A busy summer in Duluth!

Spring is in the air, and the sense of another wonderful Duluth summer is in the air too! As we approach the “blooming” month of May, after the April “rain/snow” showers, the veranda and patio furniture is in place. New window boxes have been ordered, and I can just picture the amazing floral display that will take place not only in the window boxes, but all around the grounds as well. We will be putting in 3 new raised beds for more herbs, veggies, and flowers this year (Tim facetiously calls it my “farm”). The flower pots have been dug out of storage, and the yard has been raked. Ah…it’s time to enjoy the beautiful season that is summer in gorgeous Duluth, Minnesota! Hopefully we will get time to enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass of wine with our guests amongst the blooms!

As always, Duluth will be full of attractions and events this year. A recent bit of great news is that a small group of Tall Ships will be once again gracing our port in July. It will not be on the grand scale of last summer, but will be a nice surprise for the season. This May the newly remodeled DECC will be hosting a couple of superstars, Elton John and Sheryl Crow. Then later this summer at Bayfront Park we will have the great honor of Willie Nelson performing.

The Visit Fleet will be setting sail and begin their dinner cruises on May 7th with the regular sightseeing tours beginning May 13th! The Glensheen Mansion will be opened daily (just weekends now) beginning on May 27th, and the William A. Irvin has already begun limited tours.

Of course this is just a small sampling of the multitude of things to do in Duluth and along the North Shore. A favorite stop is always Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse, but don’t forget about Tettegouche State Park and Palisade Head further up the North Shore. Plus so much more! We have a ton of information for you and can always help you plan your stay.

Finally, we are very excited to start our summer with some great recognition from one of the Midwest’s premier magazines, Midwest Living. In April, we learned we were chosen as a “Best Bed and Breakfast” in the North Shore for the 2011 Midwest Living Travel Guide. This guide provides travelers a list of the very best places to stay. We were then incredibly honored to be chosen in their top 30 “Best B&B’s” in the May/June 2011 issue of Midwest Living. We are the only Bed and Breakfast chosen for our North Shore region, and quite honored to be selected when realizing that the magazine covers and includes an entire 12 state region. Midwest Living is also one of the rare publications that actually send its writers to stay at the places they endorse!
Thank you to the amazing travel writers and editors of Midwest Living magazine for taking time to visit us, and for choosing our Inn as a “Best B&B” in both issues! We’re looking forward to another great year in our gorgeous port city; and to welcoming old and new friends as we embark on the season that is THE reason we love Duluth!!

An Award winning year!

The seasons are once again changing in Duluth and the shipping season is already underway. It seems like it was just yesterday when the last ship came in for the winter layover, and here we are smiling as we look out at the Lake to see them once again making their way in and out of our beautiful port city of Duluth!

We have enjoyed an unusually busy year so far at our Duluth Bed and Breakfast. If the first quarter of 2011 is any indication of how the rest of the year will be, we better hold on tight! We are deeply grateful to all of our guests, past and future, for choosing to spend their valuable time and resources with us. We are excited to see many of you again, and look forward to making new friends!

We have managed to complete some projects we had planned; here is a quick update! Painting has been the project of the year so far with the grand entry way of the Inn getting a beautiful new color on its walls; a welcoming and warm Benjamin Moore “Mineral Alloy.” The dining room also has been updated, along with the Salyards Room. The entry way of the Carriage House has a new trim and wall color, and the North Shore Retreat is now complete with new trim and wall paint. Good thing Tim’s a very, very good painter!!

You can follow all of our projects, and get updates and photos by “Liking” us on Facebook and following us on Twitter too! We hope to complete a few more projects before the whirlwind of the season begins.

We were incredibly excited to learn we were chosen for several prestigious awards and recognitions in 2011. We are grateful and humbled by the recognition, and know that we could not have accomplished what we have without the support of our wonderful guests, friends, family and colleagues! We love Duluth, and are very much aware of how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful destination area that allows us to share our home with you!


