Carlton Peak.. with a great ending...

Adding on more very important hiking tips.. If the destination has the word "peak" in it... very similar to mountain in that the last bit hiking in will be kinda uphillish... it was a very nice hike today.. just over 3 miles and as usual, the photo's don't do any justice to the actual scenery.

After returning to the trailhead, we checked out our maps and low and behold, we figured that the Trestle Inn, a very charming and rustic bar and grill we found last winter when we were up at Blue Fin was fairly close so we thought we'd try find it...

The meal was great, and we even found some company along the road..  a great day.. a Great Trip..  Life is Good!

Leveaux Mountain... it was so nice.

Today's hike started out very flat but a pretty trail... now, when your Hike's name includes the word "Mountain"... well, you shud know that it's not going to stay flat for long..

A lovely loop trail that got into a good climb including switchbacks... about 4 miles in all and at the top the view was absolutely fabulous... the panorama was about 240 degrees and the photos we took didn't do the scenery any justice at all..

We both loved this trail and if the timing works out, I'd almost expect to see it in full fall colors around the end of Sept...

Life is Good.

A superior day, starts with a Superior Morning...

I guess a great day starts with a great sunrise - Lake Superior sunrise off our deck - so nice -

Jewels and I headed off this morning up the north shore to Lutsen where we plan to spend the next 2 nights and find 3 or 4 hikes that work for us.. today, we headed up the peak at the Cascade National Park... it was a nice and somewhat strenuous hike uphill for the first half...lots of nice changes of scenery and some great falls along the way.. ended up on the big lake which is alway nice..

All in all, a good day and as usual.... Life is Good.

and the reason we came back to Duluth so soon.... the Tall Ships

Today was opening day for the weekends festivities centering around the arrival of the tall ships.  There are 12 ships that are taking part and today they had a regatta where they all lined up outside of the harbour and then sailed under the lift bridge and into the Duluth Harbour.

We had planned on going down to Canal Park to get a close up view but they are expecting 250,000 visitors to the city this weekend for this event and we heard parking and crowds would be a challenge soooo... we just sat on our deck with Bob and Judy (Julies dad and mom) and enjoyed the parade from high over the town.

A lovely day, great scenery, good company again.. and d'accord... Life is Good.

a short trip to Wisconsin... nice nice state!

On monday, we drove down from Duluth to Milwaukee to visit Julie's big boy Josh and his lovely wife Jill.  Had a very nice time with them - lots of excitement in their home with the recent announcement of twins to be born in early Feb... Couldn't happen to a nicer couple and we're very happy for them.

We took a side trip to Cederberg - a cute little city about 30 miles north.  It's known for it's old buildings and a creek that runs through the town with a series of falls that generated electrical power for the local businesses over the years.  Took a few pics here for posting.  We stopped in Bayfield to visit Mary Lynch on the way back and spent last nite with her.

Such a lovely trip.. nice people.. great scenery, and several new Wisconsin IPA's....

Life is Good.

Three Hikes today! So Nice!

Today we drove up the North Shore and turned inland just past Silver Bay.  Drove in to Isabella and found two hikes that were quite different from those we have been taking.  Both involved a hike around a lake.. one called Eighteen Lake and the other was Divide Lake.  Each hike was about 2.5 miles and it was a gorgeous day.  Temp around 70F and the only bad part was the hungry mosquiteos.

After we finished our second hike, we drove back to the North Shore and hiked into Shovel Point  which is just south of Beaver Bay.  This was very interesting as the point goes about a mile out into Lake Superior and offers beautiful views on either side.. Total trip around 2 miles so today's total was about 7 miles of great scenery and wonderful company!

Tomorrow, we're off to Milwaukee to visit Jill and Josh.. a couple of days there and then into Bayfield on Wednesday to see Mary.  Then back to Duluth for the weekend.. the folks visiting from Peeequot and the tall ships weekend in Duluth.

Life is Good.

Yesterday's Hike.. most scenic yet!

Yesterday was HOT... 90F in Duluth so we decided to head out to Gooseberry Falls for a hike.  Neither of us have been out to the furthest point (fifth falls) before so we decided it was a good time to hike the 3 mile loop.. and what a wonderful day it was.. we were literally on the edge of several fast flowing falls.. able to cross the river in several places on the rocks to get a better look and enjoy the elements up close.  I took 87 photos and they all were nice.. hard to pick a few to post here but I have to say that this was one of our nicest hikes yet.

Life is Good.