View

Here is the view of the upper falls from the lower falls viewing area. It is just peeking out from behind the bridge.

Duluth day 1:gooseberry falls

I went to Duluth as a teenager for a family vacation many years ago. I recall gooseberry falls as being one of my favorite stops- which is saying a lot from the apathetic teenage view.

It was just as good I remember and more! We could have easily spent the whole day there or several days. There was an upper falls area and lower falls area and several miles of trails that we didn't have a chance to explore. We hiked to the upper falls area and the small river behind the falls. The kids could have stayed there all day. The loved throwing rocks into the the water, poking around in the small pools/puddles, trying to skip rocks and trying to catch frogs and bugs.

The lower area had a lot of area to explore - convincing our trip to go check it out took some convincing! I'm pretty sure they are glad they did. More pictures of that to come.

The outdoor area of the resort

We went with an upgraded hotel for our Duluth stay. With little kids it is super nice to have a pool to blow off some steam at the end of a day riding in the car or in case it rains. This hotel went a step further for a little more money. They had an outdoor area and a small indoor water park. It turns out, water parks, especially indoor ones are kind of our thing.

The outdoor area had a Great Lake view, outdoor pool/hot tub, playground, and minigolf. The kids enjoyed this area a lot in the mornings while mom packed lunches.

The view of the lake

The view of Lake Superior from the parking lot at Perkins restaurant next to the hotel we were staying at. We ate at the Perkins just after pulling into town and this was roughly the view out of every window. It was the nicest view out of the most ordinary Perkins!

We had to go check out the view before going to the pool/inside water park!

Being on vacation is hard work!

Only in a Minnesota gift shop

Itasca hike

The second half of the hike was just as pretty, but we were joined by more mosquitoes than I have seen in a long time. Maybe ever. They were especially attracted to John, which is entirely the opposite of what usually happens. The mosquitoes usually love me and leave John alone.


These mosquitoes couldn't get enough of John. Interestingly, they even left Gemma alone while John was carrying her. Amelia did a GREAT job on mosquito duty. Any time she saw a mosquito on daddy's back, she was supposed to smack it. She found this job endlessly hilarious- I don't think she even took advantage of her smacking privileges. By the time we completed the second half of the hike, John's back was covered in mosquito carnage.