Another Trip to the North Shore with Maggie

Duluth from Skyline Parkway

Maggie and I made another quick and short trip up to the North Shore of Lake Superior. Instead of staying in a motel this time, we tent camped at Cascade River State Park. Link to video montage.

On the drive up I finally took Skyline Parkway (instead of I-35) which traverses the bluff at the top of Duluth. The views are thrilling. We also stopped at Silver Bay Marina for a lunch break.

We arrived at the park a little earlier than our campsite set up time but no one was there so we went ahead and got all situated. To be honest, I set up on the wrong site but was smart enough to double check 😊 The correct site was better anyway 😊😊

Maggie had dinner and then we went on a hike. This is the same park we had visited in March when it was cold and there was some snow. We took the hike toward Lookout Mountain but didn't go all the way to the top. The flowers along the path and the river were so very lovely. A perfect time to visit.

Comfy on the sleeping bag and therm-a-rest

After dinner at the Cascade Lodge Restaurant, we snuggled into the tent for the night. It was crazy windy, and I was afraid Maggie would freak out with the wind noise and twigs hitting the tent, but she was calm and quiet. I expected Maggie would sleep in a corner or snuggle up but instead she insisted on sleeping on the therm-a-rest and sleeping bag with me. If you've ever slept on a therm-a-rest, you know there is not much room beyond your own width. It was a tight fit but we both slept pretty well.

The next day I fixed a hearty breakfast of coffee and scrambled eggs with red onion, jalapeno, and cheese. Maggie didn't eat breakfast this morning. After breaking down the campsite, we headed to Grand Marais for a pastry treat and more coffee. I ran into my friend and ex-boss from Nash Finch, Holly, and her husband, Bob. We had a quick catchup before Maggie and I drove up the Gunflint Trail to Gunflint Lodge to meet up with Jenny B. The flowers along Gunflint Trail were spectacular. There was no way to photograph it. I highly recommend going to the North Shore at this time of year.

Lookout Point - Gunflint Lake

Maggie ate some lunch before Jenny, Maggie, and I hiked up to a Lookout Point over the spectacular Gunflint Lake. This is the lake we entered to go into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) Wilderness just last year, Jenny was staying at the Lodge because she was supervising groups of middle schoolers going into the BWCA.

Jenny treated me to a Northwoods canopy zip line tour. I had no idea this adventure even existed. The day was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky and not too hot. The views are amazing and to be at the tops of the majestic White Pines was an honor and awe-inspiring.

Maggie and I drove all the way back to Minneapolis after the canopy tour. It was a long six hours!

Link to video montage.

Quick trip to the Minnesota North Shore with Maggie

Sunsetting on the Caribou Trail

Simply wanted to get out of town for a couple of days and it has been another year with very little snow, so I thought I would head up north to see what snow there was.

If you want to jump to it, click here to watch the short video.

This was also an excuse to take the new Ford Maverick on a road trip.

On the Monday drive up I saw at least 4 bald eagles - two soaring along I-35 and two perched in trees along Highway 61. Also, had a pheasant fly all the way over all four lanes of I-35 right in front of me!

Maggie and I stayed at Solbakken Resort in Lutsen, again. This is where we stayed last year with Bud. It is convenient to get to places and is right on Lake Superior.

After we checked in, I drove up the Caribou Trail hoping to see owls. The news had mentioned that there were lots of owls along the north shore earlier in March and February. Unfortunately, I did not see any other than the plastic ones that are put on the tops of telephone poles.

Tuesday, drove into Grand Marais to have coffee at Java Moose Cafe. The owner, Sarah, is an Instagram crush of mine. The day's adventure was a hike in Cascade State Park to the top of Lookout Mountain. I have never stopped at this park.

Lake Superior meets the sky

The hike was challenging as there was not so much snow but a lot of ice. And I had Maggie in her backpack which meant I really could not afford to fall. We did make it to the top and the views of Lake Superior are fantastic.

Coming down was even more treacherous and I made a miss-calculation on the trail and ended up on Highway 61 for a tiny bit.

Had a late lunch at Cascade Lodge Restaurant.

