Our trip to Duluth to see the Bentleyville “Tour of Lights” also provided an opportunity to witness some beautiful and interesting scenes of the magnificent Lake Superior.
We walked the sandy trail to the shores of Lake Superior on Park Point.
Sand and snow on the shore of Lake Superior.
A sandy beach on Park Point, Lake Superior.
We arrived on a bright and sunny day. Except for an small accumulation of snow -remnants of a recent snowfall- the shores of Lake Superior look like an ocean beach. There were no tropical temperatures though!
Lake Superior scene from our balcony.
Moonrise over Lake Superior.
As the sun set, the skies remained clear so we could see the full moon rise and shine (however, the clear skies kept the temperatures below freezing!)
Morning light: 6:39 am the next morning.
The next morning a cloud bank appeared over the lake.
Morning light: 7:10 am
The silhouette of a ship in the mystical misty fog rising from Lake Superior.
A freighter heading towards the canal in the early morning light.
I went out on the balcony, which faced north, to take a few photos. As I leaned over the balcony and turned to the east, I saw the stunning sunrise and images over the lake.
Sunrise: 7:24 am
Sunrise over Lake Superior.
I’m not even sure how I captured this zoomed photo, but I like it.
I do so enjoy this lake! It’s very entertaining.
Where sky and sea meet on Lake Superior. This photo was taken at 9:10 am, a few hours after the beautiful orange, sunrise.
On the shores of Lake Superior, I noticed something unusual in the woods near the cabin. There were wooden, painted fairy doors leaning on the base of three different trees.
The working doors had hinges and a small door knob. I was intrigued. I went to each one and opened the door, but there was nothing behind any of the three doors. I was disappointed.
I went into the cabin, found a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote out three short encouraging messages. I folded the paper in two, and placed one behind each fairy door so the next person to open the door will find a treasure.
We just returned from an amazing time on the north shore of Lake Superior. As I’ve written before, it is one of my all-time favorite places to be. When we arrive at the cabin we rent, I sigh a happy sigh when I walk through the door and see the lake through the floor to ceiling windows. It is a marvelous and breathtaking sight that I never grow tired of. I literally feel a calm come over me. I miss it when I’m not there.
During our time at the cabin, we did what we normally do…we enjoy God’s bountiful creation. We bike and hike, drink our morning coffee on the deck, watch the sunrise, have a bon fire on the rocks, relax, read good books, eat delicious food overlooking the lake, and just sit and look at the lake.
I had good intentions of cleaning up my computer files, or deleting photos off my phone, do a little writing, but none of that happened. The lake is alluring and mesmerizing, and we can just sit and do nothing but enjoy the vista for hours…and so we do, and we do not worry about getting anything accomplished. I believe we are being rejuvenated from the inside out.
We traditionally go up to the north shore in September but this year we had reservations in July. The weather was cooler than normal for July, the sunrise is earlier in July…5:20ish…and different kinds of flowers are blooming in July…like beautiful lupines, perky daisies and bright yellow bird’s-foot trefoil.
A photo exposition follows:
A view outside the cabin. I was pleased to see lupines on the property. We started seeing lupine along Scenic Drive as we were driving up. Lupines are not in bloom in September, when we are usually at the cabin.
Seagulls are an added treat to watch.
One of our hikes…overlooking Oberg Lake in summer, 2023.
This is same overlook of Oberg Lake in autumn, 2019.
Streets lined with gold…Highway 61, back roads and bike trails were lined with bird’s-foot trefoill. It was impressive.
This is a bridge on the new section of the Gitchi-Gami bike trail, which we rode on from Cutface Wayside Park into Grand Marais.
Temperance River…a hike we always enjoy, along the gorges of this wild river.
Sunrise on July 16, 2023 at 5:24 am.
We enjoy a bon fire on the rocks outside the cabin.
Clear water reveals the rocks underneath the waters of Lake Superior.
Our hike to Caribou Falls…down 156 steps to see this beautiful waterfalls, then back up 156 steps! It’s worth it. It’s gorgeous.
We enjoy the deck off the cabin.
The lupines outside our cabin…
Our son Tim took a photo of lupines and a single daisy years ago…it was fun to recapture a similar posturing.
