The Lake Superior Trip

August 11 - 15, 2003

I am so grateful for my son.  He brings out the best in me and motivates me to do awesome, fun things.  And I love the age and stage he is in now.  I'm cherishing it....

Day 1: 

Made camp at Eckbeck State Forest at 4 pm after an easy day.  8 hours, 465 miles.  Quinn watched movies and I enjoyed the scenery.  We lucked out and met some great folks from Minneapolis.  Quinn always has his radar going for kids to play with when we're camping.  Here, they're investigating crawfish behavior.  Crawfish and Crayfish are synonymous.  I looked it up.  And they're not fish, they're crustaceans.

After pitching camp, we headed for town to buy hot dogs.  Before returning, we hiked down to the mouth of the Baptism River and zoned out while watching the big waves break on the smooth stones on the beach.  As I gazed in awed silence (and Quinn romped in the surf), the full moon rose over the Lake.  We watched it for a half hour and I took way too many pictures. 

Day 2:

We drove up the North Shore to Grand Marais, ate crappy food at Sven & Ole's and bought a blanket for the cold nights in the van.  We rode the Alpine Slide at Lutsen Resort a couple times.  That was Quinn's favorite.  I have to admit that when my family took me to Colorado, what I remembered most was the fun things like that, not the scenery.  I remember going to Santa's North Pole and going in an igloo.  That's what I told my friends about when we got back home.

Day 3:

Back down the North Shore to Duluth, then along the South Shore to Bayfield, WI.  We boarded the ferry to Madeline Island and got a spot at Big Bay Town Park.  We headed right for the beach and Quinn met Nick, who was building an awesome sand castle, complete with cowboys and indians.  It turned out that Nick was camped right next door, so Quinn had a friend for the day.

Day 4:

I had a nice morning chatting with Nick's folks while Quinn played with their 4 kids.  Found out that Nick's mom knows my 2nd cousin, Lisa.  They left that morning and Quinn and I got busy exploring the island.  First item of business was breakfast, then we headed back to the beach for more sand castles and swimming.  The swimming was great.  I'd never seen water so clean.  And next to the beach, the shoreline consisted of awesome rocks, so Quinn and I climbed and explored.  We saw a bald eagle land on a tree right over our heads.

Day 5:

Got back on the ferry to Bayfield and headed home.  1330 miles and 28 hours of driving, but I love driving in the midwest. I think Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa are just gorgeous.