Libby Henderson Photography & Travel Blog

MN North Shore

This trip is day-blogged in REVERSE chronological order so readers can see the latest stories first.

April 10, 2021

Day 6: Departure

More gloom and fog began our day and we were glad we didn't decide to stay longer. The forecast shows nothing but the same rain, fog, and cold for the next week at least. The sun tried to rise through the clouds....but this was the only tiny window we saw for days.

The drive home was uneventful other than getting into a big rain event south of Madison.

The end of another fun and relaxing trip with Julie!

If you're thinking about Mark as you're reading this, as I am, I hope you hear him saying I should "go!" He loved that I traveled, even without him. He couldn't go and do some of these things that I do, and he sure didn't have the best eyesight. He wanted me to take all the photographs so he could live vicariously, and see the things I saw, captured on the camera through my pictures. He was with us on this trip and I missed him dreadfully sometimes. I am sure Julie got tired of hearing me say "Mark would have loved this" - but she's a wonderful friend and would never complain! He is never far from my thoughts and dreams.

April 9, 2021

Day 5:

Sea Smoke

The surf has settled down a bit today, but the fog and sea smoke remained for most of the day. Within the Tettegouche State Park we found this trail that led down, down, down to the Baptism River. With the limited visibility you couldn't see for miles like you usually can, but it was pretty nonetheless. Slippery though on the wet steps and rocks.

Then we drove down to Two Harbors again to hopefully find the Mocha Moose open. It was! No soup though. Yummy cookies and coffee! A quick stop once more at Betty's Pies to take home.

Seriously the best snack ever! Julie makes her own hummus. Yes for real! So we had homemade hummus with these red quinoa chia chips. I loved everything about this! Yummmmmmmm.

April 8, 2021

Day 4: Wild Lake Superior

We woke up to serious surf on the wild Lake Superior. It's hard to believe we're not on the ocean when you see waves like these. See last night's video....amazing still!

There's an app called Marine Traffic that I'll talk about in a blog entry below that tells us of freighters coming by. It wasn't terribly foggy this morning so we got to see this beauty today.

Today was Ely (pronounced E-lee) exploration day. On the agenda was to visit a couple of VRBO houses we found for a possible trip next year, to see the town of Ely and experience being in the Boundary Waters before tourist season. The first house we saw was called the Four Season Retreat. The photo at the right shows the view, which is northwest facing. Beautiful but definitely not for March (when we want to come back) unless we have snowmobiles! Glad we went to visit it. Turns out not only is it NOT tourist season yet it's not even "ice out" yet in many lakes and rivers! So beautiful....but rain and fog all day.

The town of Ely is adorable and easy to visualize with all the Voyageurs present. So many outfitters and pubs! Looks like a fun place. We found an art gallery we wanted to see. Jim Brandenburg is a world-famous photographer of the beautiful wilderness area surrounding Ely. Everything from wildlife, wolf, bear, etc. to the Milky Way and the northern lights. His work is STUNNING. Visit his page to see.

Kawishiwi Falls & Hiking Trail

Even in the foggy drizzle this was a beautiful place. Just outside of Ely, and it was completely ours! Deserted and empty. Clearly canoes portage through here, but there aren't any canoers yet as there is still a lot of snow and ice on the waters.

Wide angle shot of the area. You can see the dam and power plant off to the left.

Which came first, the tree or the rock? Both were vying for the space. Clearly the rock won. Rock beats tree.

We stopped roadside to eat our sandwiches. So quiet and peaceful.

Boreal Mist over a little lake on Minnesota Route 1 just outside Ely.

Dinner tonight - we ordered from the restaurant here at the resort. It was delicious! Cove Point Lodge

CHICKEN NORWAY pan roasted bone in chicken breast, Jarlsberg cream sauce, lingonberries, whipped potatoes, roasted carrots & green beans.

SWEDISH MEATBALLS house meatball blend, lingonberry, Swedish gravy, pickled onions, horseradish whipped potatoes, seasonal vegetables

Very "northern Minnesota" cooking. Julie and I shared.

April 7, 2021

Day 3: Foggy Day

Good night's sleep! Always makes for a better day, even though it's barely 40 degrees and serious fog here today. Jules and I decided it was a good day to try agate hunting so we went south to Flood Bay where I've had success in the past. NOPE. Cold and windy and no agates.

From the app Marine Traffic

These shipping vessels are so gigantic.

From the shore of Two Harbors

Two Harbors lighthouse

We were excited to go to my favorite North Shore coffee house, The Mocha Moose. But we got there and it was closed! Soon we found out that most of the North Shore is closed on Wednesdays. Who knew? We wanted soup to go with our Rueben sandwiches tonight and Mocha Moose makes a killer chicken-wild rice chowder. We tried a couple other local places after that didn't work, we ended up grabbing soup from Culver's.

At Cove Point Lodge, they accommodate you in many different ways! They have a place where you can have a bonfire and they give you a s'mores go-pack full of all the fixings to make s'mores. There's even a station for clean and used marshmallow roasting forks. These covid-times make for lots of creativity!

Dinner tonight was photo worthy. I had made a Ream's corned beef in my crock pot before we left so I made unconventional Rueben sandwiches... which means a basic Rueben without the sauerkraut. Panini-style! Turned out great.

The soup is chicken & wild rice from Culver's, the wine is Raspberry Rose from Sandhill Crane Vineyards. Served with green grapes.

Waterfalls on the Cove Point property

Meanwhile, the storms rage on! Here's Julie's video of the surf this evening. Turn your sound up!

