Sep 23:Day 1 of North shore drive

After a good amount of research, we had decided on Thursday that we will drive out on the last weekend of September along the North shore drive until Lutsen and booked a room and car accordingly. But on Friday afternoon, when I was lazing around surfing the web, I realized that fall colors had already reached the peak in Northern Minnesota due to dry summer and may not last another week!
My hubby, a great planner and stickler to details was not very happy with this piece of information but anyhow we reworked our plan and were off on Saturday morning to Lutsen.
We didn’t get accommodation to stay over on Saturday Night but decided it was going to be OK as it was only a 4 ½ hour drive and it wouldn’t kill us to get back home the same day.
We hit off 35 N in the morning at around 9 am after a light breakfast of peanut butter-bread and fruits.On reaching Duluth, temptation got the better of us and we strayed into Scenic 23 instead of choosing the expressway.After stopping over at every scenic byway to admire Mother Nature’s lavish display, we merged into 61 with more than an hour’s loss.

While on Scenic 23

It was almost 2 pm when we reached Two Harbours and hunger was the most prevailing thought in our minds.We headed to a Subway to grab a sandwich and were shocked by the crowd...there must have been atleast 25 people in the queue. So we pursued our next option- an unhealthy but a delectable one of eating doughnuts and chips. After a ten minute break at the gas station, we were back on track.

Our first stop was at Lutsen Mountain.. We took the Gondola ride (Tram/ cable car ride) that took us across a valley to the Moose Mountain from where we saw the breathtaking fall colors on Sawtooth Mountains and Lake Superior's remarkable coastline. We stayed on in Moose Mountain for another hour trekking along spellbound by the vivid colors of autumn where a rush of color paints each and every leaf with a stroke of a shimmering gold or a bright orange or a fiery red and the mountains and valleys are glowing to compete with sun shine.

The Gondola ride

A bird's eye view of Sawtooth Mountain

My photos cannot justify the beauty of this place

It was around 6pm by the time we got back to Lutsen Mountains and we headed off towards Tafte to check out Caribou trail and yes,search for accomodation- as one day was distinctly insufficient. We checked each motel on our way but "No vacancy" was prominently displayed in each place lest we had any hope of staying back.

So we set off on wooded Caribou trail to see the colors of sugar maples and moose maples and reached Cascade lake so serene and untouched by the hand of man. I dont know how long we sat there with our minds so quiet and hearts feeling elated- one with nature. We left it with a touch of sorrow wondering why we ever left behind all this wilderness.


Cascade Lake

We were back on 61 heading back home dissapointed that we couldn't get accomodation and yet hopelessly checking out each motel for a vacant room when we came to Beaver Bay. Surprise of surprises, one motel did have a room available and that too a non-smoking one! We were so thrilled!
It was almost 9 pm by this time and instead of tiring ourselves hunting for a restaurant, we decided by buy a box of cereals an milk from a wayside gas station.

The day finally came to an end with a walk down the streets in the night and a million stars were glimmering over us, hiding the secrets of the day to come.