Anniversary camping trip....with the kids

I know the title of this post doesn't sound like maybe everyone's DREAM on how they want to spend their anniversary, but it was perfect for Craig and myself.  We spent our first two years of married life camping, took an 8 year hiatus (because I was pregnant or we had a baby) and we are back this summer....camping the past three weekends.  This weekend we decided to head a little further from home and Craig had a few personal days to burn for work.  So I will warn you ahead of time - this post is definitely heavy on the pictures!!

So we told people for awhile that we were headed on this anniversary camping trip.  First question - just you guys?  No.....we really enjoyed our date night on our anniversary but wanted to travel as a family and experience camping together.

So off we went Saturday, June 21 after T-ball practice for Isaac.  We made a quick stop at a playground next to a cute lake in a cute town:

Checked in at our hotel (which was the first time we stayed at one as a family of five....little different), then headed down to the waterfront of Duluth.  Grandmas Marathon had finished earlier and the place was a zoo! But we still enjoyed our time at Canal park.  We got there just in time to watch a big freighter roll through!

It was pretty awesome.  Then time to climb on the rocks and ship items:

Ate at a great brewery that served the best root beer, found this cool park:

quick stop at Park Point beach and then off to swim at the hotel pool for an hour before bed.

The next day dawned cold and misty.  Like 48 degrees, which doesn't sound cold but it was 85 in our town the day before....48 was cold.  Since Isaac's shoes were all wet from the beach the day before and I had made a major fail and not packed more (I did for everyone else but had assumed he would be wearing running shoes to tball....and he did not) we had to make a WalMart stop.  Then off to Gooseberry State Park.  Setting up was kind of miserable.  It was cold, it was overcast, it was misting.  We were right on Lake Superior and the breeze coming off it was not helping.  We decided to take a "quick hike" which turned into a "longer hike" because there were so many cool things to explore.

The lava flow beach which was about a 2 minute walk from our campsite

We got SOOOO close to the falls and all wanted to explore but we were at a breaking point.  Caleb needed to nap, Craig needed food, I needed another layer, so on and so forth.  So off to camp for some down time and then it was time for the Falls.  

They were incredible.  I can't even describe them and the pictures don't do them justice.  I love (and also got really nervous because) there is not a guardrail.  Nothing to hinder the view of falls, or people to climb in and around them.  My kids wanted to do a little bit closer climbing than I felt comfortable but I found some places that were dangerous enough for them but not scary for me.  And by not scary I mean that if they fell they would fall into the river and not over the waterfall.  

So a few pics from our time at the falls

The boys:

Us girls:

So it just was awesome to explore this area with the kids.  They climbed for hours....literally.  It was fun watching their imaginations at work in this amazing landscape.  Dinner of hotdogs and smores over the fire capped off a very adventurous and fun day.  More on Day 3 on the next post!