A Spring Break Trip to the North Shore (Post 1 of 2)

About 7 weeks ago, the boys and I drove north over their spring break. We found a small motel in Grand Marais to stay in, and we made some plans around the area (thanks Facebook friends for your advice!). We got to Duluth and grabbed a take-out bite for lunch, and then slowly worked our way farther north, stopping wherever we saw something that caught our eye.

Here's a chronological look at our trip. It's lots of photos (sorry not sorry), and mainly serves as a visual diary for me (and to point people to this post if I'm referencing something to do up there in the future).

We made it to Duluth and worked our way up to Enger Park:

Overlooking the bay.


Lake Superior beyond the Lift Bridge.




We decided to take the DIRECT route to the look-out instead of following the road around.


From the highest point.


"The Pantsless Voyageur" near Two Harbors.


Finding a little beach north of Two Harbors.

Our next stop was for treats at the Rustic Inn Cafe. We had stopped at Betty's Pies a few years ago when we stopped at Gooseberry Falls (previously the farthest north along the North Shore that I've been!), but friends have since been recommending Rustic Inn Cafe. Henry and I got pie, and Charlie got a malt:

Raspberry pie, French apple pie, and a malt.


Enjoying it by our car just off Hwy 61.


A quick stop at Gooseberry Falls!


Still lots of snow in the shade. (This was the last few days of March.)




Ice hanging off plants below one of the falls.

We kept driving north. A friend recommended "Black Beach," so we stopped to check it out. Yes, the beach is black there:

Big rocks where the beach narrows.


And of course we climbed them...




Looking down.




The boys lounging at the bottom.




"Rocky Taconite."

Then a little more driving. A lot of people mentioned "Sugarloaf Cove," and it turns out it was one of my boys' favorite stops! (We'd come back again the following day.) There was 1 couple there when we got there, but after they left, we had the entire cove to ourselves:

A short walk to the cove.


This used to be a huge logging operation, and this cove would've been filled with floating logs.






The back side of the cove.

We'd be back the next day to hike along the back side, which was fun!

From there, it wasn't far into Grand Marais (less than 40 minutes) where we were going to stay in a little motel called the Feather Nest Inn. Our room had 1 bedroom (mine) a bed in the main room, and a pull-out sofa. So all had our own place to sleep! AND we had a full kitchen so we could do our own cooking:

View from the door.


Wide angle view: kitchen to the left with the bathroom and bedroom beyond that.


Kitchen.


Bathroom.


Bedroom.

After settling in, we headed for Artists' Point in downtown Grand Marais. This ended up being my boys' second favorite stop on our trip:

Charlie in front of me.




The boys could run on these rocks ALL DAY.


Charlie running.


Henry giving chase.






The little lighthouse at the opening to the harbor.

We practially had this entire shoreline to ourselves. As I was making a few photos, Henry came running over shouting - apparently they were jumping puddles and cracks, and Charlie rolled into one. He was soaked and just bawling, but he wasn't hurt. We QUICKLY made our way back to the car (in case Charlie got too cold as it was maybe only 40 degrees out), but by then Charlie thought the whole situation was just funny.

Mostly soaked. Hamming it up now.


Clothes and boots drying out in our bathroom at the motel.


The boys reading books before bed.
(The clock was an hour off: it was 8:10.)

The next morning, the boys wanted to go back to Artists' Point before we went skiing. (The slopes opened at 9 a.m. so we had some time.) It was a bit breezier this morning:

Totally to ourselves.










Henry hunted for thin pieces of ice over little puddles.

Then we took off for Lutsen Mountain to go skiing. The boys are just getting into skiing and snowboarding, and they've been to our small neighborhood hill, the one hill at Como Park, Hyland Hills a few times, and Elm Creek once. Basically nothing big. This was their first ACTUAL ski resort. (Mine too, as I'd only ever skied at Mount Kato in Mankato growing up.) I rented skis and we were set.

Heading up the chairlift with Charlie the first time.


Henry on the one behind us.


At the top!




At the bend in "Big Bunny" (after the steepest areas, before the slow areas).


Henry boarding down!


Sliding to a stop!


Henry behind us, with Lake Superior behind him!


Charlie heading down.

We met up with one of Charlie's classmates there. We both planned our own trips "up north," and it just so happened that we planned on skiing on the same day! So we chatted a bit by the lodge, and then they took us up the gondola that heads up Moose Mountain:

Riding the gondola with N from school!

They got off to ski down the hill, but we rode down in the gondola. It was more thrilling riding down as it feels like you're about to drop off a cliff when you start:

Charlie making a "freaked out" face as we dropped down!

Sure, the boys liked skiing, but it was a bit of a waste of money as they were both just saying "can we go back to beaches along the lake and just explore?" So we headed out by lunch time.

I'll be back with part 2 tomorrow (hopefully). UPDATE: HERE'S PART TWO!! In the meantime, here are 2 posts with (fewer) photos from my photo blog: a few Holga scans from my plastic film camera, and some black and white images as I played around with my new iPhone.