Duluth is interesting and then up to Lutsen on Lake Superior.

What time of year?

Thank you Happy..... @ WhereAreWe, I will be visiting last weekend in October.

I'd like to give some suggestions but I'm drawing a blank. What do you and your son like to see and do? The last weekend in October isn't really a good time for scenery - all the leaves are off the trees by then so it's a bit drab everywhere. Snow shouldn't be an issue but it could be the further north you go - there's the possibility of up to a foot of snow for parts of northern MN for tomorrow (the 4th). And Minneapolis had a massive blizzard over Halloween about 20 years ago. Not likely but you'll need a backup plan in case of something weird like that.

Duluth is nice, going further north along Lake Superior is even better but again, not the best time of year for it. And Duluth is 4 hours from St. Peter so the drive will chew up some time. I will say the scenery north of Duluth would be better than most of the rest of the state at that time, just because the view of Lake Superior isn't dependent so much on season like other places.

So it really depends on what you want out of the trip - if you just want to see a different part of the state and want a moderate sized city (other than Minneapolis/St. Paul), then Duluth, St. Cloud, even LaCrosse in Wisconsin are options. Even Sioux Falls, SD isn't too far away. Just really depends on your interests and what sort of festivals or events are going on that weekend.

Hans, while you are in St. Peter make a side trip to New Ulm. Its about an hour from St. Peter.

If you are not into going to Duluth, look into visiting Itasca state park, near Park Rapids. It will be a nice drive from St. Peter, about 5 hours. Then maybe drive to Brainerd, another small city. There are many scenic drives in Minnesota if you want to drive them. What are your interests?

The Terry Redlin museum is in Watertown South Dakota, about 3 hours west of St. Peter.