Dave decided to plan an anniversary trip this year--I am definitely all about him taking over any planning, and just sitting back and enjoying the ride. He decided that he wanted to head up to Grand Portage, and then spend a couple of nights camping at state parks--one night in a particular backpack site that sits right on Lake Superior. We rounded up babysitting services (my mom and dad), and then my mom suggested that we leave a day earlier and have my aunt Lori come up and help watch the girls before my parents could get there. I've been wanting to stay at
this bed and breakfast for a long time now, and it was a good almost halfway point, so seemed perfect. Dave booked the Aspen room, and we headed up after Abby's VBS last Monday. It was AMAZING! I wish we had done the trip in reverse, and stayed there after hiking/camping, but it was a fun first night anyway. We took the golf cart on the trails, getting lost but having fun along the way. Can you believe I had never driven a golf cart before?
We came back in time for their wine/cheese hour. There was only one other couple staying there, and it was nice getting to know them and the owners of the bed and breakfast. Afterwards, we took the paddle boat out for a ride around the pond. Such a beautiful night.
We had decided to not drive into a nearby town for supper, and just use their pizza oven to make one of the pizzas they offer as an option--a great idea. We ate it on the deck and had more time to enjoy the nice night and scenery. They also had a cute scavenger hunt that we did--they've got a bunch of miniature items hidden in random places on the main floor, and you can find them all for a prize--we each picked out a small gift-wrapped item the next morning. We loved our room, the yummy brownie that was waiting for us when we arrived, the little fridge with drinks right outside our room, and especially the delicious breakfast the next morning. It was definitely a treat to stay there!
After breakfast, we snapped a few pictures, then started the big drive up north. We stopped for groceries in Grand Marais, then made it to Grand Portage State Park. We checked out the visitor's center, then hiked to the falls--an amazing sight! We decided to take the "strenuous" trail to see another waterfall--it was a very steep uphill hike most of the way, but we managed to make the round-trip in about two hours. Since it was late afternoon/early evening, there weren't too many people around.
We set up camp at Judge C.R. Magney State Park, then walked across the road to check out Lake Superior. We came back for a late supper of pie iron pizzas and s'mores, then had a perfect night camping--no rain, nice cool temps.
In the morning, we packed everything up and went for a hike to see the Devil's Kettle--another cool waterfall and fun hike. Not fun: hiking back up the 181 steps after seeing it...
From there, we drove back down to Grand Marais for lunch at the Angry Trout.
We walked around the town a little bit, then drove down to check in at Cascade River State Park. We got our firewood and a recommendation to drop it off on the side of the road close to the backpack site so we wouldn't have to haul it so far--so, we quickly did that and went to pack up our backpacks to start the hike to the site. Just as we were doing that, it started to downpour...so, we drove back to the firewood so Dave could quickly run it to the site so it wouldn't get all wet. He came back soaked, and we decided to hang out at the trail center for a little bit while the rain passed. It took about 2 hours of downpour/thunderstorms until it finally had slowed down enough for us to leave the trail center. We had debated about what to do, and decided to just hike up to the cascades even though it was still a little drizzly. We still weren't sure if we'd spend the night or not since everything was so wet and the radar at the office showed another round of storms coming in the middle of the night. We enjoyed the hike and the sights (although a little foggy), then decided to hike to our campsite (about 1.7 miles) to get the firewood and check it out. The hike was really soggy, but the campsite was neat and had some great lakefront area. Unfortunately, it was so foggy that you couldn't really see the lake, though. We'll definitely have to try to stay there again in the future and hope for nice weather--it has the perfect reading rock that looks right out on Lake Superior.
We ended up making the decision to head home instead of staying, so hiked back, picked up our wood, and started the drive home. Since it was the perfect time for a late supper, we had to make a stop at Betty's Pies for some supper/pie. :) It was getting late and we were pretty tired, so we stopped for the night in Hinckley, and finished the trip home the next morning. It was the perfect little getaway!
