Fiacré's spade: Vacation, Day 5, Road trip

Today was our road trip day. We got up early, packed our lunch in a cooler, and headed out. We headed south from Grand Marais to do a loop from Lutsen to Honeymoon Mountain to Tofte. Our first side trip was an attempt to see Christine Lake from a “non-Forest Service” boat landing. As soon as we turned off the highway, we were on An Adventure. The road was two rocky and pot-holed ruts through the forest. There was nowhere to turn around, so we had to go forward. I was not going to try to retrace our path in reverse.

Ruts through the forest

I turned the car around when we finally came to a spot that could be construed as a side road, if we used our imaginations.

Onward. We stopped for lunch at a “rustic” campground near Poplar River. As far as we could determine, “rustic” meant “no water.” There were latrines, as with non-rustic campgrounds. We ate lunch in the car because it was buggy. Afterward, I followed a trail down to the river, and I do mean down. There were ties dug in to create steps, but the going was steep.

The stairs from the bottom

After all that, I couldn’t see much of the river. The trail came out at a bend. The dense forest blocked the view up- and downstream.

Not much of a view of the Poplar River

Returning to the top, I followed another trail along a ridge, but that too led to a steep path down to the water with no view from the top. I saw some bluebeads in fruit.

Bluebeads

I went back to the car. As soon as we got out of the campground, we went over a bridge with a lovely view of the river.

Mountains in this part of the world are not like the Rockies, where a tree line allows for spectacular views. The forest goes right to the top, which means you can’t see anything from the road except that the ground slopes up or down. I enjoyed the drive nevertheless. The forest was mostly maple, and it reminded me of the deciduous forests of childhood.

Honeymoon Trail

Deciduous forest

We went south from Tofte to Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center. We visited the building but were not up for hiking any of the trails. Another time perhaps.

Entry sign to Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center

A pretty little creek near the Nature Center building

All these years, we have been driving past the Father Baraga’s Cross and never stopped. Today was the day. A wild rose was still in bloom by the trail.

Wild rose

The landing spot was rocky and beautiful.

Vista on Lake Superior, Father Baraga's cross at right

The original cross, which Father Baraga put up in thanks for a safe landing after a rough crossing from Madeleine Island, has been replaced by a more durable cross of stone. They still do services here sometimes.

Father Baraga's cross

This is the mouth of Cross River. I presume it was named for Father Baraga’s cross.

Mouth of the Cross River

So we have seen Father Baraga’s cross--“cross” that off the list. Ha ha.

Back in Grand Marais, Sydney’s still didn’t have any Dutch chocolate custard, so we opted to try a new place, Superior Creamery. The trouble with names here is that “superior” could be quality of the product or location on the Great Lake.

There was a line. Good sign. There were a lot of weird “new-age” flavors (e.g. Matcha tea). They had chocolate though. No cake cones. Waffle cones were $1. The cups were earth-friendly, biodegradable cardboard, so we got that. I spent 50 cents for “sprinkles,” which those in the know will recognize immediately as jimmies. (Sprinkles are spherical.)

Superior Creamery ice cream

The ice cream seemed a little icy, like ice milk instead of ice cream. Trying to be healthier, perhaps? As the Chocolate Shoppe says, you want nutrition, eat a carrot. We were disappointed. The wooden eating utensils were a step ahead of the curve, so to speak, as they were square, which was way better and getting the ice cream out of the cup.

An improved design on on ice cream spoons

Back at the cabin, we consoled ourselves on the money spent on inadequate ice cream treats with Cheetos and margaritas. I made chef salads for dinner with leftover steak and fajita meat.