A Very Grand Finale
With so many options for accommodations when planning our road trips, we’re finding that it’s fun to splurge from time to time. In Winona we chose a lovely Bed and Breakfast because of three things almost always lacking in hotels and timeshares – a historic Victorian, lots of personal touches, and a delightful breakfast.
To start at the beginning of this series, visit GRR: La Crosse to St. Paul
Welcome to Winona, MN
After another long and entertaining transition day, we arrived at the Alexander Mansion Bed and Breakfast – our historic Victorian accommodations for our last stop of this trip. The photos below show what a gorgeous place it is, but what made these two nights special was our gracious (and entertaining) host and his behind-the-scenes sidekick, the most excellent four-course breakfasts with plenty of travel-related story-telling, and lots of history in this beautiful inn.
It took us a while to get checked in because Charles was finishing up the first guest’s tour before he gave us ours. He offered us a glass of wine in the library while we waited, so we were off to a great start! Jim even squeezed in a second since Charles is quite long-winded when telling the stories of this beautiful place he calls home.
Once it was our turn, Charles told us some stories of the history and past occupants of the house, and how he came to be the current owner. By the time we got checked in, we were relaxed and didn’t feel like leaving, so we enjoyed last night’s pizza leftovers on the screened-in porch with a nice cool breeze.
Definitely Delightful!
Next morning’s breakfast consisted of four courses and nonstop travel stories between all ten guests. As Charles prepared us for each course, he would mention the healthy ingredients and any alternatives that were available. One of the alternatives as the meal progressed would be to split or skip if you’re not up to a full breakfast. Let me tell you, I did not use either of those “s” words!
It was a fantastic meal and since most guests were around our age, our stories had similar themes. This experience was nothing like a continental breakfast at a Comfort Inn, that’s for sure!
“Alexander Mansion, circa 1886, is one of the most impressive Victorian homes you will ever find. Originally built for a local judge, Thomas Wilson, the house is masterfully constructed in early Winona’s turn-of-the-century lumber baron style, which showcases exceptional woodwork and architectural details. The Alexander family lived in the home for fifty-plus years and the Minnesota bed and breakfast now aptly bears their name.” ~ READ MORE
Shopping and Views
We got a later start this morning after such a fabulous meal, but we decided on a little shopping at Treasures Under Sugar Loaf. This enormous three-story antique mall is located in the historical Bub’s Brewery building. We’ll make a stop by the current Bub’s (pronounced Boob’s) and there’ll be our best look at Sugar Loaf a little later in the day too.
Our next stop was Garvin Heights Park with a short, easy trail to panoramic blufftop views of Lake Pepin and Trempealeau Mountain (in clear conditions). Today was a little hazy, but the views were still spectacular!
If you’re in better shape and have more time, you can start at the bottom and walk the 0.4 mile trail to the top of the bluff. The length of the trail didn’t worry me, but the 378 man-made steps toward the top did, so we drove up.
There were plenty of information signs, as well as a map of what we were looking at out in the distance. Contrary to my initial thought, the water toward the front of these photos is Lake Winona, with the Mississippi barely visible near the top.
A Closer Look
We saw a steamboat in the middle of a field from up top which seemed a bit odd. It turned out to be the “Welcome to Winona” sign found behind Lake Lodge Recreation Center. The visitor center was very nice with a great view of the lake and Sugar Loaf – the pointy bluff in the last photo below. The lake was like glass and the Winona letters were a definite plus!
“Reaching nearly 85 feet into the sky, Sugar Loaf is a storied symbol of Winona and known by all as its most distinguishing landmark. The result of quarrying in the late 1800s, the bluff is synonymous with an old Native American legend that paints the rock as the cap of Dakota Chief Wapasha…
Sugar Loaf Park contains some of the best sport climbing in the region!…” ~ READ MORE
Windom Park and Princess Wenonah
“Surrounded by lovely Victorian-era homes, many of which are on the National Register of Historic Places, this city block is adorned by bright perennial gardens, a gazebo, and a historic sculptural fountain where park visitors can bask in the sunlight alongside famous Native American royalty, Princess Wenonah.
The fountain’s center is a turn-of-the century bronze statue of Princess Wenonah (“first born daughter”), the Dakota Indian chief’s daughter who legend says is the namesake of Winona. The statue stands on a pedestal, with spraying pelicans and turtles surrounding her in the pond.” ~ READ MORE
WNB Financial
We don’t typically visit banks while on vacation, but today we made an exception – because this one is bedazzled with Tiffany glass! Tiffany Studios of New York created all of WNB’s stained glass windows from the architect’s sketches. At its opening in 1916, the stained glass was so dazzling, it was considered newsworthy. And I can see why!
Along with all of the beautiful windows in the bank, there is lots of information about Louis Comfort Tiffany who thought “Nature Is Always Beautiful”. “Tiffany was an avid naturalist who relied upon nature as a renewing source of inspiration.”
