Lutsen Aug 2011 vacation

We got away for a little vacation this month since summer is winding down quickly. Originally we were planning on Duluth but since it is more prime season there and hotel rates were really high we were looking into other options.  I got an email from a resort up in Lutsen with end of summer half price specials. That was it!  So we stayed at Eagle Ridge at Lutsen Resort. We loved it.  We hadn't been up to Lutsen in 20 years (we honeymooned up there) so were excited to return.

We took our time driving up making some stops along the way to see things we wanted to see again, stopped at Leif Erickson park in Duluth to look at and take pictures of the beautiful flowers, then stopped at Agate Beach in Goosebury Falls Park, and Illgen Falls at Tettegouche State Park before getting to our resort. We got a 1 Bedroom condo for our half price rate- so it had lots of space and a full kitchen -bonus. Our deck looked over the valley and then we could also see Moose Mountain. 

While we were up there, we rode on the Gondola tram from Eagle Ridge over to the top of Moose Mountain to walk around and see the wonderful views of the mountains and Lake Superior. It was cool how the lake blended up to the sky almost seamlessly -truly God's creation is beautiful!!! We also had a wristband to ride the Alpine Slide that was across the street from our condos too. Noah was nervous at first, but after the first ride on the chair lift and then back down on the slide -he was hooked- he loved it. Wanted to race us down (there are 2 runs side by side) -because he is so much lighter he kicked our booty's but all in good fun. We ate dinners out each night (other meals in our condo) - ate at Papa Charlie's at our resort (not that great- but view was wonderful), Bluefin Grille and then at Cascade Restaurant.  We hiked at Cascade State Park one day too -totally photo picture spots everywhere with the lush green and lovely water falls.

Took a few stops on way home too since Brent had gotten Noah a State Park Passport kit while up there, so we decided to re-hit the state parks on the way back, just to get stamps at the check in buildings. I think he got 5 stamps to get him started on his adventures (you get patches for getting specific numbers of park stamps).  All in all a good trip even if it was short. Highly recommend!  Here is link to edited down version of pictures (still too long to post individually here on the blog- sorry -we are total photobugs). Longer version is housed at http://nelsonpix.shutterfly.com/3313

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