Fall on the North Shore

Well, it's quite obvious from the number of my September posts that school has started again. Life gets a little crazy in the fall after the relative peace of summer. We did manage to squeeze in a quick trip to Two Harbors last weekend to visit Chuck's mom and to get in a little hiking during peak color time on the North Shore. However, it had rained everyday the previous week, so the leaves weren't as colorful as we had anticipated. The weather, though, was gorgeous, with deep blue skies, warm temps, and a light breeze. Jenna and Andy joined us for our short but sweet trip.

We used the guide book and maps from my August hike to find a great section of the Superior Hiking Trail just north of Two Harbors. Of course, to get to the parking area, we had to drive inland for several miles on a dirt road, so Chuck wasn't too happy since he had just washed the car. Oh well.....

The first 1/2 mile of trail was very rocky and all up-hill, with spectacular overlooks of the lake. There were just a few splashes of red mixed in with deep green - beautiful!

Kinda looks like the Rocky Mountains! The trail eventually leveled out and became quite muddy due to all the rain. Then Chuck was worried about our muddy hiking boots inside his clean car!

If we had kept going on our trail for about 10 miles, we would have ended up at Gooseberry Falls. However, we only had one car with us, so we back-tracked to the car and drove to Gooseberry instead. There was lots of water going over the Falls due to all the rain last week, so it was really neat! See the rainbow in the spray? There were also about a million people (more or less) at the visitor center and on the trails in the park, unlike the empty inland trail we had just hiked.

We wanted to hike the mile or so down to the lake, but it was too crowded. Guess tourism is definitely alive and well in Minnesota!

34 Years!

We celebrated our 34th anniversary on August 25th. It was a VERY hot and humid day 34 years ago.....

Cute, huh? My hair was long and straight, and Chuck's was long and kinky, especially with all the humidity. Chuck still has the moustache, but where is all the dark hair?? No strapless gowns back then, either - long sleeves and high necks only! We were both very hot by this time after our non-air-conditioned church basement reception of little sandwiches, fruit in a hollowed out watermelon, punch, and cake - nothing but the best!


This year, the weather was nice and cool, and we went out for dinner at The Melting Pot in downtown Minneapolis for a great fondue dinner. The fruit dipped in dark chocolate was a fantastic ending for a great meal!