So I decided to take a vacation day from work, told my son we were going on a road trip the next day, and set about deciding where we were going to go.
I started looking up state parks local to me, quickly realizing that we've been to them all already. I wanted to go somewhere new.
I switched over to the Minnesota state park listings and decided we were going to cruise up to Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse. Both places I know we haven't been to.
The morning of the trip, I put my hair in braids, dressed comfortably, jumped in the car, turned on some Benny Goodman, and off we went!
The drive "up north" is really pretty. To the right, you can usually see Lake Superior unless the trees obscure the view. I didn't take any pictures of the drive up. Anyone who knows me well knows that once I get going, I usually keep driving until I reach my destination. Unless it's a really long drive. Then I stop for bathroom breaks.
It ended up being a gorgeous day for sightseeing. There were a LOT of people at Gooseberry. Way more than I expected for the middle of the week.
I took well over a hundred photos. How do I even knock that number down to share on the blog?
Please bear with me.
Tunnel on the way up to Gooseberry Falls.
When we finally made it to Gooseberry. It took a bit of coaxing to get my son to take a selfie with me.
The middle falls? I lost track of which photos are of the middle and lower falls.
Gorgeous view.
I love interesting tree roots.
Another shot of the falls.
A sign next to the river.
A shot of the river.
Bridge over the river.
I've never seen so many cedar trees together. I loved it.
After crossing the river I saw rock stacks. I thought "How cool!"
Then I saw they were all over the place.
My son decided to build one.
Staircase to take you further up the other side of the gorge.
Keep following the path.
I thought these trees looked neat.
Different shot of the same trees.
The bridge at the top is the highway we drove to reach Gooseberry Falls.
You could walk right up to the falls, if you wanted.
A bench I thought looked neat.
Another part of the path.
A view from the road. Way off in the distance you can see Lake Superior. The dark blue line is land, then the rest is cloud and sky.
A sign describing how the area was formed. Way back when.
This is a statue to commemorate all the CCC workers. The sun was behind the statue and no matter what I did I couldn't get a picture of the detail.
A photo of the plaque.
My son was looking for raspberries. Wild raspberries grow like weeds up here. We didn't see any ripe gooseberries.
After seeing all three of the falls we drove up to Split Rock Light House. I have a ton of photos from the museum up there, but I'll just share a few of the outdoor photos. The views are phenomenal there. I can definitely understand why it is so photographed.
After seeing the inside of the lighthouse we went walked the trail down to the beach. Then walked up the crazy long staircase back up to to the parking lot.
Up close, the light house isn't very impressive. At least I thought so.
The views are stunning.
Photo taken at a small viewing area.
View to the right of the lighthouse.
I took a short video of the lake view from the lighthouse platform.
I don't know what this building is. A horn house?
These are the lighthouse keeper's living quarters. We didn't go in.
More views of the lake.
The water color is so beautiful.
Right before we started walking the trail down to the beach we spotted something unexpected.
A beaver!
What a funny critter! Not bothered by all the people.
What a beautiful shot! I took this photo while I was standing on the beach.
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