Sister’s Weekend Get-a-Way
My sisters and I just spent a fun and lovely weekend along the North shore of Minnesota enjoying each others’ company and the beauty of all the fall colors along Lake Superior and as far inland as the little town of Isabella. And the colors at this time of year are spectacular.
We started out Friday morning, the 30th of September, around 6 AM and headed north along 212 to 169. The rush hour traffic was already pretty evident as we worked our way along 694 to 35W and on up to 35 heading towards Duluth. Once we were beyond the Twin Cities the traffic lightened considerably although there seemed to be a lot of people heading in the same direction that we were going.
We made our breakfast stop in North Branch and ate at the Perkins restaurant there. (just look for the largest American Flag around and you will find a Perkins) The food is always good and reasonably priced and the coffee is always very good. After our good breakfast and a restroom break we were back on the road and got to Duluth before 10 o’clock.
The day was beautiful – a little windy which made for some beautiful photo opportunities along Minnesota Point (just across the lift bridge in the Duluth Harbor). Some surfers were enjoying the waves on Lake Superior also even though the water is quite cold this time of year.
Duluth as seen on a windy day just beyond the Lift Bridge - Surf's up!
We left Minnesota Park Point after about two hours and headed up towards Two Harbors along Scenic Highway 61. It was still a beautiful day with lots of sunshine. Since Kathy and I had never stopped to sight see in this pretty little town and Margaret and her husband had been there many times, we got a mini tour from her. We drove out to the Two Harbors lighthouse and got to see the ore loading docks with a large ship waiting to be loaded. There is a long “breakwater” there also with a walking area along its length which many people take advantage of for strolling along and for the fisherman who would like to try his luck at catching a Soho salmon perhaps.
Lighthouse at Two Harbors.
Fishing for salmon along the breakwater in Two Harbors.
An ore ship waiting to be loaded with taconite in Two Harbors.
another view of the Two Harbors lighthouse taken from the breakwater.
A Sunday morning stroll along the breakwater in Two Harbors.
I will bet you did not know the famous Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) started in this tiny building in Two Harbors. I didn't until Margaret told me - her husband Frank worked for many years at the company in Cottage Grove.
While we were doing our tour in Two Harbors we began to hear a lot of sirens out along the highway and it turned out that there had been a serious head-on collision between a large truck and a small car just before the turn off into the Gooseberry Falls area. It was a very gruesome sight to come across. Kathy captured a photo as we finally made our way around the accident. It is only a two lane road along there so cars from both directions needed to take turns in order to pass the accident scene and unfortunately there was no way of avoiding the horrible sight. We silently said some prayers for whoever the victims might be.
This really bad accident happened along Scenic Highway 61 on our way to the Split Rock Lighthouse.
We didn’t stop at Gooseberry Falls this year but drove on up to the Split Rock Lighthouse area. Margaret purchased a State Park permit and then we drove down near the picnic area and had some of the Blueberry- Apple pie that we purchased at Betty’s Pies earlier in the day. Those pies always live up to their reputation. It was delicious. We still had half a pie left for later enjoyment on our journey along the North Shore. We took a lot of photos of the lighthouse while we were in this area. I think we were almost the only ones down there at the time so it was really fun. Again the weather was perfect with the beautiful fall light to help out with the photographs. Here are a few photos of the lighthouse and other things we captured with our cameras.
We drove back to the motel that Margaret had reserved for us earlier. It was located south of Two Harbors with a nice view of Lake Superior. Except for seeing the horrible accident along the way, it had been a perfect day. We reviewed some of the photos that we had taken throughout the day and looked at some of the photos from our trip to Ireland two years ago and by then we were all super tired and it only took a moment after our heads hit our pillows to be sound asleep.
We awoke early on Saturday morning to another beautiful day. We decided to eat our breakfast in Two Harbors and so headed back into the little town. The traffic in town was quite heavy already with a lot of tourists just like us out to view the fall colors when they were near their peak in color.
