 at the tori (with the previously mentioned accordion player)
After we ate we got to sit through, what I would call an amazing presentation on the University of Minnesota Duluth’s women’s hockey team. I’m gonna have to do the same thing with this as Greg’s Titatic presentation just because there is too much good information to write something up quickly. I will give an overview though because I really enjoyed it. The University of Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team has a special connection to Finland (as well as Sweden and Canada) as many of its members are from Finland. The coach, Shannon Miller has led the UMD Bulldogs to four NCAA titles while at Duluth in just nine years. What I loved about this presentation was how energetic she is and how much she loves what she does. There was also much talk about the unique situation the players are in, working together with such diverse individuals spanning a diverse cultural landscape. Can’t wait to follow up on this later. In the meantime I encourage you to read more about the UMD Women’s hockey team…I sure will!
So…again, time to spare, so what did we do…back to the tori. This time to make our purchases we had thought out over the past day. What was on our list:
- Finnish rye bread! My boyfriend loves it and any Finn misses the heck out of this when away from Finland. We’ll see how it is and if it really is the real thing when we get back to Minneapolis (when he can properly top it with butter and cheese
- Candy…because you just can’t get enough really. Got some salmiakki, and black licorice (yes these are different things)
- Souvenir Mug for my desk at work- perfect saying “Living with a Finn builds character.” That it does…that it does!
- Postcards, sticker decals
- And some newspapers to send back to Finland and spread the Finnish-American news to my boyfriend’s parents
Our last presentation/workshop of the day (three was all we had steam for today) involved something truly great and fun. We sat through Finnish Survival Guide presentation where we were walked through Finnish pronunciation and given a great guide on the Finnish language and common words to make sure you can find the bathroom, communicate the basic daily interactions and learn a little. You can find that post through Finnish Survival Guide Blog post
FinnFest 2008 into the evening July 24th
So, I would say after this we were exhausted. Absolutely exhausted. We grabbed a little more coffee in the food court and headed back to the hotel to lounge before dinner. Tonight there was a small block party event with Finnish music in downtown Duluth that was very good. I didn’t see much of it but here is some quick information followed by a short video of their performance. I really enjoyed it a great deal! Right up my alley
Thur, 4:30 – 7 pm, “Rock the Block”with Ninni Poijärvi Trio
Superior Street in front of the Holiday Center, Downtown Duluth, MUSIC
Ninni Poijärvi Trio band members Mika Kuokkanen, Ninni Poijärvi, and Olli Haavisto share a passion for old Finnish and international music as well as traditional Finnish Pelimanni folk music. Mika, guitar player and singer, is rooted in the singer-songwriter tradition but not a “stranger to urban and sharp edged rock.” Ninni, a songwriter and master of vocal harmonies, plays violin, accordion and piano. Olli is the guru of the pedal and lap steel guitar and the mandolin. “Rock the Block” is sponsored by the Greater Downtown Council. In the event of inclement weather, the performance will be moved inside the Holiday Center.
[video coming soon]
Lastly, we concluded today with dinner at a local pizza place called Sammy’s. The pizza was sooo good. Really, really good. So good, my boyfriend claims that it is close to the best pizza he has ever had in the United States (Koti Pizza in Finland is the comparison for all pizza anywhere). However, we weren’t all too jazzed about the service. Sammy’s in Duluth will get a full post of its own detailing our experience, just how good this pizza is and a little bit of feedback/advice for future diners. For now…you can enjoy a look at what is currently resting comfortably in our tummies.
Alright, I think that was it for today. Tomorrow’s big ticket event- Tarja Halonen, the president of Finland, will be speaking at FinnFest 2008 in the DECC at 10am. Definitely count on photos and video of the event. We’re heading over early to (try to) get seats!
Hyää yotä (good night)
FinnFest 2008 rock music performance setup
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
On our way back from FinnFest today we walked through the skywalk over
the area where performances will be going I tonight by a Finnish band
(need to clarify who it is)but here is a quick look at the setup.
We’ll head down later just to see/ hear how it is..
So, our first day in Duluth, MN for FinnFest 2008 is coming to a close and we have had one heck of a day. At 6pm this evening as we walked into our hotel room, I sprawled out on the bed and just crashed because I was so exhausted. We walked around everywhere, saw a lot of the things in the area, and ate a lot! Duluth is an awesome city in terms of scenery. The weather was perfect today (a comfortable 75 degrees or so) no humidity and just slight clouds in the sky- enough to provide us with some good photos. But hilly…wow. Definitely not the flat lands of Minneapolis we have become accustomed to.
