On December 12, in layered winter garb, Husband and I tramped almost a mile from our hotel downtown Duluth, Minnesota, to the Bentleyville Tour of Lights at Bayfront Festival Park. If a traveler stumbled into the city between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there would be no missing the five million lights of America’s largest free walk-through holiday display; the glow from the freeway could lure anyone into its warmth, although at minus four degrees, it really wasn’t.
We thawed our hands by fire barrels, Toby Mac & Owl City’s “Light of Christmas” accompanying the scene. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” lit the atmosphere as we snacked on free popcorn on our stroll through the tunnel of lights, the busyness “Moderate,” as the Crowd-O-Meter called the attendance that night. Minnesota’s famous icons—SPAM, “Spoonbridge and Cherry” (its official name, apparently), Prince’s symbol, and a fish (for our 10,000 lakes)—glowed to show us where we were, and “The First Noel” played to remind us why.
After Bentleyville, Husband and I shared a Wrecktangle pizza in the back corner of Wild State Cider, the patrons around us in Carhartt snow bibs and Norwegian sweaters, lifting steaming mugs and zipping their babies into bunting snowsuits before departing. Swags of lights dripped from the ceiling there too, so our Christmas spirits shone on.
The next morning, we browsed in the shops of Fitger’s Inn to find infant clothing that could cost a person their appendages and a kitchen store that sold lefse chips in Cinnamon Sweet, Pumpkin Spice, and Cool Ranch. We left the chips where we found them and scurried for the flavors of the Cajun Finn sandwich and smoked salmon salad from Northern Waters Smokehaus instead.
Oh, the festivities of a cold winter’s night (and following day)! We warmly recommend it.
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*Names in this blog have been changed to protect my family, neighbors, and friends in the neighborhood, and in a nod of appreciation to the beloved Swedish author Maj Lindman, I’ve renamed my three blondies Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka and their husbands (present and future), Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr.