Trips

FiftyNorth offers a variety of travel opportunities including theater, concerts, river cruises, museums, professional sports events and so much more! 

The Travel Committee plans, schedules, and escorts all events. Trip attendees are transported by charter bus to many delightful, insightful and entertaining venues. Past adventures have found us visiting many of the Twin Cities’ museums or theaters, taking historical tours of unique cities, or attending a Twins or Saints game. Occasionally, an overnight travel adventure is planned. Scholarships are available to help defray the cost for our more expensive adventures.

You may sign up for any of these trips online with credit card payment, or come into the Center and fill out a registration form, attach payment and put into registration slot behind the Reception Desk.  To sign up online, click on the name of the trip.

If you have ideas for a trip adventure for the Travel Committee to consider, please contact Michelle Brant at 664-3707.

*PLEASE NOTE – Trip leaders are unable to provide assistance to anyone that has limited mobility or that uses a wheelchair. Please arrange to have a friend or PCA pay/register to go with and assist you.

Please indicate when registering if you need seating in a handicap section.

TRIP – Orchestra Hall: Osmo Vanska & Anthony Ross

Thursday, October 31
9:00-4:00pm

For some concert goers, his return might be considered “apocalyptic” — and on Halloween no less.  Perhaps this morning’s “apparition” will help ward off the affects of those spirits soon to follow in the evening.   All kidding aside, the return of Music Director Laureate Osmo Vanska is always a big deal.  The concert will include William Walton’s Cello Concerto — with soloist, Anthony Ross, the orchestra’s principal cellist — Sergei Prokofiev’s wartime Fifth Symphony, and Donghoon Shin’s Upon His Ghostly Solitude.

This latter piece was premiered in 2023 by Vanska and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  It was “inspired by W.B. Yeat’s emotionally complex poem, ‘Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen’ and its disconcerting relevance to worldwide events today.”

Performance time: 11:00am. Following the concert, our group will swing by the ever-popular Café Latte for a late buffet lunch.  Soups, sandwiches, salads, pastries.  Going Dutch, of course.  Then homeward bound.

*Trip leaders are unable to provide assistance to anyone that has limited mobility or that uses a wheelchair. Please arrange to have a friend or PCA pay/register to go with and assist you.
Please indicate on your registration form if you need seating in a handicap section.

Trip Lead: Bob Sullivan
Capacity: 30
Cost: $80
Registration deadline: October 3

TRIP – How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Childrens Theater

Saturday, November 16
9:30-3:30pm

A miserly and miserable, ever-so-cantankerous Grinch has observed the despicable Christmas joy of the Whos with disdain, from a distance, for decades. In this holiday favorite, filled with music and Seussian rhymes, he plots the greatest heist imaginable stealing the very thing they love the most! Until, that is, the smallest of the Whos, tiny Cindy Lou, extends a hand. Through the combination of kindness and community, we witness not only a change in the course of Who-History, but the size and capacity of the old green guy’s heart.

This is an 11:00 performance. It’s an opportunity to take your grandchildren to a play.
*Lunch will follow the play at Gary’s Supper Club. The cost of lunch is on your own.

*Trip leaders are unable to provide assistance to anyone that has limited mobility or that uses a wheelchair. Please arrange to have a friend or PCA pay/register to go with and assist you.
Please indicate on your registration form if you need seating in a handicap section.

Trip Leader: Norma Monroe
Capacity: 27
Cost: $100
Registration deadline: October 29

TRIP: Duluth And Knife River Julebyen Festival Overnight

Friday & Saturday, December 6 & 7
8:30am Friday-7:00pm Saturday

*Trip leaders are unable to provide assistance to anyone that has limited mobility or that uses a wheelchair. Please arrange to have a friend or PCA pay/register to go with and assist you. Please indicate on your registration form if you need seating in a handicap section.

There will be outdoor walking on this trip. We recommend you bring warm clothing. *All food and beverages are on your own.

FRIDAY ADGENDA

• LAZY BEAR GRILL: The Best PIE PLACE on I35, fresh roasted coffee, great food and a special gift shop.
• GREAT LAKES AQUARIUM: America’s only freshwater aquarium. There are displays of native fish from both Lake Superior and Erie, exhibits of Great Lakes shipwrecks, and explanations for management of water systems and the invasion of zebra mussels.
• RICHARD – BONG VETERANS HISTORIC MUSEUM: A museum dedicated to LEGACY & local veterans’ stories. Military history from WWII to the present, exhibits of artifacts, equipment, weapons, personal manuscripts.
• BARKERS ISLAND INN: A restaurant KNOWN for good food
• BENTLEVILLE “TOUR OF LIGHTS – Outdoor Walking Tour. There are thousands of lights, new displays this year and other special events. Food and toys are collected each night to support the Salvation Army
• NORSHOR THEATRE: Play “CINDERELLA”    main floor seating
• BARKERS ISLAND INN: overnight stay, because of hockey tournaments room options are limited. Breakfast off the menu

SATURDAY AGENDA

•  Ride the NORTH SHORE SCENIC RAILROAD to the JULEBYEN (Christmas Village) Nordic tradition celebrated with ethnic foods, crafts, holiday decorations, and music at Knife River; day trip
• TOBIE’S RESTAURANT & BAKERY: Good food at the traditional stop when driving I35
• FIFTYNORTH: return to Northfield

Trip Leader: Norma Monroe (call if you have questions 507-273-0322)
Capacity: 25
Registration deadline: November 4
Cost: Includes room, tickets & bus (see below)

• One person in room: $455 each

• Two people in room: $370 each

• Three people in room: $360 each

*Please register in-person or by phone (507-664-3700). Please state who you are rooming with if applicable.

TRIP: The Brandenburg Concertos – St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

Sunday, December 15
12:15-5:00pm

A very special holiday concert you don’t want to miss.
As a ticket holder, you may anticipate a transcendent performance of J.S. Bach’s seasonal masterpieces, the Brandenburg Concertos (6), with our own illustrious St. Paul Chamber Orchestra at the beautiful Ordway Theater in St. Paul.
These six concertos were composed prior to 1721 featuring various combinations of solo instruments so that each becomes a unique treat to the concert goer’s ear.  Taken as a whole, most musicologists regard them “as some of the greatest orchestral compositions of the Baroque Era.”

*Trip leaders are unable to provide assistance to anyone that has limited mobility or that uses a wheelchair. Please arrange to have a friend or PCA pay/register to go with and assist you.
Please indicate on your registration form if you need seating in a handicap section.

Trip Leader: Bob Sullivan
Capacity: 30
Cost: $75
Registration deadline: November 15

Future Trips:

PLANNING IS IN THE WORKS FOR UPCOMING TRIPS:

Save the Date

Grease at the Chanhassen

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

11:00 performance

Details will follow

Join the Travel Committee…

A group working together to have some fun.

Are you curious?

Do you like to learn new things?

Do you like to see something amazing?

Do you like to share a great restaurant with others?

Do you like to organize things?

I have enjoyed organizing adventures to…

• Plays at the Guthrie

• Bridges of Madison County

• Science Museum of Minnesota

• Ballet in Duluth

• Light show at the Arboretum

• Sleigh Rides

Being a member of the Travel Committee is like organizing a family outing only with your

friends at FiftyNorth. Come be a part of this adventure and share your ideas with us.

For more information contact Norma at (507) 273-0322.