Lake Superior…some days it’s calm, other days it’s not…somedays it’s gray, other times it’s blue, sometimes it’s somber…sometimes it’s glistening… with everything in-between. And, sometimes it all happens in a day. (I told Gary these are the kind of glistening diamonds I like.)
I’m so grateful for our time on the shore of Lake Superior.
Thank you for all the wonderful happy birthday messages.
I was delighted to read each one.
The sunrise over Lake Superior, the second day.
We had a very relaxing and refreshing birthday/wedding anniversary trip to the north shore of Lake Superior. Our cozy cabin had a wood-burning fireplace next to patio doors to the deck overlooking the lake.
Enjoying a fire while viewing the lake from the cabin.
We had fires In the morning and fires in the evening…and enjoyed watching the lake with its many moods. On Tuesday the lake was churning with huge waves crashing against the rocky shore. The other days it was much calmer.
Huge waves crashing and spraying high above the rocky shore.
Mesmerizing Lake.
All our attention goes there,
It’s restorative.
A calmer day…photo taken from the deck of the cabin.
However, we did bring along our cross-county skis, snowshoes, and Yaktrax to get out for fresh air and exercise.
We hiked at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.
This is the upper falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park, where we hiked.
A old Norwegian fish house on Stoney Point Drive…a nice walk from the cabin.
Our hikes kept us close to the lake, but cross- county skiing took us inland.
We usually ask locals for recommendations. Our resort owner told us about Korkki Nordic.
In the morning, the sun was shining and it was a decent temperature so off we went to ski this trail. Next to the warming house (a nice touch to this trailhead) was a guy standing near a snowmobile with trail grooming apparatus hitched on the back. We started a conversation and found out he is the regular trail groomer. Mark lives on the property and grooms four ski trails.
The trail groomer machine.
The ski season is, of course, winding down – it was the first day of spring after all- so he was not planning to groom many more times this year. During our conversation, we mentioned it was my birthday. He was a jovial sort and said, as a gift to me for my birthday, he would go ahead of us and groom the trail. It would make skiing much easier for us.
And so he did, and we followed about three minutes behind him, and the skiing was great.
That is one of the more unusual gifts I’ve received for my birthday. It was a random act of kindness and we were grateful.
We called her Auntie Ag. She was my dad’s older sister, Agnes. She was a special aunt…she never married so her nieces and nephews were very important to her, and she treated us well. She pass away in 2004.
I don’t know the date of this photo of Auntie Ag…perhaps she was in her 20’s or 30’s?
Last summer I inherited a couple of her photo albums from the 1930-40’s. I was amazed at what I could glean from perusing the old photos, where few photos had captions, and very few were dated!
I have many good memories of Auntie Ag. I knew her well, particularly in her older years…But when I looked through her photos, I felt I learned a lot more about her as a young woman. I found it interesting that I felt I could capture her essence from the photos. I decided we had a lot of similar traits.
When I found this photo of Auntie Ag, I remembered a dress I wore to a high school winter dance that was similar. I don’t know the date of Ag’s photo. The photo of me was taken in 1969.
I resonated with the photo of my aunt overlooking Lake Superior when she was a young woman. The photo immediately caught my attention when looking through several of her old photo albums.
Auntie Ag on the north shore. Date unknown.
One similarity is our love for Lake Superior and the north shore. It is my happy place. It was fun to see how often the north shore showed up in her photos, and to learn she went there often. I also know that my grandmother, my dad and Agnes’ mother, had a love for the north shore.
Me, on the north shore, 2022.
Another trait I share with Auntie Ag is she liked to travel. She liked to travel a lot; across the country, and to cozy cabins, and to Norway in later years. I like to travel too.
She was an adventurer…There were photos of her on hikes, on bikes, on horseback, on the water, on a toboggan, and fishing…what fun! I, too, am fond of adventure and new experiences.
You could see from the different photos she liked being with friends, and she had a lot of them. She loved hosting them for breakfasts and dinner parties, as do I.
Auntie Ag, all dressed up.
Agnes’ mother, my grandma, was always well-dressed. I think there are stories of grandma having more than one trunk of clothes when she traveled to Norway. I noticed Aggie was always well-dressed in the photos. I know when she was older, her outfits “matched” and she always wore “matching” jewelry. I am not a fashion bug by any means, but do like to dress nice.
