October Up North

My parents have a milestone birthday coming up, and we decided to all go up to the North Shore (which is actually the West shore) to a house on Lake Superior.  

It was gorgeous!

Leaving our neighborhood with weird expressions on our faces.

A very pretty rest stop with brightly colored leaves. 

We stopped at this rest stop with Cindy on our way to Split Rock Lighthouse in June!

I was wearing this:

sweater: TJ Maxx

blouse: Karl Lagerfeld (Macy's)

pants: 89th & Madison (Ross)

shoes: Blowfish (Amazon)

purse: Target

We stopped in Duluth at Pizza Lucé for lunch.  It was tasty!  They have lots of gluten-free and vegan options, which felt luxurious.

I had a veggie vegan gluten-free pizza with extra olives.

Then we picked up the fruit and veggies for the weekend and headed up to a tiny town called Tofte.

What a cute little info shack!

This was the view when we walked in through the front door:

The lake is RIGHT THERE!

Our cute living area in the daytime:

We arrived and the house was even prettier than we expected (find it here).  My Mom showed us to the Map Room, which was wallpapered with a huge map.  It was cheerful and interesting!

We went right outside - I was very excited.

The chairs were right on a rock bluff by the water!

The lichen adds a nice color and texture!

The water is incredibly clear, and almost a glacier-green color:

Almost right away when we got there, we were outside playing on the rocks by the water!  We didn't get there until dinnertime, though, so it was soon dark.


The house at night:

Greg slept on the top bunk, since my ankle is still sensitive and I'm kind of clumsy.

The next day, we got out there to play again, this time with our nieces!

Greg took a panorama and I'm in it TWICE!  Two Christies!

There was even a rock arch down the beach a bit.

Friday we played around on the shoreline near our rental house and enjoyed the fall colors, waves, fresh smells, and beautiful sights.

Right away in the morning, Mark was eager to start a fire in the wood-burning fireplace.

Unfortunately, the flue wasn't well-labeled, smoke quickly filled the house, and the fire alarms all started going off!  

My Mom cuddled the girls outside.

It took quite some time before we figured out how to get everything calmed down again, but after that, Mark built a safe fire.  

Later, Cora, Esme, and I created a game called, "Teasing The Waves".  We dared the water to catch us!  (It often did!)

Cora gets wet!!!

"Make a run for it!" (i.e. Christie gets wet):

Greg gets wet!!!

Assessing if this cliff was sage for kids . . . nope.

We found the way down to the rocky beach!

Another climb down . . . Esme wanted to leap down on me, but I'm glad she chose the safer route.  I might have ended up flat!

Uncle Greg helped the girls across the wet rocks.

Teasing the waves!

I decided to wade a bit.  Yes, it was October, yes it was Lake Superior, but honestly it was warmer than I expected, considering how chilly the air was.

I love these girlies!!!

Esme sat in the nook of a rock!

The girls peeked into a hole!

The water was beautiful some more.

Grandma was brave and went down on the rocks by the water!

Dad said hi.

Esme said hi.

Cora said hi.

Cora and Esme built cairns.

The water may have gotten Cora some more!

But she didn't mind!

Later that evening we sat by the fire and enjoyed getting toasty and warm.  We were coughing a bit, but we thought maybe it was from the wood-burning fire.

Oh, silly Uncle Greg!

On Saturday we all felt sort of draggy (spoiler: Eeek! It was COVID!), but we were excited to do some more exploring in lovely autumnal northern Minnesota. 

We decided to hike around Temperance River State Park.
Welcome to the Temperance River!

The girls wanted to ride in Clarabelle (our Nissan Kicks).

"Life is short.  Don't make it shorter."

Google smoothed us out so we look 10 years younger:

I loved the mix of leaves in this hole!

Me . . . and

Cora, Esme, Jillian, and Mark:

It was good that Greg had his water-resistant boots on again (even though they're heavy and not great for hiking) because he slipped on a rock - oops!  He's ok, though.

There are his boot marks on the slippery rock!

It was hard to get myself the right temperature.  Didn't need the coat, but did need the hat.

Rock hopping across the river:

This looks to me like an alien egg from a science-fiction movie!

The little pools were neato.

Look at that gorgeousness!

It's funny (odd, not humorous) that Mark, Jillian, Greg, my Mom and Dad and I hiked by the Temperance River 15 years ago on a trip up north for my parents' 60th birthday celebration . . . and we all got the worst flu we've ever gotten.  Greg got it first and then many of the rest of us got it.  I was sick enough to hallucinate and I had to postpone my trip home because I was so sick.

This time, Jillian was actively sick this day, and Greg and I were coming down with COVID (which struck hard on Saturday night).  We didn't get really sick until later Saturday evening, but we certainly weren't feeling as spunky as usual.  Typically, it's hard to get me to leave a beautiful waterside hike with rock hopping, but when Mark told me the girls needed to be done, I sighed with relief.  Very odd.  COVID odd.

We still had a great time!

Cora put her hand in front of the photo!

I was surprised!

There she is!  At least one eye and her cute acid green hat.

Yep, Cora, Mark, and I fell in a bit.  Just our feet got wet.  It was the perfect afternoon's adventure!  This type of fun is my favorite.

Esme:

Cora:

Uncle Greg is probably poking me in the ribs in this photo!

We look semi-normal here!

There are lots of little and larger waterfalls in this area and it's gorgeous.  I was feeling a bit sweaty and shaky at this point, but I figured maybe I just hadn't slept very well.

We had lots of fun hopping across the river on the rocks.  Most of us did not stay completely dry - ha!

My sweet brother and his delightful eldest child:

Cora reading and snuggling Grandpa:

Esme playing school while I'm making spring rolls:

We didn't do much else that day because we needed to cook dinner (yum) and the girls needed showers and bed.  

Dinnertime selfie:

Esme all bundled up after her shower:

Here's where the girls were sleeping:

We did get to watch TWO Dragon Riders episodes, though!  Interestingly, the girls wanted to watch an episode called, "Dragon Flu," in which the little round purple dragon says, "Is it normal to be cold AND hot . . . and to crave pickles?!"  I became that little round purple dragon (minus the craving for pickles).  I got lots of snuggles during the episodes and then the girls went to bed.  Mark and Jillian and Greg and I stayed up a bit laughing and listening to crazy cat music (here and here)

That night I was awake most of the night sweating and shivering and going to the bathroom (I think I peed more than 5 times and Greg went often, too).  My joints and my skin hurt.  There was some coughing.  

There was a lovely sunrise, and if I hadn't been so sick, I wouldn't have wanted to leave.

Cora grabbed my hand to hug me and realized that I was shivering but HOT when we left.  She said, "Are you feeling HOT and COLD at the same time . . . and do you crave pickles?!" (just like from Dragon Riders!!!)  That gave me a good chuckle.

What a WONDERFUL weekend with my favorite people!

Though some of us got COVID and one of us (my Dad) slipped on the rocks and scraped up his face, we had a great time and look forward to our next time together!