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April 6, 2021

Day 2: The North Shore in a Day

Good morning Lake Superior! We got up at 5 am to see the Milky Way (which we really didn't.... a lot of moisture and haze in the air). The stars were beautiful though! And the crescent moon rose over a bank of remnant clouds. Beautiful!

Sunrise over a bank of left-over clouds from the deck of our house.

This is where we're staying. And maybe never coming home. :)

Here's a fun shot of the sunshine through the corner of our living room. There's not a bad view in the house!

We may want to buy this place. Not that it's for sale....but WOW what a beautiful location. And only 9+ hours from home!

Just have to say - as traveling companions go, Julie is the best. I don't think anybody else on the planet would sit and watch the world turn with me like Julie!

Today's adventure begins..... with a drive up the "north shore" of Lake Superior. Check out this cool map (below) to see where we went. YES this is all in one day!

As you will see in many of the photos to come, we had very changeable weather! From 62 degrees up on the Gunflint Trail to 39 degrees.... and from beautiful blue skies to dense fog - it was quite the challenge sometimes!

We started at our rental cottage at Cove Point Lodge and went north with the thought to stop and explore Palisade Head just north of us. We did that, and so much more! It started out as a beautiful sunny day around 50 degrees, with a little haze in the air and on the horizon. By the time we got to Grand Marais it was so foggy we could hardly see in front of us! There was NO horizon to be seen between Lake Superior and the sky.

Palisade Head in the Tettegouche State Park

What a gorgeous but dangerous flat-faced cliff! It was formed from a previously underground lava flow that was exposed to the elements over a million years ago. In the photos you can often see Shovel Point, which was formed in the same way, just a couple miles to the north. It looks like a triangle reaching out into Lake Superior.

Silver Bay

Here's a stitched panorama shot of the town of Silver Bay on the left, Lake Superior in the middle, and one of the many the Taconite Plants on the right-hand side.

Father Baraga's Cross

Father Frederic Baraga (1797-1868) This dude got around! Born in Slovenia, he became a gifted multi-lingual priest and came to North America as a catholic missionary. He learned several Native American languages and became a champion of the people all over the Great Lakes region. His cross is on the shore of Lake Superior in Schroeder, MN.

A "tidepool" in the bedrock at Father Baraga's cross.

Lutsen Mountain Ski Resort

We took a side road up a mountain and found this ski mountain that was still open for skiing in April! It's the largest ski resort in mid-America (3-4 times larger than any other in the midwest area) and has 95 runs with an 825-ft vertical rise. It was so fun to see people skiing, riding gondolas, and ski lifts! A beautiful setting, too.

We found that just a mile or two away from the lake, the cold subsided and the fog lifted for the most part and it went from 40 degrees and fog, to hazy sunshine and 60 degrees.

North Shore Winery

On the side of the same mountain we ran across a winery. Of course, we had to stop. Fun place - and we decided Andrew will have to start building this type of outdoor tables and benches. So cute!

Grand Marais & the Gunflint Trail

Grand Marais is a fun town that I've been to several times but this time, we could hardly see it for all the fog. And the most important place - World's Greatest Donuts - was closed! So we decided to take the drive up the Gunflint Trail that is known for its wilderness and moose sightings.

About 3 miles up the road my GPS went blank - definitely off the grid. No moose for us, but absolutely gorgeous wilderness. Note to travelers - be sure to fill your gas tank in Grand Marais because there are no open gas stations on the Gunflint... at this time of year anyway!

A typical section of the Gunflint Trail

April 6 and no ice-out yet!

Typical Gunflint wilderness

Evidently, being an Aurora Chaser even applies to vertical hikes to find "Northern Light Lake"! We saw it but the forest was so dense we couldn't get a photo of the lake. Trust us though, it's there!

My GPS's way to tell us we were most definitely "off the grid"....

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Cascade Falls

In the fog we stopped to hike up to a waterfall that was absolutely gorgeous! (Short video above). Saw a couple of beautiful mama deer in the area, too.

Burls

I just learned about burls thanks to Jules. They are a tree growth where the tree grain has grown in a deformed pattern. These are very sought-after in the furniture making business. Bizarre!

This is where the Crystal Falls / river goes out to Lake Superior.

We drove back home in the fog and settled in to have a lovely charcuterie plate for our dinner and a glass of raspberry wine. The rains came and made it a lovely night for sleeping.

April 5, 2021

Day 1

Julie and I had a nice drive up here to Beaver Bay, MN. Just a few stops and it was about 10 hours altogether. We drove through Superior, WI which is in the far north west corner of Wisconsin. It was 76 degrees there. Then, just an hour and a half around the bend up here in Beaver Bay, it was 46 degrees! Mercy!

After locating our beautiful accommodations for the week, we settled in. What a spectacular view!

A trip to Betty's Pies is a north shore MUST!

Hello to the Giant Orion! This is a cell phone shot over the house next door.

The forecast for the week is NOT great. We will have to enjoy what we can. Night sky viewing isn't promising, but you never know! Like tonight.... as darkness descended, we realized there were storms all around us. Having a view over a huge expanse of water is like using a magnifying glass. Storms and lightning flashes are really exaggerated. Or perhaps all the buildings and houses at home reduce the visibility! But we sure got a light show that was spectacular - and a one of a kind experience for sure. Julie and I sat in the darkness for what seemed to be HOURS watching the storm to the north, and the two cells to the south and southwest. Even a small one behind us. The most amazing part was as we watched the lightning flash like an old-time Hollywood movie premier....was that straight above us was totally clear and we had stars! Orion in all his glory greeted us just before he set, and the Twins (Gemini) were prominent at the apex. It was a surreal experience.

Here's the radar during our light show last night. The blue pin is where we are.

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