“The building was designed by prominent architect George Maher of Chicago who also designed the Watkins building in Winona. Maher was a contemporary of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The bank building is in Egyptian Revival style, but it has clear Prairie School influences.” ~ READ MORE (also, see the WNB Tour Booklet)
More Tiffany
We visited several galleries on our last winter trip where Louis Comfort Tiffany‘s creations were exhibited. Check out Laid Back in Orlando, where we visited the Charles Morse Museum in Winter Park. It was absolutely amazing – especially Tiffany’s Chapel!
Time for a Break!
When we realized that Bub’s Brewery was just down the street, we suddenly got very thirsty! We settled on Black Forest Ales and an order of onion rings just to hold us over till dinner.
If you read the “Carrying on the Tradition” section at the link, you’ll see that this is not Bub’s original building – remember we did a little antique shopping at the original building. But this building is from 1897, so it’s still historic! Originally known as the Druids Hall or Union Club, the Elks Lodge rented, then owned it until 1992 when it was sold to Bub’s.
This was a marvelous break in another historic building in Winona. After a break at our hotel for a bit, we ended the day at El Patron Mexican Grill and Cantina for excellent Mexican food and a delicious margarita!! What a great way to finish this trip!
Our Last Morning
The next morning, we suffered through (ha ha) another wonderful breakfast with a lot younger group. Today there were only eight of us, but the conversation continued until after 11 with lots of different types of traveling being experienced by these youngsters. Some just took off on a whim and stopped wherever they wanted with hardly any planning.
I wish we were that spontaneous, but we are definitely planners and want to know where we’ll be spending each night. Since some had been to places others had been, there was common ground with every conversation and if there wasn’t, there were questions asked and answered. Each morning offered a different, yet great experience. Again, nothing like the continental breakfast at the Comfort Inn!
Merchants National Bank
After we mentioned our trip to the WNB at breakfast, Charles mentioned Merchants National Bank as another bedazzled bank, so we got checked-out and headed to another bank in as many days. If you know how much we love Frank Lloyd Wright, you’ll see why!
“A cube encased in brick and glass” is how the original architects described the unique design of the Merchants Bank building on 102 East Third Street. While many other banks built around the turn of the century featured gothic architecture, the Bank hired the Minneapolis firm of Purcell, Feick and Elmslie to bring a different vision to life when constructing our third bank location in the early 1900s.
The firm was a leader in “The Prairie School of Architecture” style and architects Purcell and Elmslie were close associates of Louis Sullivan (all three were contemporaries of Frank Lloyd Wright). The Merchants Bank building is the largest and most famous example of their unique, progressive contribution to early 20th-century architecture. While the building was updated and renovated several times since it opened in 1912, eventually it was restored to match the original architectural drawings during a large building renovation and expansion that took place in the early 1970s. In 1974, our building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.” ~ READ MORE
Historic Pickwick Mill
Pickwick Mill in Pickwick, MN was a last-minute addition – and a great one at that! We arrived just before they opened, so we snooped around and waited for our tour guide to raise the flag and come inside.
‘The Pickwick Mill was built from 1856 to 1858 by Thomas Grant and Wilson Davis and is one of the oldest flour mills found in southeast Minnesota. The mill was a water powered gristmill constructed first as a sawmill, and later converted to a flour mill, on the banks of Big Trout Creek located in Pickwick, Minnesota. It is the first commercial flour mill west of the Mississippi river. The mill ran 24 hours a day during the Civil War and produced 100 barrels daily for the Union Army. After the war, the mill became a flour-milling center for most of southern Minnesota and portions of Iowa and Wisconsin.
The mill was built from locally quarried limestone, with a timber frame that was so closely fit, that nails were not used (outside of the floor). The six story building was severely damaged in 1907 when a tornado took off the roof and top storage room. The mill was then retrofitted with a flat plank roof. The mill has been restored to a gable roof that is reminiscent of the original design. Today, you may view and experience milling history through the years with antique original and restored equipment fully functional, powered by a 20 foot overshot water wheel.” ~ READ MORE
Great Tour!
Our tour guide was pretty young to be so knowledgeable about the inner workings of the mill back in the day. She did an excellent job of explaining the timeline when the mill changed from a saw mill to a flour mill as priorities shifted in the country. She talked of the states of mind of the folks working here, how dangerous some of the jobs were, and how hot it must have gotten in the summer months. She answered every question that Jim asked. It was a fascinating tour and the mill was in incredible shape considering its age!
At the end of the tour she went inside to turn on the waterwheel. If you watch the video, please note that it takes a while for the water to fill the wheel enough to get the wheel turning!
That’s All Folks!
This concludes our trip from La Crosse to St. Paul and back! Our final stop was in La Crosse at the Wisconsin Welcome Center for maps and a potty break before heading home, with one more stop for cheaper gas in Wausaw. It was a fabulous trip, and thank you for making it all the way to the end!
Next up: GRR: La Crosse to St. Paul Recap
Happy trails,
Barb
