Grand Marais Lighthouse Station and Downtown Walk

After our Devil's Kettle Hike and breakfast at Naniboujou Lodge, Scott went to work.  At the end of the afternoon, we decided to finish off our trip to Grand Marais with a walk over to the Coast Guard North Superior Lighthouse Station across from our campground spot.  We kept seeing people walking over to the lighthouse and wanted to see how they did it; plus we wanted to walk downtown at the tourist shops there.

We could have walked over since it was just across the harbor, but we decided to drive the truck over.  After the hike his morning, our legs were a bit tired.  We parked over at the Coast Guard area where there is also a small hiking trail along the point.  We also read about this history of the area.

Then, we climbed up on the rocks and walked out to the lighthouse where we had some great views of the coast guard station, the bay and the city.  We walked out on larger boulders and then onto a cement walkway that was fairly narrow.  It was difficult for people to pass going in the opposite directions, but manageable.  Lots of kids were having fun jumping off the cement into the water and climbing up rungs.  The water was super clean and you could see fish and frogs swimming in the water.

Fortunately, there were only a few people there at the lighthouse.  While out there we saw a gal using her paddle board to maneuver in the bay and watched the boats anchored out.

The walk back was beautiful with the coast guard station in the background.

After we finished our little walk, we walked up and down the streets popping into a cute of cute shops but mainly just walking.  We did get an ice-cream at Gunflint Merchantile.  Scott had a meeting half way through the walk, so I popped into a couple of stores while we sat on a bench for his 15 minute meeting.  I think I enjoyed taking photos of the beautiful plants the most.  I also really loved the music in one of the shops and listened to music they had playing in the shop.  The piano artist was guy named Jim McDonough.  He's pretty awesome!  Here's his Iowa booking schedule if you're in the area where he will be playing.  And, here's some of his CDs.

We had a great time visiting the eastern shores of Minnesota and our next stop will be in Kabetogama, Minnesota at Voyageurs National Park.  Thanks for some fun memories, Grand Marais!  Here's some parting photos by others of the lighthouse!  We did see full moons similar to these while we were here.

Photo: Bryan Hansel

Photo: Rikk Flohr

And, could you imagine winters here with Lake Superior bashing into the lighthouse like this?!

Photo: Bob Berlute

Photo: David R. Johnson

Photo: Bryan Hansel

AMAZING!