Auntie Ag’s nieces and nephews, photo taken in 1971. I am in the front row, in the red dress.
There were hundreds of photos of our families. I know Aggie loved her extended family. She was a believer and prayed for me (and for her nieces and nephews) all her life…and for that, I am grateful. I too, am a believer, and deeply love and pray for my family.
My Grandfather Torkel and Grandmother Elizabeth in the front row. Again, I’m not sure of the year this photo was taken. Elizabeth died in 1962. The siblings in the back row L to R: Herbert (my father), Agnes, Earl, Bob.
Our trip to the north shore proved to be a lot more colorful than we were expecting.
We had already started seeing pockets of beautiful fall colors on our drive up, so I started to get a little excited…and then the colors began to pop out everywhere…with wonderful contrasts to the evergreen trees.
Caribou Lake (1)Caribou Lake (2)Caribou Lake (3)
The weather also turned out better than I had hoped for, with warmer temperatures and some nice sunshine and blue skies (and one cloudy day). We had packed clothes for colder weather.
Carlton Peak (1)Carlton Peak (2)
Looking inland from the Tofte overlook, on a spur trial off the Carlton Peak trail. (1)
Looking inland from the Tofte overlook, on a spur trial off the Carlton Peak trail. (2)
We followed our annual routine of balancing cabin time and lake time with hiking and local drives.
Sun rise over Lake Superior.
We watched the sun rise over the big lake and had a camp fire on the rocks. We stopped in Hinckley and Duluth on the way up, and stopped in Grand Marais one day. It’s all so familiar, yet all so refreshing, relaxing, and restorative… and so much fun!
The cabin lit up at night.Our campfire set up, on the rocks.Lake Superior was mostly calm.
A leaf-covered hiking trail through the forest.
Lake Agnes
The colors were breathtaking…everywhere we went. It was spectacular to see and hard to photograph with my iPhone.
Birch trees.
But it was enough to witness the colors and breath in the fresh air, smell the different whiffs of pine scents, lake water, decomposing leaves, feel the crisp air and to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8a).
An artistic root system…
I stand in awe of the Creator of these incredible autumn colors.
Sawbill Trail.
Gooseberry Falls State Park
Gooseberry Falls Upper Falls
And the colors were not only up north…we saw them driving home, and right here in Northfield, and outside our front and back doors!
Our neighbor’s burning bush, where our mailbox is tucked in.
As we plan our annual trek to the north shore, I always reread my own version of Psalm 23.
The Lord is my Shepherd
I shall thank him.
He allows me to be on the shores of Lake Superior
And hear the calming waves.
He restores my soul.
He guides me on trails of the Superior National Forest,
And leads me along the rocky shores of the big lake.
Even when the waves are rough – even when the lake is calm,
I am content to be near the water.
And the Lord is with me.
His creation and His majesty, they comfort me.
He anoints me with many blessings
My cup overflows and I am grateful
Surely, I will praise him and follow him
All the days of my life,
I am grateful to dwell in His presence
On the shores of Lake Superior.
Below are just a few favorite photos (from hundreds!) I’ve taken over the years, of Lake Superior.
This wraps up my series on our trip to Norway. However, other stories may pop up in the future.
In Norway, being close to the sea every day, surrounded by amazing beauty, was an incredible gift.
A scene off the western coast of Norway.
I felt so at home. I felt I belonged.
By the sea, and lovin’ it!
In Minnesota, my happy place is on the shores of Lake Superior. I felt the same feelings in Norway, as I do when I’m up on the north shore.
The shores of Lake Superior.
I’ve been told my Grandmother Elizabeth loved being up on the north shore too. It reminded her of the homeland she left behind in Norway, when she was a young woman. I like to think about our connection. She died when I was ten years old.
I love my rich Norwegian heritage, and am proud of it!
I am wearing my American cousin’s Norwegian bunad. It represents the Hardangerfjord, the area where my relatives live in Norway. I borrowed this costume to wear to work in 2011, when Norway’s King Harald V visited St. Olaf College.
I was grateful that Gary made so many travel arrangements to make this trip happen. And that he embraced my relatives, and they embraced him.
Gary and me.
And, of course, I’m grateful to all my many relatives in Norway for the marvelous and abundant hospitality shown to us.
My heart is full, yet part of it was left behind Norway.
