Gunflint!

After a failed attempt to camp in our backyard, followed shortly thereafter by an awesome one-night camping trip at Afton State Park, we were ready for our big four-day/three-night camping trip up on the Gunflint Trail. (We went for the fourth of July weekend, which I think sets a record for my most belated blog post ever. I blame Qwest, and now feel grudgingly thankful to be back on Comcast as our ISP again.)

The drive "up north" was surprisingly easy. Rose has gotten to be a great car companion - especially when she has some popcorn to snack on :)

We stopped for lunch at a cute little pizza place somewhere along the North Shore. Rose was excited to have a "happy hour" drink (i.e., a soda).

Then we stopped for a short hike at a cute non-state park area that I can't for the life of me remember the name of! But it was a great little hike that we all enjoyed.

Then we continued on to the Gunflint Trail! It was a gorgeous drive.

Gotta love photos taken through the front windshield!

Wildflowers!

 Finally we made it to the "resort" where we would be camping. We picked this place because we wanted an "out" (i.e., to have a lodge easily accessible) in case it turned out that Rose hated camping. But we discovered that she is a natural outdoors girl and we needn't have worried because she LOVED it!

Our campsite. Ginormous RVs were just to the left and to the right of us.

It's too long of a story to type out, but remind me in person some time to tell you about the bears that visited us...

The tree on the left is where the bears all climbed up one night. Terrifying close to our tent!!!

This is where Mike and I were sitting when the bears showed up. Eeek!

Since our site was right on the water, Rose spent a lot of time swimming...

She was standing on a rock, but I love how it looks like she's walking on water.

... And a lot of time ordering me not to take her picture. :)

Our swimsuits match!

We went out in the boat several times. It was a HUGE lake - like, overwhelmingly so!  Mike and I both realized that we feel more comfortable on smaller bodies of water. 

Rose was grumpy that day.

And not grumpy that day.

One day we ventured back to Grand Marais to explore. I loved this little town!

The donuts really were amazing.

And I highly recommend the Angry Trout Cafe.

  I fell in love with these wildflowers. Anyone know what they are?

And then it was time for one last campfire and one last sunset before we would be headed home.

 It was a great vacation! We had a lot of fun, and learned a lot about our camping preferences and about how we travel as a family. I'm definitely looking forward to next summer's adventures together!