Labor Day weekend up north

Jenny invited me to her and Andrew's cabin in northern Minnesota. We were joined by her friend from college Karen and Karen's friend Elina. We left super early Friday morning.

Karen and Elina had not been past Duluth so we stopped and many roadside scenes along the way...including a set of giant chairs, a giant voyageur's statue and a giant rooster. I've passed all these sites but never stopped. It was fun seeing things with new eyes. For example, the giant voyageur isn't wearing pants!

little people or a giant chair?

We made it to the cabin around 1pm. The weather was beautiful. Forecasts were for ran during the weekend so we wanted to take advantage of sun and some wind. I bought a kayak sail and really wanted try it out. I thought it would be more fun sailing with someone so Jenny and I got the canoe out on the lake and tried sailing. It kind of worked as long as we went where the wind wanted to go. We couldn't really figure out how to steer. It was fun anyway.

It did rain but it was overnight. The same was true for Saturday and Sunday nights. Lots of rain overnight and beautiful days. Perfect.

Saturday we went to Grand Marais and a hike at W.R. Magney State Park. Grand Marais was busy. Many people taking advantage of the weather and the long weekend. Jenny got Andrew's birthday present from a local artist woodworker. I got Jenny's present from the same guy.

Beaver House, Grand Marais

W.R. Magney State Park is further up the north shore of Lake Superior. It has camping and hoking trails. It also has waterfalls as the Brule River flows down to the lake. One waterfall contains a geological mystery.

One of the waterfalls splits into two streams. One stream creates a normal waterfall. The other stream falls into a hole with no apparent outlet! You can read the story of the Devil's Kettle here.

Devil's Kettle

We stopped back in Grand Marais on the way back to the cabin. There was a lot of food back at the cabin bit not puffed tacos so we stopped at Hughie's Tacos.

Back at the cabin, Jenny started a 750 piece puzzle, Elina read her book, I worked a crossword and Karen did some work she had brought.

Sunday started off cloudy with rain threatening but it blew away and was hot and humid. I went for a run. I was soaking wet from the humidity and running nearly 8 miles. We decided a swim was needed so drove to Crescent Lake and had a blast swimming and frolicking in the cool, refreshing water.

Crescent Lake

And we had lots of fun with our underwater cameras...