Worth It

We spent the last week in Northern Minnesota. After dinner and an overnight stay in Minneapolis we drove the rest of the way up past Duluth, into Grand Marais. We stayed at the Thomsonite Beach Inn for a few nights, then met Will and Rob, Sandy and Carrie as they finished up their canoe trip. It took a LOT of time in the car, but our week was really worth the drive.

We had a yummy dinner and beers at Joe's Garage in Minneapolis. We sat on the roof, which overlooked the Basilica. It was a great night for eating outside and we were happy to see my cousin Sarah and our friends Tod and Sue, who we haven't spent time with in a long time.



The next morning we made the rest of the drive. After checking in we went in to Grand Marais, where Henry discovered right away that his favorite thing in the world is throwing rocks in the lake.
He also enjoyed dipping his toes in Lake Superior.
We had lunch at Sven and Olé's.
After browsing around in Joyne's, Siverston's and some of the other shops we finally made it back to the Thomsonite for a nap. We had to wake Henry up to change him into jammies, and decided to try to catch the sunset. Even with a bottle he wasn't patient enough to see the whole thing...


Here are the boys walking back to our room for bed.
The next day was our 3rd wedding anniversary. We started it off right with some World's Best donuts.

After some more rock throwing to burn off those donuts we had lunch and then went up to Cascade Falls to attempt a hike.
We were pleasantly surprised at how well Henry did in the backpack carrier. He hadn't been in it for about a year.
We hiked for about an hour to a great spot for rock throwing.

And we saw these cool trees.


That night we dressed up a little and had anniversary dinner at The Angry Trout. It's an excellent place with organic, locally grown foods. Their furniture and decor are all designed by local artists. They practice conservation in all of the small ways that matter; using small, cloth napkins, reusable sippy cups for kids, serving all of your food on one plate so there's less to wash... I had the Lake Superior Trout, Pete had Walleye. Delicious!
We were not so successful the next day with our outdoor adventures. Will took this shot of us trying to canoe up at Sawbill. They had just come in from their trip. We lasted for about 45 minutes in the canoe. Henry just didn't understand the tippiness factor. He wanted to stand, which would have been fine, but then he decided he had to sit in my lap. That didn't work so well. It was worth the try, and we were glad to see that we had made the right decision about not trying the canoe trip with everyone else this year.
That night, after washing 5 days of wilderness off of themselves we went to Nanabijou Lodge for another great dinner. We were celebrating Will and Sandy's 4th anniversary that night, but couldn't toast as they don't serve alcohol. You may notice that Obie joined us for dinner that night.
This photo is blurry, but you can get a better idea of the gorgeousness of the dining room. You should read the history on this place if you get a chance. It's an amazing spot. You'll notice Henry's seat is empty. He was restless that night and didn't sit still long.
The next day we drove up to Will and Sandy's new property, which is practically in the Boundary Waters itself. It was quite an interesting drive to get up there. The "house" is really a frightening structure, so we camped out down closer to the lake.

It was Henry's first night in a tent and he liked it....until Will played boogie man making faces from the outside of the tent. Henry was not so comfortable with that. He did get over it, and slept really well....through all the rain.
We woke up to a lot of dampness, but a beautiful lake. You can see why they like the place.
Saturday morning we drove back to Duluth. Had a great lunch at a place called Pizza Luce, and then drove on back to Minneapolis. Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast out on Will and Sandy's patio before driving back home.
Like I said...lots of time in the car. But that was outweighed by lots of good time spent with family, great food and beautiful surroundings.

If you check back tomorrow I may add links...