RV Travels in Retirement: The North Shore...

Site 102 across from Burlington Bay on Lake Superior

Looking at bay from our site.

Staying at the public campground in Two Harbors, MN...on Burlington Bay. Two Harbors is one of the larger cities on the North Shore of Lake Superior. If you look on the actual blog in the box...Where are we now??? you will notice Two Harbors is highlighted indicating a link. I'm going to continue to link the location to information about our current area.

We picked a busy weekend to be in Two Rivers. The Grandma's Marathon was run yesterday morning so campgrounds, hotels and restaurants have been full. I've had this reservation for a long time so we had no problem, but the guy who pulled in ahead of us...and was in a hurry all the way, passing us south of Duluth, wasn't as lucky. Guess he got to stay, but was having to move sites.

The marathon, half marathon and 5K all start in Two Rivers. The participants run towards Duluth on Scenic MN 16 and along the lake in Duluth. Since they were running southwest towards Duluth yesterday, we drove northeast towards Canada. We didn't drive to the border, too far for a leisurely stop and go trip, instead enjoyed a couple of state parks, a stop in Silver Bay for a short hike to view the Taconite operation and then return to Two Harbors for a late lunch at Betty's Pies.

I ordered the fried Walleye sandwich on fresh house made Ciabatta....when in Rome...and Bruce had the warm roast beef with melted swiss cheese, chipotle mayo, pepperoncinis and jalapeños, again on Ciabatta. We shared halves, so we each got to taste both, very good, but we both agreed they could have had less bread. Of course we had to then have the house specialty...pie. There were baked pies, crumb top pies, cream pies and even s'mores and bread pudding pies.

We shared a slice of Caramel Apple Crumb...since we'd already eaten all that bread and thought a 2 crust pie might be overdoing...instead we added 2 scoops of ice cream. Pie slices are 6/pie, so there was enough for us both....and yes, the crust was divine. It was flaky and light like an old fashioned lard crust, the filling was great and the crumb/caramel topping perfect. No calories because we left nothing to show.

Food must be on my mind right now...our experiences are out of order. The drive "east" (the direction the locals would send us since the north shore is exactly that, the north side of Superior with road running generally NE) was beautiful. We left after breakfast, before everyone involved with the marathon even thought about other things, and actually got to enjoy some of the road views before everyone and their brother showed.

First stop - Gooseberry Falls State Park. Hiked (yes I know you are all snorting when I use that word to describe walking on a path...but it's better than nothing) to the Upper Falls first and then back to Middle and Lower. Didn't actually go completely to the bottom to see middle and lower in one view...knew I'd have to hike back up, but still enjoyed. This park was built by CCC in 1935-1937. Beautiful Visitors Center, multiple trails, campground (full of course.. remember it was Grandma's marathon weekend) and a really nice gift shop. Great nice place to stop and enjoy some views...and free.

Upper Falls

Middle Falls

The other real stop we made was Silver Bay. We drove to the scenic overlook and hiked (makes me seem healthier doesn't it?) the circular trail to the three different overlooks. Silver Bay is the home of a Taconite operation...the production of iron ore pellets that are ultimately used in making steel. It has a very interesting history..the mining operations, the innovations, the transportation...all revolving around the ups and downs of the American steel market.

Today we stayed in Two Harbors, actually hiking (healthy walking again, lol) 4-5 miles from the campground to the downtown harbor. Hazel walked with us, the weather was cool, the warm air creating fog over the 40° Lake and the breezes blowing it in and out. Some ephemeral views for sure. Spent time at the old train depot visiting the two train engines on display as well as gazing at the iron ore loading facilities, 2 still used. They swam in and out of the fog and with hammering and engine noises coming from the inside areas, we never did figure out what was happening. It was a good thing we walked early, once the sun came out the air warmed considerably and those nasty black flies followed. Everyone has warned us about mosquitoes but the black flies are worse in my opinion. Groceries were the highlight of the afternoon with a severe thunderstorm this evening. Hazel was beside herself. Anyway, tomorrow we head to Duluth to see what's interesting. Weather should be perfect.