Here is a brief update of what your support has helped us realize this year:
• LanierBB.com awarded the AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast with the “Best Amenities” honor
• iLoveInns.com selected the AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast as a “Top Ten Romantic Inn in North America”
• Duluth~Superior Magazine’s “Best of” poll for 2011 awarded the AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast in five categories: “Best Bed and Breakfast” (second year in a row), “Best Amenities”, “Best Romantic Getaway”, “Best In-Room Dining” (second year in a row), and “Best Hotel Rooms” (second year in a row). And we came in second place for “Best Hotel.” Wow! We thank you all for taking the time to vote for us. We were told that over 700 votes came in for the AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast! Simply amazing!

• Midwest Living magazine puts out a Travel Guide each year and the AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast was named a “Best of the Midwest” in their 2011 issue. We are the only Bed and Breakfast in our North Shore region to receive this honor.

We will continue to keep you updated via our Blog, Facebook, and Twitter so be sure to bookmark these pages. You can also become a subscriber to our You Tube channel, and check out our Flickr page. And don’t forget, to become a subscriber to our quarterly newsletter too!

Happy Spring to all of you!

It's "Honey Do" time again...

As I write this entry, we’ve just put the first of twelve months in 2011 behind us. I know it’s what people always say, but it never ceases to amaze me how quickly the time flies by – especially when keeping busy. It seems as though we were just putting up the holiday decorations, and then taking them down, and now we look forward to February, Super Bowl XVL and the Valentine’s Day holiday.

If January is any indication of what the year ahead will bring, we are very excited about the experiences and people we will meet in 2011. This January has proven to be the best the AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast has had since it’s opening in 2000; and more importantly since our caretaking began in 2007. We have started and completed projects on the “Honey do” list, we have more to work on, and then we will be back in the heart of our busy season before we know it.

The projects have been relatively mild so far; primarily painting updates for now. We have some greater ambitions in mind as we head toward the spring, but we will have to take it a project at a time! You can check out the changes going on at the Inn by going to the AG Thomson House Bed & Breakfast Facebook page and taking a look. Don’t forget to “like us” while you’re there, and post your comments and thoughts – we would love to hear from you! As always, we will continue to improve upon this spectacular home, and our efforts will be focused on making it an experience and environment where you, our guests, feel welcome, at home, comfortable, and rejuvenated.

We are also very proud to announce that the AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast has been selected and awarded some very prestigious industry awards. We have been selected as a “Top Ten Romantic Inn” by the renowned Bed and Breakfast website iLoveInns.com. It is a great honor to be representing Duluth among other wonderful regions across North America, including Hawaii, British Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and more! This selection comes from a choice of over 30,000 Inns across the United States and Canada. The AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast was carefully selected by iLoveInns.com for overall romantic attributes–scenic setting and location, interior beauty and design, heartfelt hospitality, pampering amenities and creative activities.

We also learned that we have been awarded “BEST AMENITIES” by LanierBB.com; one of the industry’s leading Bed and Breakfast websites. Winners of this prestigious award have been voted the best in their category by LanierBB online readers and voted for the AG Thomson House from a selection of over 8,500 Inns across the country. We are very proud; and very thankful to all of our guests who chose our Inn for this award! We continue to be grateful, humble and will never forget why we are here…for you!!

Finally, it is time once again to vote in the 2011 Duluth~Superior Magazine “Best Of” Poll in the Twin Ports area. Last year our guests helped us by voting the AG Thomson House the “Best Bed and Breakfast”, “Best Hotel Rooms”, and “Best In-room dining.” We would be most appreciative of your support in this years’ poll once again in some of the categories listed such as “Best Bed and Breakfast”, “Best Romantic Getaway”, “Best Breakfast”, “Best Rooms”, “Best Amenities”, etc. Just click on the link at the beginning of this paragraph, enter your email address (one vote per email address), enter your favorites in the categories listed, and then click “vote” after each entry. You don’t have to vote for every category, but chances are if you love Duluth, you have a few favorites you would like to help out in this year’s poll. We are always thankful for your support!

In this first blog entry of 2011, we want to wish you a very Happy New Year! We look forward to greeting old friends and making new. We take to heart the sign we have hanging in our living room…”Enter as strangers, leave as friends.” and we look forward to another fantastic year at the beautiful AG Thomson House Bed and Breakfast!