Day 12: The Superior Part of Lake Superior
Last night we added a small fan in each boy’s bed to help them stay cooler and hopefully sleep better. They both said they indeed slept better, and they’ve continued to sleep past 8 a.m. every morning of this trip. It doesn’t hurt that we keep moving east.
Today was a family adventure day, so we headed to see part of the North Shore (of Lake Superior). We started out at Gooseberry Falls State Park and hiked the River View Trail to the lake. That trail is also part of a loop around three waterfalls. We heard something in the bushes making a unique noise, like a rubber band being plucked. We’re not completely sure, but after some quick research, it’s probably a Green Frog or a Sedge Wren.
After we were done with Gooseberry, we opted to double back a bit and enjoy lunch and pie at Betty’s Pies.
The pies were amazing; Rob had the Great Lakes (apple, blueberry, rhubarb, strawberry, raspberry), Nicholas the Bumbleberry (blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry), Cooper the Reese’s Cream, and Kelly the caramel apple. We left quite full and happy.
Next up was Split Rock Lighthouse. There was a paid tour and museum, but we opted to get a little less close and run around on the lava rocks below it instead. We saw a baby squirrel on the hike; it was adorable.
Finally, we hit Iona’s Beach, which has all red rocks due to a lava flow in the area. Nicholas tried patiently to show Kelly how to skip a rock, but still no success, yet. Cooper has skipping rocks dialed in and Nicholas and Rob are quite good at it too.
Wrapped up the night with dinner outside and another round of s’mores including hatchet time to make some kindling.
Some random notes:
- The “rubber band” sounding animal is also at our campsite, and we’re now pretty sure it’s a frog.
- Rob loves the convenience of taking a shower in the RV, whereas the rest of the crew much prefers using the campground facilities (with infinite hot water and more space).
- The water here has a sulfur smell that isn’t noticed when drinking, but definitely smells when showering, but the public shower is still worth it.
- Kelly likes to pretend she is in Vegas hitting the jackpot when getting laundry quarters from the change machine, especially with a $20. It’s the small things.