Why Duluth Minnesota? Why now? To be completely honest, we were visiting the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (which you can read about HERE), and we decided that we were close enough to Duluth that we probably should make a stop over, just so that we could say we had been to Minnesota this summer. We did not regret this spontaneous decision, and want to share with you some of the amazing experiences Duluth had to offer.
1 – Duluth Children’s Museum, 2 hours or less: Since at the time, we were only a few weeks out of strict quarantine, I was not certain what to expect from a children’s Museum, that would ordinarily have the intentions for young children to touch just about everything in sight. We were very impressed with the attentiveness of the museum staff to clean and disinfect literally everything that had been touched.
I sort of expected my kids to become frustrated with the lack of tactile objects, and want to leave prematurely, but this was not the case. The staff was actually very interactive, and had prepared group games that could be played in a very socially distant manner. There were however more staff members present than Museum guests, which did make for easy social distancing.
Buggie loved drawing chalk pictures and all of the picture frames on the wall, Bubba enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit, and Buddy enjoyed trying to conquer the magnetic PVC the ball maze on the wall. This was a fun early start to a fun filled day.
I chose this picture intentionally, because my children are in my opinion, pretty typical, and want to climb everything. Let’s face it, most of the time this is frowned upon, but in this case, it was even encouraged. Climb away children!
2 – Fairmont Park and Lake Superior Zoo, 1-2 hours: Since we arrived at the zoo just prior to lunch time, we decided to make a picnic lunch, and the kids enjoyed playing on the playground at Fairmont Park while I made sandwiches.
After we finished our lunches, and purchased our tickets, we were directed to an odd entrance down at the end of the parking lot. The purpose for the peculiar entrance was that the zoo had designed a one-way walking path through the exhibits to assist with social distancing efforts.
There were portable restrooms and handwashing stations throughout the park, along with one snack stand and flush toilet bathroom towards the end of the route. I would recommend bringing along a water bottle, as there were not many opportunities to get a drink. As you know, zoos can be very hot attractions, and all of my kiddos were very thirsty by the time we reached the car.
The Lake Superior Zoo was very clean and well laid out, with the one-way walking path, it only took us about an hour to experience the entire zoo, and felt as if we had a complete experience. Could you spend more time, certainly, but don’t be shy about visiting if you are short on time either.
The Lake Superior Zoo is a participating reciprocal member of the ASTC (Science Museums), so if you are a member of that, your admission will be free.
3 – North Shore Scenic Railroad Dinner Train, 2.5 hours: The Duluth Historical Railroad Society offers many different entertainment train experiences. We chose the Pizza dinner train, which includes dinner and approximately a two hour recorded tour of the Duluth area via passenger train. 
Due to the limited capacity for each experience, you may not get your first choice of food/music theme if you book last minute. If you have a food allergy, you may want to book further in advance so that they can make arrangements to accommodate your needs.
The pizza train included a bottled drink, personal pizza, and warm brownie. There is also a cash snack bar for snacks and additional drinks (including adult beverages).
You can read more about our Dinner Train experience HERE.
4 – The Aerial Lift Bridge, 1 minute/2 hours: Take a stroll along the Port of Duluth, and keep your eyes on The Aerial Lift Bridge, which spans the Duluth Ship Canal. This is a special type of drawbridge that, as the name would suggest, lifts straight up and down instead of split in the middle like the typical drawbridge. The bridge operates 24 hours a day, and an average of twelve times a day. This is only one of two aerial lift bridges in the United States, so don’t miss the opportunity to stand along the shore in Bayfront Festival Park to watch the bridge operate. This current bridge replaced a swinging footbridge in 1905. The longest part of this experience will be waiting for it to happen, maybe bring along a ball or frisbee to play in the park. It only takes about one minute for the bridge to complete the 135 foot vertical lift, allowing the ships to pass before resetting.
5 – Great Lakes Aquarium, 1- 2 hours: This aquarium is very unique because it is the only one in the United States that has a freshwater focus. It’s situation on the shore of Lake Superior perfectly amplifies the freshwater theme. 
Currently for social distancing purposes, admission tickets are available for designated entry time slots, to disperse the crowds at the beginning. There was a designated flow of traffic from exhibit to exhibit, and small marked off areas for each party to stand in while they looked at the exhibits.
Though I appreciate the commitment to providing a socially distant experience, some larger families ahead of us were taking much longer than my children cared to spend on particular exhibits, and the people behind us were pressuring us hard to move on. To solve this problem, we took a restroom break, and then went back to the point we had left off so that we could enjoy the aquarium at our own pace.
Currently the water table section of the museum was closed, which was a bummer, because this would have been the highlight of the trip for Bubba.
6 – Playfront Park, up to 2 hours: Located in the Bayfront Festival Park, just across the parking lot from the Great Lakes Aquarium, you will find a great playground opportunity. Many opportunities for all three kids to stretch and explore at their own physical development level. Parking is free for 2 hours for playground users only.
7- Hepzibah’s Candy Shop, less than an hour including parking: Maybe I should be thankful for the pandemic limiting the traffic inside of stores such as candy shops. This allowed me to avoid the need to corral tiny fingers away from hundreds of varieties
of candy, much of it vintage. Instead, the kiddos were able to view the candy selection through the shop window, and settled on some fudge to share. Located in the heart of the downtown shopping district, this is a fun stop for sugar lovers of all ages.
8 – Canosia Grove Farm, a few minutes, or an overnight: We are members of Harvest Host, which is a network of farms, attractions, wineries, and other agricultural locations that offer camping spots for a night, typically in exchange for the purchase of their goods and products.
This was our first experience with Harvest Host, and it sets an amazing tone for all future visits. If you are looking for more information about Harvest Host, check out our post about different boondocking camping options.
At Canosia Grove, you can grab hard cider, apple juice, honey, lamb, wool, and eggs. We sampled the cider and the eggs. You don’t have to be staying the night to arrange to purchase these goods from their website.
All of the kids enjoyed learning about farm life from the children who live on the farm. Buggie was proud to have collected our eggs for purchase all on her own, and Buddy and Bubba enjoyed climbing fences, and running around to round up the sheep in the pasture in the morning before we departed. Personally, I thought that the view at sunset was one of the very best of our entire trip.
Duluth was a great weekend stayover, and the kids had a blast with both indoor and outdoor activities. The great news is that Duluth is a year round playground for families. Most of the above activities can be enjoyed year round, some with a holiday twist during the winter.
