Details from our Visit with Friends

Monday was one of my favorite days, because Siri and I loaded up all the kidlets except for The Banana, who spent the day with Dr. Peds, and drove up the North Shore to tour Split Rock Lighthouse and hike in Gooseberry State Park.  I hadn’t been back to Split Rock Lighthouse since I was pregnant with Sarah, so I was very excited to take her and Mr. Sneaky Pants there.  Sarah loved the restored Keeper’s house, and Noah was smitten with the giant  clocklike mechanism that turned the fresnel lens at the top of the lighthouse.  I liked the thick glossy bricks, the winding heavy metal spiral staircase in the lighthouse, the running wood cooking stove in the Keepers house, and all of the gorgeous hardwood floors, banisters, and moulding.  Being in the Keeper’s house made me want to come home and start stripping and refinishing all of our woodwork, and rip up all the carpet in our house and restore all the hardwood floors on the second story.  (My husband will roll his eyes when he reads this.)

It was a very fun, historically rich day.  We did a little hiking at the lighthouse, down to the beach to take in this view:
It’s one of the most photographed locations in the state of Minnesota, I’m sure, but there’s a good reason for that.  The view is really striking, and the lighthouse so picturesque.

Earlier we partook of a picnic lunch on the pebble beach.  There was a tiny mild surf that was so fun to listen to crash up against the black pebbles.  My favorite redheaded girl and I were quite mesmerized by the waves. She liked to stand at the water’s edge and wave her arms, pretending to magically control the water.  While we were entranced, there was much running and climbing taking place in the background.  
We visited Gooseberry Falls. On the short drive there, Mr. Sneaky Pants was so exhausted he fell fast and deeply asleep.  
So I stayed with him in the car for a bit, and then we all went exploring at the Middle Falls.  Again, there was all sorts of wonderful scrambling around on rocks, hopping across puddles and trickles of water, and panicked cries of “Be Careful!” from Siri and I.  

We took a long, winding hike down to the bay where the river enters the lake, and discovered this terrific makeshift stick shelter on the beach, built out of driftwood. The kids were so thrilled. We could hardly pull them away, and Mr. Sneaky Pants and Sarah are still talking about how neat it was days later.

On our drive back, we stopped at Betty’s Pies for supper, a well known North Shore eating establishment that I had not before experienced. It was a super day, which picture perfect weather, as far as I’m concerned: 64 degrees, and partly cloudy.