Skip to main content

Brooke Takes the Kids to Duluth and Gooseberry Falls

This weekend called for summer temps. I looked at going camping but most places were already booked or not open yet. Last minute I decided to go to Duluth. Once Meadow was out of school we headed up.
 
I had asked Brooke if it was OK to go to a MN United soccer game with my buddy Nate on Saturday. I didn't think she was gonna go to Duluth and the North Shore while I stayed home!

Ruthie needed to go on a walk so we tagged along.
 
 
Of course our walk brought us to a playground. 

Observation Park had a nice observation viewing area. 
 
That seems fitting.

Blake chose this playground because it had big rocks. Meadow bouldered her way to the top. 

Blake's BnB staple breakfast is now waffles. Complete with mimosas for the adults thanks to Daniel. 

I mostly wanted to come up this weekend to go to some of the north shore state parks before peak tourist season. We drove up to Gooseberry Falls for the day. I guess everyone else had the same idea as the parking lot was overflowing. 

Theo insisted on wearing Meadow's hiking backpack.

Once we got past the waterfalls and onto the hiking club trail we didn't see a single person. 

We enjoyed the views on our own. 

The water was a bright blue green color in real life. 
 
Looks blue-green to me.
 


After our hike we had lunch by the Middle Falls.

Even though it was cooler up here than in Duluth it was a hot day. I wish I had brought shorts but they're still in storage with all my summer clothes. 

We then made our way down to Lower Falls which had a lot fewer people. 



Blake and Meadow had fun looking for agates. 

We had spent almost all day at the park and only saw a small portion. We'll have to go back again with Scott. 

The kids said they wanted sushi for dinner and Blake honored their request. 

We played outside until it got dark. 

We were hungry for dessert so Meadow made her famous chocolate chip cookies. 

Meanwhile I was watching Minnesota United over in St. Paul after watching the NFL Draft party on Cheesehead TV. After some outdoor drinks with the guys I went to the game with I biked back to Minneapolis.


Of course I had to get a burrito from Taco Taxi on the way back.

The next day was much cooler. We made our way down the hill towards the lake. 

On the way we stopped to find a geochache. Meadow got a new kitty charm from the cache. 

Our first alley geocache. 


Meadow and Blake wanted to comb the beach again for more agates and sea glass. 





We stopped at another playground on the way home. 

Meadow collected a hug bouquet of dandelions. 

On our drive back to Minneapolis we made a pitstop at Jay Cooke State Park. We got here around 6:00 which means all the tourist have already left. There was only a few other cars in the parking lot.


Meadow was in her element here. We haven't been here since she was little and she forgot all about it.



We only planned to stay for a quick half hour. 


We ended up staying for almost an hour.


Until next time Duluth.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Iron Range Camping for Work and Fun

Scott had more shoots this weekend. This time it took us way up north. With Meadow back in school we left Friday afternoon.  Luckily Meadow's teacher canceled their afternoon meeting and we were able to leave earlier than we planned. To break up the long drive we camped for the night at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park . We booked the last site, I can't believe people are still camping. When we were setting up our tent Meadow said, "Why are other people so close to us?" We don't go to normal campgrounds very often I guess.  We set up early and went on a hike before dinner. We should have brought our canoe along, but a hike would do.

Meadow's 13th Birthday Party

We woke up to down pouring rain.  Once the rain had slowed down, Theo and I walked over to the Kingfield Farmers Market. Theo picked another Bundt cake as his treat. I have never seen it so dead.  I got some rhubarb to make jam and Israeli bagels that I wasn't expecting to be long. On our walk home we also picked up some free pots and a Minecraft book.  Both of our vacuums have bit the dust. I was trying to hold out until Black Friday to buy another one when I saw there was deals thanks to Prime Day. Theo said he's never seen me this excited before, not even my birthday.  I used up all of my gift cards I'd earned from Medica. Yeah, I know, it's weird. Walking for two years got us a vacuum. I had vacuumed in the morning with our old vacuum and then again with our new one. Ew. Usually I'm the one stressing out before guests come over but this time it was Scott.  We both have blind spots for different parts of the house I guess. We originally thought we'd have her ...

Backcountry Camping with Kids in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Day 1  Back in May I stumbled upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had no idea there was a National Park in North Dakota and that it was the northern end of the Badlands. Usually our summer vacations coincide with Scott's work trips. Since he didn't have any this summer I thought we should take advantage of actually taking a vacation. What, my workcations are always classics? I suppose a second real vacation this year wouldn't hurt. We definitely have more time than normal. As long as we took Covid-19  precautions and avoided people. We finally settled on a time to go. Blake joined us so we borrowed our dad's van so we could ride together. Scott had just driven from Michigan the day before. Blake had met my parents in Wisconsin to get the van and then drove from Duluth to pick us up. I offered to drive since I literally only drive twice a month.  I was still pretty tired from a long drive home. Since we were near Fergus Falls we had to stop by the abandoned state ho...