Red Wing

 

     The weather report for Wednesday showed that it was going to be warm and sunny. C and I try to have a date day or at least a date afternoon once a week. This week, Wednesday looked like it was going to be our day. It was perfect because I had a eye appointment in the morning and might need some cheering up afterwards. (My glasses and contact prescriptions always change and not for the better.) C looked around the northern part of the metro for places we could hang out. There really wasn't much within a decent driving distance. (Wednesday night is church night So we had to be home early.)

   In the end we went to our favorite hang out place in Minnesota, Red Wing.

   There's a lot to like about Red Wing. They have bike trails and bluffs to hike in. The Mississippi River runs along the edge of the downtown area. There's a lot of good places to eat and lots of cute little stores to shop in. There are beautiful parks along the river and on one of the bluffs overlooking town.  C and I love hanging out in Red Wing.

   The first thing we did when we got into town was to go to a restaurant that we like. It's in an older part of town near where the pottery factory used to be. C got a brisket sandwich and I got an olive burger. (It's a hamburger with green olive/cream cheese spread on it.) We got a table by the back windows where we had a view of one of the parks by the river. We also had a view of the train tracks. A train came through while we ate and we could feel the vibration as the train went by. After lunch, we decided to walk around town. 

   We parked our car on one of the main streets and started to walk. We walked past several stores and did a bit of window shopping. There are statues and other artwork on the streets in Red Wing. Many of the stores have window boxes of colorful flowers in the summer. We walked past one place cleaning up their window box. In a few weeks there will probably be some holiday decorations. 

   Ahead of us was the Sheldon Theatre. We walked up to it and noticed it was open. C walked to the door and went inside. After a moment I followed him. The ladies that were working in the box office said that we could look around as long as we didn't walk onto the stage. 

   C opened the door and we walked into the lobby. It was beautiful. There were names of classic artists on a border just below the edge of the ceiling. Shakespeare, Beethoven, Chopin, Longfellow and Rembrandt along with a few other names were painted in gold. There were ornate carvings and designs everywhere. The floor was a lovely tile pattern. It looked like we had stepped back into 1904, the year the theatre was built. The theater itself had red velvet seats and all kinds of moldings and carvings. C looked at the shape of the ceiling and the theatre and told me it probably had really good acoustics.

   We walked upstairs to the balcony. There was a richly appointed mezzanine area with a large mirror on one side. We walked into the balcony. I would be happy to watch a show from there. There didn't appear to be a bad seat anywhere. I could imagine people over the years coming to see plays and concerts all dressed up.

   We walked back down the stairs and out the door pausing to thank the women in the box office for allowing us inside.

  We continued our walk and found a small second hand store. The name and the window display intrigued me so we went inside. The shop was small. There were some vintage clothes in the back of the store. A few books were located in another area. Along the left side was a large display of vintage jewelry.   Most of it was ornamented brooches. There were a few rings on display. Most of them were large and ornate, one of them caught my eye. It was a square cushion cut halo designed pink stone. I suspected the stone was a morganite. I tried the ring on. It fit perfectly. I looked at the price. It was much less than I thought.  I put it back and looked around a little more. C was talking to the owner and was ready to leave. Although I don't need more jewelry, I picked up the ring. I was going to buy it. The owner put it in a box and gave it to me.

   We walked out of the store. The bakery was up ahead. C suggested we go in and have a treat. We bought two cookies, a bottle of milk and their wonderful cranberry walnut bread.

   It was time to go home. We walked to our car, savoring our cookies while we walked. 

   We love RedWing.