Weekend Snaps | Girls Weekend in Red Wing

If you follow my blog (and my Facebook page), then you probably couldn’t miss the fact that it was Girls Weekend 2015! I met up with my sister, sister-in-law, cousin and mom and we all descended upon picturesque Red Wing, Minnesota for our annual litany of shopping, wine drinking, eating, and catching up on life.

Which is why I’m exhausted tonight – in the absolute best way, of course – and also feeling very blessed that I have such amazing girlfriends who also happen to be family. It reminds me of this article I came across tonight – 9 Reasons Your Sisters Are Your Best Friends. (I especially like #8 – “With a sister, you can be real. So real. They already know everything about you! What’s one more embarrassing story? What’s one more fear exposed? What’s one more secret confession?”)

Here are a few photo highlights from our amazing weekend:

Wine, of course. And I love the tag my mom made for her contribution – “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas … but if the white runs out, I’ll drink the red.” 

We visited Falconer Vineyards & Winery in Red Wing for a wine tasting on Friday night – and even with the onset of late fall/early winter, this was an absolutely gorgeous setting.

The largest Red Wing boot known to man … size 638-1/2 or something like that. This is my sister, Jodi, by the way. 🙂

This concoction, my friends, is a cast iron skillet full of turkey deliciousness! Turkey meatballs in a cheesy tomato sauce, to be exact, from Staghead Gastropub in Red Wing. We would highly recommend – super fun atmosphere and all our food was phenomenal.

Case in point: macaroni and cheese. Seriously. This restaurant knows me.

Saturday morning, we loaded up with coffee at Caribou and then hit the road, bound for Wisconsin. Our first stop was in the tiny village of Maiden Rock, where we found a couple of whimsical shops. The picture above is part of an area rug in Cultural Cloth, a shop that specializes in home decor and personal accessories crafted by women artists from developing countries around the globe.

And speaking of whimsical … I also found this set of two baskets in Maiden Rock at the The Green Queen Garden Shop.

We left Maiden Rock and wound our way to Stockholm, just a few miles down the road. This artsy little community has several fun shops and cafes and the weather was absolutely perfect for walking around.

Stockholm celebrated “Women’s Weekend” at their shops, and we were told it’s an annual tradition to partake in the Great Pumpkin Roll. 

Here’s a view of the Great Pumpkin Roll and my sister; the object was to roll the pumpkin all the way to the front door of the building straight ahead to win points. My sister-in-law, Dana, proved to have pumpkin rolling skills that clearly were above and beyond the rest of us – and because of that, she won a free hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. 🙂

We settled in for lunch and a little wine at Gelly’s Pub & Eatery.

We headed back to Red Wing after lunch, where we had very good luck shoe shopping (of course!) at Pottery Place Mall – and I also found these amazing displays of vintage glassware at an antique shop. Back in the day, I would’ve had a hard time not buying a new set of glasses, but this weekend, I managed to abstain – which could’ve been the direct result of shoe shopping just prior to this store.

I also found this hand-knit winter hat in – what else? – The Uffda Shop! The artist is a local Red Wing woman who buys small amounts of her favorite yarn and makes only a few of these hats in different colors.

We capped off the day with dinner and sidecar martinis at The Port restaurant in the venerable St. James Hotel. (Here I am with my sister and cousin.) We enjoyed the meal but it was truly the company that made it special. The five of us don’t get together as often as we’d like, but we always make sure we hold the first weekend of November on the calendar for our get-together.

Now, of course, we’ll start planning for next year. What are some of your favorite destinations for a girls’ trip? I’d love to hear from you!

Lara