Up North

Last Thursday, we headed up north. We hadn't gotten out to go camping all summer and we realized we needed some time in the outdoors (outside of city parks & preserves) for some refreshment. We didn't go camping, instead staying with our friends the Mueckes in Mahtowa, Minnesota, just south of Duluth. Bryan is the director at Covenant Park Bible Camp, so we stopped there for a little canoeing.

The next day we headed up the North Shore to Gooseberry Falls State Park. It was MEA weekend in Minnesota (apparently all the schools are out on Thursday & Friday, while the teachers supposedly have conferences--though the couple teachers I know were going on trips; I just looked it up, though, and apparently it's a bigger travel weekend than Thanksgiving in the state), and the park was fuller than we've ever experienced. We still enjoyed a little hiking (though not as much as we used to before children) and the beauty of the place.

We also stopped at Two Harbors on our way back. We walked out on the breakwall and watched a ship being loaded.

I'm not sure if I'm as refreshed as I normally would have been on a trip like that, but I got to share the wonder of God's creation with my boys as well as big boats, lighthouses and tunnels. Rocks and water are always a good time, too.