So, FinnFest…where do I start? We went by the DECC around 1pm to pick up our program schedule books. Things were pretty quiet at this point- kind of like the calm before the storm. The festival didn’t officially start until later today, with most things including workshops, presentations and musical events beginning on tomorrow (Thursday). So we got to get settled in and scope things out before the crowds (which for me was great). After grabbing our books we headed out to Canal Park to walk around and grab something to eat. The weather was just too beautiful to spend the day inside.
Canal Park and Canal street are great, fun places. We strolled up the street and grabbed a quick lunch at Subway then spent the next hours just floating around the street and the shore. The photos tell the events better than I could. Enjoy those below- click on each photo for the larger size.
After some sight seeing, some food and some coffee, we felt it was time to head over to the DECC and check out some FinnFest stuff. By this time, around 3pm or so, things were really picking up, the crowds were coming in and my boyfriend was totally excited. We got our official FinnFest 2008 T-shirts and bags and headed in to the food court which led into the tori. We made our list for what we planned to eat the next day while spending Thursday at FinnFest- pulla, hot dogs, lots of coffee and milk to quinch the thirst of a small army (or thousands of Finns!) Milk is a Finnish native’s staple product if you did not now. They seem to drink it more than water! One of the food court spots had a special Finnish coffee menu that we’re gonna try out tomorrow. View below. Funny thing about the food court: As we walked in, my boyfriend saw another festival goer with his same last name- being that these were mostly people of Finnish descent there was a small chance they could be related…turns out his heritage from a more southern region than my boyfriend’s family but they were able to strike up a good conversation and share their connection to Finland.
So then, next we had the tori or ‘market’ in English. Oh, what a great place. We only gave ourselves a small taste since we knew Thursday was dedicated completely to FinnFest. In just a short period of time, my boyfriend was striking up Finnish conversations right and left with some of the vendors who were directly from Finland or Finns living in the U.S. I even got to practice my own Finnish- not in as bad a shape from not practicing much over the summer as I thought which was nice to find out! I think I might learn this language after all!
We grabbed ourselves some candy, scoped out places to buy rye bread before we head back to Minneapolis- big excitement from my boyfriend who misses this almost as much as he misses his family back in Finland. We also got lots of great reading material and found some great local artifacts. Can’t wait to head back tomorrow. Here are a few videos from inside the tori. Glad we got to give it a once over before it crowds up tomorrow.
As we left the festival on the first day we grabbed some ice cream which was so good, I wonder how much I’ll be able to take before Friday…I’m totally going to find out, it was absolute heaven!! So, think that covers day 1. Tomorrow brings more events, some workshops and presentations, food, coffee and hopefully candy!
Signing off for Day 1. Check out our day 1 goodies below- this festival is sooo great!! Hyvää yotä Duluthista (good night from Duluth)
So it’s official, we’re heading to FinnFest 2008 in Duluth, MN (at the Convention Center) next week from Wed, July 23rd-Friday, July 25th!! Hotel..check, Registration…check (thanks to the gracious people at Finn Fest allowing us “older that typical student age” students to register for student rates) and we have our transportation for the two and a half hour car ride up north..talk about an adventure! All of you readers can look forward to many photos, video and audio, reviews, food conversation- LOTS of blog posts and hopefully an immersing experience of all that is Finn Fest 2008!! On top of that, we get to see Duluth, MN a place we hear from many locals that is absolutely beautiful AND we’ll be staying right off of Lake Superior which is awesome (hey I’m from Missouri, let me continue to be a tourist in awe of such great natural wonders!
You’ll notice on the left under the Categories heading a page for FinnFest2008. You’ll be able to view all information and coverage of FinnFest here as it happens and the week(s) after as all video and photos are compiled. I’m also in the process of creating a Finn Fest 2008 Flickr Album to put all photos and there will be videos linked to the FrozenReindeer YouTube Channel. All other details will be communicated over the next week to the blog. Should be an exciting time!
No idea what FinnFest is, well here is a video from an ABC affiliate new station that details a little of what this event is, how it started, discussion of some of the events to take place (such as a visit from the president of Finland, Tarja Halonen Friday Morning at FinnFest) and a little glimpse at the tradition and culture that is Finnish:
Stay tuned for more!
