Krusemark Family: North Shore

Emmy & Erin's daycare scheduled to have vacation the first week in August. I decided to stay home with the girls as Brad was starting his first day in his new job and obviously wouldn't be able to be home with them.

Brad's mom and dad were planning on going up to the North Shore with Bob & Edna for a few days and invited us girls along with them. I didn't hesitate a bit...I packed some bags, got the girls in the car and headed north.

Deb called me as I was driving on the freeway. She asked what mile marker I was approaching. I told her, "I just passed mile marker 199." She replied, "That's where we are!" They were literally about a half of a mile behind me. We timed that perfectly! They were driving from Alexandria. I was coming from Minneapolis.

We drove into Duluth and headed right for the main attraction, which was the tall ships that had arrived earlier in the week. My camera battery was dead, so I didn't get any pictures of the ships. The pictures that you see here are grabbed off of their website.

We stayed at a hotel in Superior, Wisconsin. We were able to get adjoining rooms which was nice because once I put the girls to bed, I went into Deb & Jerry's room where they quickly got a
game of 65 going. It's a fun and cheap card game.

We got up early the next morning and planned to go see the Glensheen Mansion which is on the north side of Duluth.

This 39 room, 27,000 sq. ft., house which stands on 7.5 wooded acres along the shores of Lake Superior, is absolutely beautiful. The construction on this home started in 1905 and took three years to complete. It's amazing to see some of the technology that they had back in that era.

The home was originally equipped with a central vacuum system, a whole-house humidification system, and artistically concealed radiators for heating.

They don't allow photos inside of the mansion...just the outside.

The formal gardens and naturalistic landscape have retained much of their original design. The cost of the mansion back in 1905 was $854,000. In today's market it would be the equivalent of $30 million!

The cemetery just west of the home allows for quiet neighbors. :)

After the Glensheen tour, we took the scenic drive up the North Shore. We stopped for lunch in Two Harbors at a quaint little cafe. After lunch, we continued our journey north and made a stop at Gooseberry Falls where Emmy and I got to dip our toes into the water. The scenery was awesome! It's such a beautiful part of Minnesota.

After Gooseberry Falls, we traveled farther north to Splitrock Lighthouse. By now, we had all gotten a bit tired so we just got out of the car and walked around for a few minutes.

We traveled back to Duluth around 6:00 pm and then packed up my car so I could get the girls back home. I had such a wonderful time getting away with the inlaws. I just hope Bob, Edna, Deb and Jerry had a relaxing time with Erin & Emmy.