Ten Years!

June 30th was our 10 year anniversary.  We decided we needed to celebrate, so took a three day weekend away just us to the North Shore.  Close enough if we needed to come home we could and so we didn't spend the entire time away driving in the car.  We found a place in Beaver Bay, MN about a two and a half hour drive from Ashland.  Nick's parents came up to watch the girls.

Friday morning Dianne came up and took the girls to the Zoomobile at the library while Nick and I rushed finishing packing and headed out before they got home.  The girls had a great time and didn't miss us at all (or at least that is what Tim and Dianne are telling us!).

We stopped at the Chipotle in Duluth for lunch (and ran into a former student of mine - I cannot go anywhere apparently without running into students!) and then continued heading up to Beaver Bay.  Before we got to our hotel we stopped at Split Rock Lighthouse.  We took the tour (because we could!) and explored the shore 175 steps below.

We enjoyed the sign about the birds.  Apparently there was also a bad shipwreck
here (which then lead to the lighthouse).  Someone managed to throw a rope and scale
this cliff during a horrific storm, just about freezing and windy, and rescued 9 of 10 of the crew.  

After we toured the light house and the grounds, we continued up the North Shore to Beaver Bay and Cove Point Lodge, our hotel for the weekend.  It was right on Lake Superior and our room had a view of the lake.  After we checked in and dropped off our stuff, we headed into the bustling town (or you know, not) of Beaver Bay and had our anniversary dinner at the Lemon Wolf Cafe, and were pleasantly surprised.   We went and walked out on the point, had a beer on the patio, and actually had full conversations without interruption!

We saw a bald eagle as we were looking at the lake

The next morning, Nick went out for a paddle while I sipped tea and read my book.  

The speck in the fog is Nick paddling back

After having breakfast, we got in the car and drove to Tettegouche State Park but stopped by the Palisades, 200+ foot high cliff overlooking the lake.  It was pretty crowded, so we drove back down the hill.  We made it to Tettegouche, got a map and started walking the trail to the waterfall.  The trail was SUPER muddy and fairly busy, but we had a nice time and enjoyed the scenery.  As well as ridiculing people's shoe choices.  We also made a poor choice and learned the importance of reading the fine print (or the parenthesis) adding a few more miles to our hike.  But it was still nice - just delayed lunch.

We attempted to find lunch but weren't successful, so picked up some crackers and cheese at a little grocery store in the middle of nowhere before heading back to check out the Palisades.  People were rock climbing, which was pretty remarkable to us, people climbing a sheer cliff with Lake Superior below.  A gorgeous view but hard to capture.

Then a trip to Black Beach in Silver Bay where the whooshing sound of the lake hitting the rocks was unique and fun to listen to.  We found a few rocks for Lilly's rock collection and headed back to grab some dinner.  We went to probably our second option for dinner in Beaver Bay, Camp 61.  It was pretty good but not amazing.  Back to the hotel to read our books (Nick was actually reading something non-chemistry related, Boys in the Boat and he strongly recommends it).  

Sunday morning Nick went out for another paddle and I slept in.  His day was made because not only did he have a great paddle, there was a big ship.

We packed up after breakfast, got coffee and then started heading back to Ashland.  There was one more part of our plan, hit up Gooseberry Falls, along with everyone else in the state of Minnesota.  We kept reminding ourselves how great it was there were so many people out hiking and enjoying nature.

So many people

Poor color choice - it says hazardous before the word keep

After our trip to Gooseberry and finding mini-mugs that said Minnesota on them for the girls, we continued to Ashland.  One final stop, pizza at The Thirsty Pagan in Superior.  We came home to girls who were happy to see us and grandparents who maybe weren't as thrilled, knowing their time of being the favorites was coming to a close.  It was certainly strange to be away from the girls for even just a short time, but we had a nice relaxing time celebrating our anniversary (and riding in the car without constantly turning around handing kids things!).