It took us much longer than normal due to holiday traffic and road construction, but after 6 or so hours, we made it to Lutsen.
We had a VRBO at Caribou Highlands. Being there instantly put me into vacation mode. The smell of the pines, the sound of the creek, the wide open space.
Friday was mostly a travel day and Saturday was race day. The dads thought it would take them 6 hours to do the race and since it was off-road and started 30 minutes away, we elected to spend the morning swimming with the kids instead of heading to the race start. Unfortunately, that meant we missed most of the event. They finished an hour early and we pulled into town just as they crossed the finish line. But, the kids had an awesome time together and swam in Caribou's indoor and outdoor pool. No one cried. No one complained. And only one kid fell in sans life jacket and had to be fished out...
With it turning into a rainy day, we had a drink at Voyageurs Brewing Co and then grilled out back at the townhouse and got the kids to bed at a reasonable time.
Sunday was our main day to get out an explore. We woke up, packed for the a day trip and headed even further north. All the way north. On our way to Grand Portage (last stop before the border crossing), we stopped at Kadunce River for a nice little hike along the river gorge and to throw some rocks into Lake Superior.
(Morning walk before the kids got up)
After that, we headed to Grand Portage State Park to see the 'Niagra Falls of Minnesota'. On our side of the falls / river was Minnesota. The other side was Canada. Pretty cool.
On our way back to Grand Marais, we made an impromptu stop at the Grand Portage Trading Post. This was educational and just super cool. Logan, in particular, liked hearing about how they used to do things - all while the staff was dressed in period attire. One of the 'exibits' was this dock where the canoes used to park to make trades at the post.
Back in Grand Marais, temps dropped to 47 degrees in the middle of the afternoon! It was chilly but refreshing. We hiked Artists' Point and spent a bunch of time tossing rocks into the harbor. We had a [long] dinner at Gunflint Tavern. Thankfully the kids were all super patient.
Back at the lodge, we took advantage of the hosted smore's and bonfire. Love the campground feel of this place.
Monday morning I tried not to sleep in too long because I wanted to make sure to enjoy the last vacation day. We had eggs and coffee, packed up to some tunes, and planned a few stops on our way south. The first stop was just at the ski resort - checking out the chair lifts, ski runs, and snow that was still on the mountain.
Our next stop was Black Beach. We first visited this place on a trip up last fall and it's a new favorite. The water was crazy calm so it was totally different than the last time we were here. Last time there were waves and tons of wind. This time you could clearly see far out into the water and the fog hung out off shore.
Our last stop of the trip was a new beach called Iona Beach and Scientific Research Area. Even though it was only 15 minutes away, the beach was totally different than Black Beach. It was covered with baseball sized pink stones. This was a great spot for lunch and more rock skipping.
With it being so comfortable up north, it's hard to believe that when we pulled into the cities it was 102 degrees! Yuck.
Overall, we had a great group, a great trip, and I'm already anxious to plan another weekend up there.
