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

Our First Visit to the Steele County Fair and a Twins Game

This past year Theo's best friend moved to Owatonna. When we came down last May for his birthday party I saw a sign for the Steele County Fair and knew we had to come back for it. First stop is the lemonade stand.  Then we hit up the daredevil show. After going to the RV show last February, Theo gets excited to tour campers.  They're fun to look at it or rent, but sorry bud, we're sticking to tents for the most part. You know I love a fair that is connected to the historic village.  I don't know if this is a common thing, but a few of the county fairs around here have little history centers right on their fairgrounds.

Work Trip: Dallas Part Deux

  I was back in Dallas for a day or so to shoot another college campus. After the shoot I made my way back to Bishop Arts District for some tacos at Taqueria El Si Hay . Of course Scott get sent to the cities you don't want to visit in summer. Hey, I just go where they send me. I should've got some elotes on the side. It was only 98 and humid. Just your typical Dallas summer day. I ended up finding a shady park to eat. There’s a lot, and I mean a ton, of suburban sprawl in Dallas proper. But if you look hard enough there’s some rather large areas of pre-WWII development.

Minneapolis Old House Bike Rides Without the Kids

Brooke and I went on a little bike date again to see some more old houses. This time for one of the tours I was most excited for, Lowry Hill.  We started with a history of the Walker Art Museum.  This house was built for the architect Frank B. Long of the notable architects Long and Kees. That's quite the roof.  Long wouldn't recognize the view from his home. These houses are bit fancy for my taste, but I learned some Minneapolis history along the way. It seemed like on this tour we had to stop at every house on Mount Curve Avenue.  I always wonder what people do with McMansions, but why the heck would you want an actual mansion. Hopefully preserving the history.  Doubt it. Still looks the same.  Dreamy garden. See Brooke, we need more trees. Brooke's book even pointed out a few mid-century homes to my surprise. We kept on walking right up until sunset. Which meant a night bike ride. My favorite. The next day we took the new Hennepin Avenue protected bikewa...