Lake Superior Tourist Drive

After finishing at Spirit Mountain, we planned to head North up the coast on a well known tourist drive. After following the coast line (following Lake Superior) we could easily see why so many tourists make the trek in summer. Fall holds a different attraction with the colours of the leaves changing (from green to the most beautiful oranges, burgundy, coral, red, burnt umber and yellow). I’d imagine Winter holds an even more different, yet appealing one.

Whilst Trev had to use the internet, (some of the camp spots don’t have great coverage), we stopped at a park along the way and made the most of the gorgeous sunshine by playing and walking along the shoreline.

What else can we do whilst waiting for Trevor?

Kit and Chayse having fun around the rocks.

Jai silhouetted against Lake Superior backdrop.

Making the most of the beautiful warm weather.

Akaisha's main mode of transport.

More of a chillin’ out kind of day with a bit of food shopping to do as well. So we didn’t cover many miles before stopping at Lamb’s Resort Camp Ground, north of Duluth,  for the evening. Trev went on a 10 minute walk with the boys only to come back an hour and a half later after talking to all of the local campers. That is where you learn about the best sights to see and pitfalls to avoid. A lovely lady called Sandy gave us a lot of information about bears in the area. It’s times like these that you wish you were staying longer to get to know people like Sandy better, but I guess that’s life and you just have to enjoy the interactions you have at that time.

The advantages we have had travelling at this time of year (after the Summer break, but before Winter kicks in) is that many attractions are still open, but without the long queues of people trying to access the same things. The disadvantage is that as the Winter approaches, many close certain rides for maintenance. We were hoping to go on two rides this particular day, but only managed to find the Mountain Tram open, not the Lutsen Mountain Alpine Slide.

Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort

Kaitlin, Jai, Flynn and Amber in the first Mountain Tram.

Akaisha, myself, Kit...................

......and Trev and Chayse in the second Mountain Tram.

Views from the cable tram cars.

Approaching the mountain

But we chose to go on the tram anyway as the views on the top of Moose Mountain were pretty awesome. We could see Lake Superior in one direction and the tops of the forest in the other. The leaves were starting to change colour, but we were told in another week, the colours will be amazing as Autumn firmly takes hold.

Moose Mountain Chalet

Standing at the look out

Trees starting to change colour in the Fall.

Boys being boys!

Arriving back at the depot

The Mountain Tram going past the resort village.

We had some lunch in the restaurant, then caught the tram cars back down the mountain to where our Chariot RV awaited! We could only imagine what these ski resorts must look like in the Winter………pretty magical is my guess!

Beautiful Autumn (Fall) colours.

We left the Ski resort and travelled along Maple Leaf Drive. Probably there a week too early as their full colours hadn’t come through, but still very pretty. Had to change direction to get to the highway as there was a fire that had cut off access on the minor roads. The next blog will be centred in Ely, home of the International Wolf Centre (Center if you are American) and the bear Centre. Amber and Flynn have written a report on the Grey Wolf and the Black Bears, so I hope you will enjoy reading about them in our next blog……..