North Shore July 15-18

Time for the third annual Voigt/Shepard summer vacation! These annual trips all began on a whim when we traveled to Seattle with our friend Kolin (Taylor's godfather) in 2008. Our friends Jon and Michelle came up from Austin as well and our friend Delia came out from Spokane for a couple of nights while she was in law school up there. For the remainder of the week, we headed up to Vancouver with Jon and Michelle and it became evident that we had to do this every year. So began the tradition.

In 2009, the same crew (minus Kolin) went to Estes Park, CO for a friend's wedding. Now this year, Jon and Michelle were great enough to come up to Minnesota since Cassidy was so little and we all took a trip up to the North Shore. Even though we have lived back here for 4.5 years, Al still has yet to be up there so it was fun to show everyone some beautiful Minnesota landscape.
For those not familiar, the North Shore in MN is the shoreline of Lake Superior. There are many small towns along the way with hiking, kayaking, camping, etc. and even a ski resort.
The weekend we went we had beautiful weather and we rented a great house right on the water.

First stop along the way, Duluth! Duluth is a harbor town on Lake Superior. One of my favorite moments was when we drove into town, we crested over the hill and you could suddenly see Duluth and the great lake below. Al, Jon and Michelle all were shocked at the sight. I joked, "Yeah, you were wondering which lake we were vacationing on? It's that one, the GREAT one." :)
Family photo (minus Cassie who was sleeping in the stroller) on the lighthouse pier. Don't worry, the wall that Taylor is propped on is above a spot with shallow water. It just looks a little scary in this photo.

First full day we headed out to one of the many state parks and took a hike. Trying to find some waterfalls at Temperance State Park!
Reminiscent of our Colorado trip, Jon and Al figuring out the hiking pack. Best bargain of the weekend, renting a hiking backpack for $5 a day!


Michelle, Cassidy and I. Cassie was such a trooper during this trip. She slept through most of the hiking and all the fresh air helped her sleep great at night!

It was surprisingly hot that day (especially for the north shore) so we came across some wading pools and ate our picnic lunch and cooled off. We basically had the place to ourselves for a couple of hours, it was great!

Jon, Michelle and I relaxing and taking in the scenery:

This is a picture taken from the house. I spotted a loon (the MN state bird!) floating out in the water around 5:30am. The same loon was still seen floating later in the day. Wish I had an even stronger zoom lense!

Day 2 of hiking. Little bit cooler weather and some more beautiful scenery at Judge C. R. Magney State Park.

Taylor (hiding), Al, Michelle and Jon:

Viewing some waterfalls after a lunch pit stop:

One of the features of this trail was a staircase with MANY stairs. Can't recall how many, but it was a lot. Taylor did most of it by herself. In fact, she insisted! The uphill part was on the way back to the car, not a fun way to end a hike!

Michelle, Cassie and I taking a strategic break about half-way up:

Some pictures from our rental house. Beautiful Lake Superior:

View from the bedroom that Cassie and I stayed in. Al stayed in another room with Taylor since she was a little nervous to be by herself in a new house.

Taylor hanging out and Joni packing on the morning of our drive home

Group photo!

One last stop on the way out, Gooseberry Falls:

As beautiful as all of our last three trips have been, Michelle and I asked the guys if we could do a beach trip next time. Need to take a break from hiking. :)