Duluth and Lake Superior

I love Duluth and Lake Superior. If there were better jobs in the area, I’d move there in a heartbeat, I love the area so much. So obviously we’ll be camping here at least once every year.

Spirit Lake Marina & RV

We knew Duluth was must-do location, but since we already did Grand Marais we were on the fence about adding Duluth this year. I was kind of late to book this trip, so my first choice, Indian Point Campground, didn’t have an opening for our desired dates. Thankfully, they also own a Marina with a campground a little further away and we were able to get reservations there, at Spirit Lake Marina & RV.

The main focus of this location is a marina, so we didn’t have sewer hookup, and getting there was a little different, we went through some neighborhoods and an industrial park. When we got to the GPS destination, we weren’t sure if we were at the right place – the roads were muddy and it was clearly a place for boat storage, but it seemed like an odd spot for a campground. They could benefit from some wayfinding signage. We were in the right place, and it became clear as we got a little further into the park.

We got checked in and the nice guy working the desk walked with me to our site and helped Jamey back in the site. It turned out to be a really cool place to camp. All the RV sites backed up to the boat slips! Since we were there pretty late in the year, it was boat winterization time, so we go to watch them pull out some huge boats for winterizing and storage, and there was hardly anyone at the campground. Despite the rough start getting there, this was maybe one of my favorite campgrounds so far. The roads were muddy, there’s no walking trails, but it’s on the water and it was so peaceful.

Our campsite backed right up to boat slips

We spent our first night there just walking the dogs around the campground, admiring the big boats, the view of the lake and the lights of the city.

Morning at the Dock

While Jamey slept late and took his sweet time getting moving, I took my coffee and my Velcro dog down to the dock to enjoy the views. With the sun shining on the St. Louis River, which flows into Lake Superior, I had great views of the lake and the city. I also observed some trees the beavers had been busy chewing up for their dams.

Bike Time

Buddy and I headed back to the campsite and Jamey and I hopped on our bikes to ride into town. The campsite was only about 9 miles from Duluth proper, and mostly on a lovely bike trail. Once we got into Canal Park, we encountered a race of some kind and had to dodge runners. Good on them for being so motivated! We continued along the way to our first stop, Blacklist Artisan Ales. The beers here weren’t great, but the taproom was pretty cool. After the obligatory #biketobeer photo and a pint, we continued on down the Lake Walk trail, revisiting well loved locations and tourist attractions.

No matter how many times we’ve been to Duluth, it never grows old – have I mentioned how much I love this town?

We moved along to lunch at Grandma’s Saloon in Canal Park and sat on the roof. We fought off a surprising number of bees who wanted to share our beer and food. It was a beautiful, warm, fall day so it was very enjoyable being in the sun.

After about three hours of hanging out along the Greatest Lake of all Time (GLOAT), Lake Superior, we had to head back to the campsite and get back to dogs. Another great eight mile ride back.

Evening along the lake

Since Duluth is my favorite place ever, we had to go back to town! So once we got cleaned up, we leashed up the dogs and drove back into town. We visited a friend who works at Fitgers (I sat out on the patio with the boys while Jamey went in to get beer) and walked the dogs along the lake walk, watching the boats come through.

We ended up stumbling into another restaurant with a great patio, so we took the boys there and had another beer. There was a tree trunk turned sitting stool in the middle of the patio, so I made Buddy do “place” on the trunk and he startled the college kids at the nearby table. We had a good laugh at the one kid who thought Buddy was a lion, and the rest who thought Toby was lab.

North Shore Hike

The next day, we loaded the boys into the Envoy and headed up the North Shore for some tourism and hiking. First stop was hiking in Gooseberry Falls where Buddy got overly excited and lost his darn mind every time we walked past other dogs, which was pretty often, so we didn’t linger. Toby was struggling with the climbs, but he was a real trooper and made it up all the steep hills and stairs. We hiked along the shore at Split Rock Light House State Park and both dogs tried to drink the entire lake.

After a few hours of hiking, we headed to Castle Danger Brewery in Two Harbors. Toby was happy to have a nice place to rest his aching old bones.

Whoops, forgot to take the photo until all the beer was gone

It was time to head back to the camper and settle in for one final evening of relaxing and watching the big boats. Toby could not be bothered to stay outside with us for even a few minutes, he stood at the door begging to go inside to his couch. Buddy stayed out with us, but made lots of groaning noises. Tired dogs are good dogs.

Did I mention, I love Duluth?