North Shore ~ day 2

Happy anniversary, baby!  Ten years...TEN!  Wow.  It's hard to believe that it's been a decade already, and yet I can hardly remember my life without you.  

This is what we got to wake up to this morning...

Mr. Romantic walked down to the cove while I was still asleep...

...and brought back these little wildflowers and rocks for me...ten of each.  

I couldn't love anything more.

We walked down to breakfast at this cozy little cafe.  It was nice out but a little too chilly to eat out on the deck.  

After breakfast, we walked down to the cove together.  I literally could have stayed  there all day.

I took more video, but it was too big for Blogger and I can't figure out how to shorten it.  

Maybe Mr. Techy will be able to help me do that later. 

Our treasure collection so far...

After some discussion and perusing of all our touristy info, it was off to our next adventure...a waterfall tour!!  As much as I love waves crashing on the shore, I also am obsessed with waterfalls.  There are I think 7 or 8 of them in this area and my big idea was "let's go see them all today!!!"  Mr. Realistic talked me down, and after going to Cascade River State Park and hiking to Cascade Falls...well, that was enough for one afternoon.  It was a little challenging for us but not overly so, and it was beyond worth it.  I'll let the pics speak for themselves...

I found myself praying my way through the trail and at each stop we made as we took in the majestic beauty of God's creation.

We could have ended our day right there and been happy!  

After Cascade Falls, we drove north a bit farther to Grand Marais.  It had a casual, eclectic, artsy, fisherman's warf feel to it.  It was teaming with people even in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday...kids long-boarding, people walking their dogs, shopping, photographing the lake.
We had lunch on the porch here...

Vince had the walleye and I opted for the fish n' chips...which was my first time having flounder and it was delish!!  And the blackberry lemonade was perfect on a sunny, summer day with a view of the lake.

The shopping area we went to after lunch was down the road from here (you can see it in the distance in this pic.)

This was an interesting shop with some very...ummm...unique finds!

I can't remember the name of this shop, but they made candies and fudge and that's all that matters.  (According to Vince, it was the Gunflint Mercantile).

This is the owner in the back making fudge!

The shopping area is right next to this beautiful beach / cove.  Sail boats were sailing, seagulls were gulling, and the water was lapping on the shore.

The weather here is interesting.  It can change quickly ~ one minute it is sunny and warm and then seemingly without warning it will cloud over, fog will roll in and it will cool off...only to change back a few minutes later. 

Then it was back to our room for the evening....it could not have been a more perfect way to spend our anniversary!