Wednesday morning on the way home, I had breakfast with an old boss from Nash Finch. I have not seen her in a long time. She and her husband live outside of Grand Marais. I really appreciated that she took the time to get together.

Wednesday was a stormy day. Not so much snow on the North Shore as wind. I stopped at Tettegouche State Park to take a break and watch the waves on the lake. I saw two Golden Eagles between Two Harbors and Duluth. They are amazingly big!

A friend met me in Duluth for lunch. This was a nice break and also allowed time for the snowstorm in the Twin Cities to move on. By the time I left Duluth, the roads were pretty clear and so was the sky.

The Ford Maverick was very comfortable and handled the roads and weather well. I think I got a little over 32 mpg. The bad thing was while nearly home a dumpster truck threw a stone and hit my windshield. The windshield now has about a 10" crack which means I will be replacing the windshield...and I didn't even have 1,000 miles on the thing 🙁

Link to video.

Another spell in Palm Springs

Had a few days free so went to Palm Springs again (2nd trip this year!). Stayed with my friend, Bud, who is renting a beautiful home in Palm Springs.

The full park.

We went to Joshua Tree National Park on Thursday. It is less than an hour's drive from Palm Springs. There are lots of Joshua "Trees" but what really is the draw are the incredible rock formations.

We stuck to the northern portion of the park where the "trees" are. We did drive to Keys View to take in the expansiveness. You can see the San Andreas fault where it splits into 2 trenches. You can also see the Salton Sea in the far distance. Apparently, you can see Mexico, too. 😉

Video of the Joshua Tree adventure is here. Best viewed in landscape. This one is short.

On Friday we went to Mecca, California which is east of Palm Springs -- California takes a big angle down this far. I had read about the Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trails. These are 2 trails maintained by a local hiking club that are inside a Bureau of Land Management area.

These were two conjoined hikes in geology that is difficult to describe. The Ladder Canyon Trail requires a series of ladders (we went in the up direction) to navigate through very narrow slit canyons. Once you reach the top, you hike along the ridge until you descend quickly into a very wide Painted Canyon.

Both hikes are a kind of endless series of "what-the" and "oh-my" and "that's crazy" things to see and absorb.

Entrance into the trailheads for
Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon.

The Painted Canyon hike does have a brief section of rope and ladder but if you were to start at the beginning you could just hike to there and return. It is spectacular.

The Ladder and Painted Canyon Trails video is here. Best viewed in landscape. This one 7 1/2 minutes because there was so much to see. It also includes the drive getting to the start of the hikes. There are some really good videos on YouTube on how to get to the trail head.

Other things we did before I left on Sunday:

• saw a very funny production of Avenue Q at Revolution Stage Company
• had a kinda wild time at PS Air Bar after Avenue Q
• had dinner with friends Bob and Dianne who are also spending the winter in Palm Springs
• played pickleball 2x with "the boys"
• lounged in the hot tub
• I went for a run!

Lowkey Birthday

This post is really just to note that I shaved my beard 😊 Have not been a very celebratory mood lately so kept this year's bday to a minimum. Thank you, Amy, for arranging but sad you could not be there. Thank you, Jane, Bunny, Jenny, and especially Loretta for driving all the way down to lift my spirits.

Palm Springs for the New Year

Decided to take my friend Chris' invitation to come to Palm Springs for New Year's. Flew Sun Country on the 30th. Chris made reservations at Trio for dinner with friends for New Year's Eve. It was very pleasant.

Chris and I ended staying up past 1am getting caught up and reminiscing. 

I went for a short run on the 1st to take in all the flowering bushes and the different cacti.

Chris' condo has a heated pool, and he swims every morning. I joined in a few times. It was very nice. On the 2nd hiked the South Lykken Trail with Chris' friend, Kevin. After the hike, Chris and I went to my friend's Bud rented house for wine and cheese. Bud's brother David and sister-in-law, Mabel, were there. We decided to have dinner at The Tropicale, a swanky place.

Before heading to the airport on the 3rd, Chris and I met Bud, David, and Mabel at Spencer's for a delicious prix fixe lunch. The return flight was an hour delayed (seems to be a thing with Sun Country) but overall a good flight.

Returned to super cold weather so it was nice to get away for a while.