#Time Travel // October 2013 // Up North

After Minneapolis, we woke up with a new optimism, reassuring ourselves that a trip around all the Great Lakes were bound to have hidden treasures worth seeing, if not, at least we were having weeks of uninterrupted time being alone together. Something you can never complain about in an international, long distance relationship. And looking forward to a new stamp in the passport is always exciting! 

With our habit of always waking up late and ignoring the alarm every. single. morning., not only did we leave Minneapolis later than expected, but there was a five hour drive to our next destination, Bayfield, Wisconsin. Their biggest weekend, Apple Fest, happened to be taking place, where the town blooms from it's 500 permanent residents to thousands of tourists flocking in from all over. Arriving late wouldn't be the best way to show Torsten around the town I lived in this past summer.

Instead we opted to take out time driving up. With a much more flexible itinerary, we sought out a park that'd make for a good pit-stop. We found one along the St. Croix River that had no sign of life other than a gravel parking lot and locked-up canoe rental. We had the trail along the river totally to ourselves, dreaming of how gorgeous a paddle on the calm river would have been if that stand we saw  would have actually been open. We clearly were traveling this route in the wrong season! 

We arrived late into Bayfield's neighboring city, Ashland, where we found our Walmart parking lot to sleep in and made sure to set the alarm early enough to beat the Apple Fest crowds. That was probably the only successful morning of waking up to an early alarm. I made the 45 minute drive into Bayfield while Torsten continued sleeping in the back. Between the cold, wet conditions and our early arrival into town, we managed to score a parking spot right in town. 

We emerged from our van once the stalls and festivities started to open. Even in the morning it was pretty busy as we walked around all the stalls, sampling various apple-flavored goodies. We really only spent about an hour walking around and checking out all the stalls and attractions, I imagine on a nicer day and more towards the evening it livens up a bit more. But honestly, we didn't really intend to come during the festival, it just happened. Torsten mostly wanted to see the little town of Bayfield outside of the background of our many, many skype dates this past summer. 

Bayfield itself is alright, it's a nice central area to sleep and get drinks when you come up for the real attractions surrounding the area. Two of the biggest being the sea caves and outlying islands. Due it it being late in the year, options are limited to actually get on the water and visit the uninhibited islands (other than Madeline Island, which needs at least a whole day to explore).

Other attractions in the area include some really nice hikes, like the one trail that goes along the shore and leads to the top of the sandstone cliffs that make up the sea caves. The Sea Caves Trail is owned by the National Park Service, and if you are keeping up with this road trip series you'll know that we had to change our route due to the shutdown. Meaning this trail was technically off-limits during our visit.

We noticed a car parked outside the caution-cone barrier and decided to trespass and hike the trail anyway. Even though I spent months in Bayfield, I never fully hiked the trail so I was just as stoked as Torsten to see the caves from above. The trail was easily a highlight of the trip, just to be able to stand on the sandstone cliffs and look out into the vastness of Lake Superior while the waves crashed against the caves.  By the time we finished the hike and came back to our car, there were three other cars parked near ours where the owners must have decided a shutdown wasn't going to ruin their trip either! 

We hopped back into the van and were surprised to see how much time we had spent hiking and ogling Superior. The first leg of our new route was proving to be great... so far. The coming days we really had no idea what we were getting into. Between my National Geographic map and some quick online research, we would discover some new and not hugely known treasures for sure! 

Check out where else we've been on the road trip so far by clicking here.
Next up is the north coast of Minnesota!

Cheers! 

#GreatLakeRoadTrip

Oh hey there!

Just thought I'd grace you all with a road trip update.

If you follow my Facebook page you know already that since Chicago we have explored a bit of the Lake Michigan shoreline of Wisconsin, also known as my hood. While meeting my family and visiting my favorite local places, it was around the time we heard word of the possibility of a national shutdown. We pretty much ignored the threat until it became official that it was happening. 

Having made plans for months to drive out west with all the main stops being National Parks and Monuments, we knew if nothing became resolved we would have to change our plans. Fortunately we had a few days planned in Minneapolis before having to make any major decisions, hoping the shutdown would end just in time to be able to continue on as scheduled and see the Badlands, Yellowstone, Rushmore, Arches and whatnots.

