As mentioned in my previous post, Luke and I have ventured on a couple weekend getaways this past month. I just returned from a weekend at Grandview Lodge in Nisswa, MN and I am already on their website checking out availability for this summer.
The Grandview Lodge is a historic property located on Gull Lake. They are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year after opening in 1916. The resort owns quite a few different pieces of property spread out throughout Nisswa, but the main resort holds their beautiful lodge, a variety of cabins, one of their three golf courses, a spa, a few different restaurants and much more.
Our original plan was to drive up Friday night after work and stay one night with my brother in law and his girlfriend. From the moment we arrived, we were greeted with outstanding customer service and a smooth check-in. The friendly man working at their front desk explained the property to us and went over all the different activities going on throughout the weekend. I felt a tinge of sadness knowing we would be heading back to the cities on Saturday afternoon.
We rented a 2-bedroom cabin in one of their newer properties called Homes on Nokomis. The second I opened the door, I immediately fell in love. The cabin was glamorous, yet cozy and provided all the amenities of home. One of my favorite parts of the space was the screened in porch, complete with fireplace and flat screen TV. I could already smell the freshly brewed coffee I was planning to sip on while having breakfast in the morning cozied up on the porch.
After settling in, we cracked open a bottle of wine while my husband, Luke, whipped up a delicious steak & asparagus dinner. He grabbed a couple pounds of rib-eye from Whole Foods back in the cities which we could not stop raving about and quickly the weekend hashtag/theme turned into #meatgamestrong. Appropriateness aside, my husband has a strong meat game. 🙂
I was feeling pretty good after dinner (and a few glasses of wine) and a light-bulb popped into my head — why not stay another night?! We got a great rate through their “last-minute vacancies” and Saturday was supposed to be beautiful. After some convincing, Luke was on-board and was able to switch to a later work shift on Sunday so we could stay. Unfortunately, our night 1 digs were booked for Saturday night, but we were able to snag another 2-bedroom cabin near the lake. I am usually the type to have a plan & stick to it, but I was feeling spontaneous and not ready to return back to the real world, just yet. That looming pile of dirty laundry will just have to wait one more day.
We had our first bonfire of the season in our private fire pit behind the cabin and enjoyed a multitude of s’mores for dessert. After many rounds of cards, we finally went to bed in our fabulous king bed. It was a much needed restful night of sleep.
Luke and I woke up early and meandered over to the dining room at the lodge for breakfast. Again, the service was top-notch. We chose to be seated in the “kid free zone” which only had a couple other parties in addition to us. We eavesdropped on a group of guys on a bachelor party weekend, recalling the previous night’s events, which made for hilarious morning entertainment. The buffet offered a great assortment of all your breakfast staples and was one of the better complimentary breakfasts I’ve seen.
After breakfast, we took a cup of coffee to go and had a morning stroll around the resort property. The staff was very accommodating to our room switch and I was already alerted via text that our other cabin was ready for us to check into before we even made it back to our Nokomis cabin.
I was sad to leave our first cabin (it really was fabulous), but our new cabin was right on the water with a fabulous view of the lake! It was quite a bit older than the Nokomis home, but had some great updates and the location could not be beat. We were really impressed with the use of space and the amount of people that could comfortably sleep in it (family vacay 2016?). There was a loft area in addition to the 2 bedrooms which held a double bed + twin bed and an awesome skylight to watch the stars at night. This would be a great spot to put the kids for those traveling with their young ones. These units are just called “Cabins” on the main property and are a little more affordable than the Nokomis homes.
Now that we had the whole day ahead of us, Luke and I spent the afternoon at the Garden Golf Course. We were already planning on doing this, but we could now be a little more leisurely since we didn’t have to drive back to Minneapolis afterwards. Grandview has 3 golf courses, The Pines, The Preserve and The Garden. The Garden is the only one on the main property and is a 9-hole, par 35 course. It’s considered family friendly and challenging enough for any skill level. I haven’t golfed in a couple years, but Luke is an avid golfer and we plan to play more together this season. The Garden course was a perfect re-introduction to golf for me. There weren’t too many other people on the course so we never felt rushed and I was able to take my time getting back into the groove. I would highly recommend this course for families or casual golfers. It was also very affordable at $20 for the two of us (walking).
After golfing, we were starving and ready for lunch, so met back up with Joe & Natalie and headed to Zorbaz for an obligatory pizza. After we got our Z jokez out and enjoyed pizza and nachoz, we traveled to Cross Lake to get ice cream from a local shop that Natalie’s family owns called Lake Country Crafts & Cones.
When we got back to the resort, we hit-up the indoor pool area for some relaxation in the hot tub. The pool area was great for families and adults and even had a pretty awesome waterslide. After that, we played a game of shuffleboard and the girls won, obviously. There was definitely not a shortage of activities or things for us to stay occupied — even during their “off season”.
As someone who is fortunate to have grown up with a family cabin, I’ve never really experienced the MN lake resort life. After this weekend, I can definitely see the appeal (although I wouldn’t trade our cabin for anything). I’d highly recommend Grandview to anyone looking to get away for a few days, whether you’re a couple sans kids, a family with kids, a weekend with girlfriends, etc. They literally have something for everyone! There were quite a few things Luke and I would have liked to do, but just didn’t have enough time this trip, like dine at Cru and get a couples massage. Maybe next time 🙂
-j.
