Vacation!!!

So, this last weekend Phil and I went up to the North Shore. It was so much fun. Originally Phil had arranged with my mom to watch the kids for an overnight stay. He was going to surprise me and get a room in the cities and we were going to have an overnight get-a-way. But I figured it out and "ruined" the surprise, but it turned out better. We were able to convince my mom to take the kids for the entire weekend. And then we decided to head up to the North Shore. We had never gone any farther North than Duluth when we lived up there. So, we thought it would be fun to see what else there was...
We stayed at Blackbear Casino both nights. It was cheaper there than anywhere along the shore. We got up there late afternoon on Friday and just hung out in Duluth. We ate on the top floor of the Radison. That restaurant is revolving. So, as we ate we turned in a circle. We made it 3/4 of the way around the building in the time it took us to eat. It was very slow moving. Then there was a Blues Festival down on the shore, so we went and wandered around in Canal Park. Phil and I were talking about what the odds were of running into someone we knew from when we lived up there. We decided they probably weren't very good. I didn't know that many people, and everyone Phil knew he went to school with. We had hardly finished that conversation when we ran into a guy I graduated with from Cannon! He was up there with his girlfriend. It was just odd the way it all worked out. So, then we went back to Black Bear.
The next morning we got up and went up the shore further. We had lunch in Two Harbors and then made the drive up to Gooseberry Falls. What an amazing place. We hiked up all the falls, then all the way back down to the lake. I had fun taking several pictures and Phil just sat and rested while I was "working". There we hiked at least 5 miles!
Not done yet!!! After Gooseberry Falls we went even further up the shore to Split Rock Lighthouse. I got more pictures and we just hung out on the rocky shore and watched the waves and people. It was really relaxing.
After that we headed back to Duluth for Dinner. We ate and went back to the Casino. The hotel had given us each $5 to gamble with. Phil played blackjack (cost more than $5) and I threw my money in a slot machine. We walked out of there a little less than even.
Then on Sunday, we started our way home at 10am. We planned to stop along the way since we didn't have to get back until supper time. So, we went to William o'Brian State Park and hiked around there for the afternoon. We figure throughout the whole weekend we hiked at least 13 miles. After that we made our way to Hastings. We stopped and had ice cream and headed home.
The kids were a little dissapointed at first that we got to go on vacation without them but they had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa. And we really enjoyed our break from them. It was the first more than 1 night away since our honey moon! We are going to try to do it again soon.
Here are some of the pictures from the trip!
Gooseberry Falls

Split Rock Lighthouse