North Shore Day Trip

We decided to take Esme to the North Shore.

It's funny because before she was born, we went there all the time.  She'll be 5 years old in less than a month and we've never taken her there.  If I think about it, I would guess that Aaron and I have only been there once since she was born ourselves.  Needless to say, it's past due.

We thought a day trip would be fun so we got up early and started north.

We went straight for Gooseberry Falls.  It's one of our favorite spots.  Then we worked our way back towards Duluth from there.  That meant that we had to drive through Duluth on our way north.  There are several tunnels that you have to drive through in the city of Duluth.  Esme loves tunnels and loves trying to hold her breath through them.

That's a lot of breath holding!  My question is, how do those tunnels and that whole area not fill up with snow in the winter?  It seems to me like the whole thing would have to shut down.  But I digress...

Gooseberry Falls...

Some of the areas made me nervous.  Esme was crawling on the rocks and getting very close to the river, which was rushing by the way.  Aaron was much calmer about it than I was.  Then I saw this sign that made me feel so much better (insert sarcasm here).  The good news is that Esme is good at following written rules so then she stayed a little closer once I read it to her.

See!  Rushing water!  I know it looks like it might not be rushing, but believe me, it is!

After we safely left the falls, we headed south towards Two Harbors.  We walked around the water's edge for awhile.  Aaron tried to teach Esme to skip rocks.  If she's anything like me, that's a hopeless endeavor.

We even built a cairn.

 After that we hung out in Duluth for awhile.  I didn't have my camera, so no pictures.  We sat by the lake for quite awhile while Esme climbed around on the rocks.  Then we headed home.  As you can see, Esme was pooped.

We will definitely be going back again for a longer visit.  Esme is truly our child, because she loved it as much as we did. :)