Duluth praised as spot for overnight getaways

Duluth praised as spot for overnight getaways

DES MOINES, Iowa — If you live in the Midwest and you’re looking for an overnight getaway, Midwest Living magazine recommends Duluth.

This Minnesota city of 87,000 offers maritime heritage, good food, shopping, beaches and parks, all on the shores of Lake Superior.

The magazine’s itinerary for an overnight includes a stroll along the 4.2-mile Lakewalk. At Canal Park, there are hotels, restaurants, shops and art galleries. Stop in at Grandma’s Saloon Grill at the base of the Aerial Lift Bridge, which rises throughout the day to let tall ships through. Park Point, a 7-mile-long sandbar lined with beaches, separates the lake and the harbor.

Area attractions include the SS William A. Irvin ship museum, the Great Lakes Aquarium and the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace. Nearby are Jay Cooke State Park and the Glensheen Mansion, garden and grounds. You can kayak on the lake or bike the Munger Trail.

For more details, check out the July/August issue of Midwest Living.

Legoland center opens in the Chicago area

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — A Legoland Discovery Center is opening in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg at the Streets of Woodfield shopping center.

Fans of the toy bricks may already be familiar with the Legoland theme park in Carlsbad, Calif., but this will be the first Legoland Discovery Center in the U.S. It’s modeled after two similar attractions in Germany.

The 30,000-square-foot center will feature hands-on brick-building activities, a dragon ride, an exhibit room with displays of models made by Lego master builders, and a 4-D movie with special effects.

For the youngest visitors, there will be a Duplo play area.

The center’s grand opening is July 31.

For more information, visit www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com.

Morgan Freeman to open second club

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — Actor Morgan Freeman is opening his second blues club in Mississippi.

This one will be outside the Mississippi Delta.

Freeman announced that he will open a Ground Zero Blues Club at the Pearl River Resort run by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in Neshoba County. The original club, owned with businessman Bill Luckett, is in Clarksdale.

The club will be located in the Golden Moon Hotel and Casino, one of the Choctaws’ two casinos near Philadelphia.

Freeman said construction will begin this month with a planned completion date in October.

Enjoy a royal trip by vacationing in a castle

NEWTON, Mass. — Maybe you can’t live like a king, but you can vacation in a castle.

The TripAdvisor Web site is offering a top 10 list of castle hotels in Europe, based on rankings by travelers who contribute reviews to the Web site and TripAdvisor editors.

The list is topped by the Glin Castle in Glin, Ireland, with a $491 average nightly rate, followed by Castle Stuart, Inverness, Scotland, $614; Thornbury Castle, Thornbury, England, $394; Domaine de la Tortiniere, Tours, France, $310; and Borthwick Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland, $273.

Associated Press