No luck.

As of right now we are in Canada. 

We decided to head up north from Minneapolis and make a Great Lakes tour instead. So far there have been some gorgeous surprises along the way with stopping in Bayfield for Applefest and crazy weather going on as we arrived in Duluth. 

It will definitely be a more spontaneous trip than originally planned with going out west, but I have good feelings about what is too come!

Cheers!

#LastHurrah

 [ To add to the nostalgia factor of this post,  play "Good Riddance" or "Friends Forever". Don't be shy, I know you all have them in your iTunes. ]

My days of checking in gleeful tourists for their "full-day sea caves adventure" and nights of drinking local microbrews to Lake Superior's stunning sunsets has officially come to an end. 

The last week was spent having our last hurrahs, packing-up and saying our goodbyes. It was a bittersweet moment as we definitely made the most of our experience, but by the end a lot of us, mostly the guides, were getting worn out with working so much and dealing with our less than ideal living quarters. Don't let my balcony photo fool you, while outside was gorgeous, there is a reason why you've never seen photos from the inside. I think there'd be a unanimous vote that it was probably breaking soooo many codes.

Nonetheless, getting to experience Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands made it all worth it. 

Here's to the trips made, skills learned, goodies consumed, the people watching, wildlife spotting, meteor showers, birthday celebrating, dinners shared, street fights witnessed, spontaneous dips in the lake, games in the park, gin and tonics, weather watching, lightning storms, jamming on the deck, girl talks, live music, surviving captian dave's, star gazing and best of all

....

 getting to know all these cool cats. 

It was a summer of some great and interesting experiences that I will always remember. 

Cheers!

#LongIsland #FullMoon #Cruise

  

...

There are nights you remember the summer by.

They typically revolve around the most gorgeous sunsets you'd swear you've ever seen, with some of the most amazing humans you know and a fire so large you can focus your eyes on anything else other than it's glow while shenanigans are happening in the distance.

...

The week stated out with a sign on the kitchen screen door advertising a full-moon cruise to one of the islands with eats and spirits-a-plenty. 

More than enough to reason to go.

The day arrived and a larger than expect crowd gathered outside the corner of the Bayfield Inn while we waited anxiously for “our captain” to arrive. After waiting for awhile, about three full drinks worth (not that I was counting), numbers started to slowly dwindle. The rest of us just gathered on the rooftop bar overlooking superior for drinks and a dip into the snacks, basically preparing for the worst and making ourselves comfortable.

Eventually we were given word that everything was ready at the pier to load ourselves and our belongings, which consisted mostly of beer, food and musical instruments. On arrival to the pier, all of our illusions of the cruise were shattered as we thought there'd be this big huge yacht like thing waiting for us outside.

Instead we were given three little fishing boats.

The numbers dwindled yet again.

The rest of us, already buzzing, were still stoked to be going on a boat so we loaded and set off for long island*. The sun was starting to set over the lake, the islands with Bayfield disappearing in the distance. While loading, it may have seemed sketchy at first, but I think we all knew we were making the right decision. Or at least there are worse ways to go down than with boats filled with beer and good company. 

As our boat approached the shore of Long Island we watched as the others arrived, unloading and starting a ferocious fire in what seemed like a snap of a finger. We rolled up our pants and waded to shore. It didn't take long before everyone had a beer in hand and music started being played.

We had landed just in time to watch the most spectacular sunset, where the full moon was already shinning bright, rising over the horizon. During the last rays of sunlight, a group of us followed the beach towards the bright glow of the moon. We went as far as the beach went, sitting next to the breakwater. Contemplating life, or whatever, I'm sure. 

We hung out in our quiet corner for a while. As we headed back we joined the others and all sat around the fire. It didn't seem like long before we were staring to gather everything up to head back to Bayfield. 

As we approached the bright lights of Bayfield, the party didn't end. With the most prime location in town, and a balcony overlooking the bay, our place was the natural choice to continue the night's festivities. 

 I'm not totally sure what time we started winding down, but whatever few hours of sleep I was able to log I still woke up with the sun at 6 AM, escaping a hangover and with enough energy to last at least half of the day at work. 

*Long island is not technically an island anymore since it has connected the mainland 30 years ago, now making it a peninsula.