We ate breakfast at a little cafe called the Vanilla Bean. The food was very good as well as was the coffee that I had.The home fries that I had with my eggs were perfect. After we finished our breakfast we went down the block a short distance and checked out The Oldest Sister Gift Emporium. What a neat little store made for sisters. If you ever get to Two Harbors and you have sisters then you really should check this store out. We spent a good deal of time laughing as we wandered around inside.
After our breakfast and shopping we drove north out of town along Highway 2 for about ten miles. We needed some gas which I should have thought of before we left town so had to turn around at that point and head back into Two Harbors to get some. We managed to take a few photos along the way and even spotted a barn to add to my collection of Minnesota Barns.
Cook County, Silver Creek township, north of Two Harbors on Highway 2
Lots of color just north of Two Harbors.
After a gas fill up and restroom breaks we drove out of town a little further north and took Highway 1 north and followed that around and ended up in Silver Bay. The colors along the way were breathtaking at times.
One of my favorite photos.
Another one of my favorite photos.
A solitary leaf almost in full color.
We stopped at a state park in Silver Bay to enjoy the rest of our Betty’s Pie and take some more photos. We also asked a young couple who were up from St. Michael doing some sightseeing if they would take a photo of the three of us which they kindly did and then we had a nice visit with them.
Finishing a Betty's pie at a state park near Silver Bay.
We continued inland north towards the town of Isabella, which is very small. There was a large forest fire going on in the Boundary Waters area at the time but we did not see or smell any fire or smoke, luckily. Again the colors this far north were still very vibrant and beautiful to see.
Beautiful color just south of Isabella heading back towards Two Harbors.
Baptism River north of Silver Bay.
We finally headed back into Two Harbors, keeping an eye out for moose which we did not see, and ended up back in town close to sundown.A large ship was passing the town when we came down the long hill so it was a pretty sight to see. A quick meal at McDonald’s and back to our motel to end another perfect day.
Heading back into Two Harbors just before sunset as a large carrier sails towards Duluth Harbor.
On Sunday, our last day for this perfect weekend, we headed back into Two Harbors for breakfast again. First we drove back out by the light house to stroll along the breakwater before we headed back into town to eat. We ate at a little café named “Judy’s” which had good service and really good food. Try it out if you happen to be in the area. After breakfast we stopped by at a little store next door to see what might be interesting in it. It had consignment vendors in its many stalls with some interesting craft work from local artists. It was a fun store to browse through.
Now it was time to begin the long drive back home. We headed back into Duluth and crossed the bridge that leads to Superior Wisconsin. We headed south out of town down towards Siren where we stopped at a Dairy Queen that we had stopped at one other time. We stopped in a park near the lake in town and ate our treats and then continued on our way. The fall colors along the way were wonderful to see. We crossed the river at St.Croix Falls and headed down towards Stillwater.
About six miles north of Stillwater we happened to see a sign for Arcola Mills and decided we should probably check it out. Just a short ways off Highway 95 and in the woods we found a parking area and a lovely old house that had been built in the 1840’s by two brothers who were lumbermen who also built a lumber mill near the house and started a lumber business cutting over a million board feet each year. The place is on the National Register of Historical places and since the early 1990’s St. Croix Valley residents have restored the beautiful old house to showcase Minnesota’s lumber pioneers. The house is open to the public through October and has some interesting displays in it pertaining to the St. Croix Valley history. There was no charge to look in the house (free will donation if you wanted to make one) but many photographic opportunities along the trails and paths and from the river bank along the river. It was a great accidental find for us.
Greek Revival style home built by John and Martin Mower in 1844 in the town established as Arcola Mills on the St.Croix River. It is the third oldest and largest timber frame house in Minnesota. It is located about six miles north of Stillwater.
This spring fed creek was used to operate the lumber mill in Arcola Mills beginning in the 1840's until after 1900.
One of several trails around the Arcola Mills property.
A peaceful scene located on the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix River at Arcola Mills.
We got Margaret back to her home in St.Paul Park about 7 PM and less than an hour later Kathy was back at home in Jordan and a half hour later I was back home too. Like I have said so many times already – it was a beautiful and fun trip for us again.
