Family Fun with the Nelsons

Thursday, August 27, 2015

2015 Up North Summer vacation -part 2

Continuing from last post...

Friday (8/14/15) we hiked along the Temperance River in the morning. The state trails are always so well maintained. Always makes me happy up there. Always a goal to find pretty water falls.

Have to test out the new sling shot!

People were cliff diving here:

After hiking we enjoyed lunch at our favorite place up there, Bluefin Bay. Wonderful food with a great view of the lake

Shared desserts too. Yum...

We spent the rest of the day chilling at our resort.

Saturday was our last full day and we wanted to take it slow and enjoy. Noah and I spent most of the morning at the indoor/outdoor pool which we mostly had to ourselves, relaxing (I swam too) . Lunch we meandered over to Moguls at the neighboring Caribou Highlands resort next door. We think we could stay there next time too. Very nice and similarly good location. We went and snooped at a couple local shops and then hung out at resort for evening (Noah did the pool again) and started packing up.

Evening brought more people to interact with.

Sunday it was time to pack up to head towards home. We had stops along the way.

We hiked below Split Rock Lighthouse:

Then a little hiking at Gooseberry Fslls park and their cute visitor center and shop:

Then late lunch/early supper at Tobie's in Hinkley on the way home. All in all a great trip. Everything went smooth. No car trouble, no band aids, the best weather we have ever had up there (at least til the last hour of the drive home) and nice quality family time to round out a busy summer!

2015 Up North Summer Vacation -Part 1

We got back home on Monday 8/10 from our convention and had time to unpack and flip some laundry loads and repack. Noah got a last minute invite to Como pool to swim with a couple of good friends so we went and chilled out for the afternoon there. We have never been there since they rebuilt. Wow. Nice! It is a whole little water park now. Fun for the kids! (Noah never swam at the hotel this weekend so a nice way to end that off!

Then on Tuesday we piled in the car and headed north. We spent a few hours in our beloved Canal Park in Duluth. Had lunch and hit a few shops and the pier. And also Lief Erickson Park:

Then we headed up to Lutsen where we had reservations at Eagle Ridge resort on Lutsen Mountains. This is our third stay there and we love the location. Time to unpack and have Dinner at Pappa Charles and Noah to hit the pool.

Wednesday we decided to stay around the resort and enjoy the onsite activities. They have an Alpine Slide on the side of the mountain which we love and also the gondola that takes you to the other mountain across the way to the chalet and hiking trails and a beautiful overlook:

Ended with the nightly fire. It went out so it became a challenge to rebuild with limited supplies. Success!

Thursday we hiked at Judge Magney State Park in the morning. They have falls called Devil's Kettle because at the upper falls you can't see where the water drops down to. Looks bottomless. The lower falls are beautiful too. To get there is a path through the woods and then hundreds of stairs. Workout with a reward. I did the lower falls and then the boys kept climbing up to the upper Devils Kettle falls. Met a nice family from Woodbury up there. Always a "small world" there as most visitors are from the Cities.