Louisville, Kentucky and Mammoth Caves National Park

This time it was the NCAA Eastern Regional Meet that was the impetus for this trip. Brooke would be competing on May 26th in Bloomington, Indiana so we flew into Louisville a few days early so we could do some exploring in Kentucky before driving northward to Bloomington.

The first morning in Louisville, we had tickets for the Kentucky Derby Museum located on the grounds of the Churchill Downs racetrack. We enjoyed the exhibits and 360-degree immersive sound/video presentation that highlights the history of Churchill Downs and gives a peak into what the Kentucky Derby race day is all about. After our time in the museum, our guide took us onto the racetrack grounds where we saw some horses training. We decided that attending an actual Kentucky Derby race needs to be added to our bucket list.

A training session

The next stop in Louisville was the Louisville Slugger Museum and factory tour. The museum was informative, but the best part was the factory tour. Our guide showed us the bat making process from start to finish and we even received a mini bat as a souvenir. 

After eating lunch at a soup/salad/sandwich spot just a few blocks from the Louisville Slugger Museum, it was time to start heading out of Louisville.

Our destination was Mammoth Caves National Park located about 2 hours southeast of Louisville, but along the way we realized that we were driving right past Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace, so we made a quick stop there. The site is a National Historic Park and contains a monument in which a replica has been built of the humble log cabin our 16th president was born in. 

A replica of the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born

We arrived at Mammoth Cave National Park well before our reservation time for the Frozen Niagara cave tour, so we hiked the short 1.2-mile River Styx Spring Trail. This is a pretty walk through the forest that ends at a place where underground spring water emerges from a cave. 

The trail to River Styx Spring

River Styx Spring

In front of the Historic Cave Entrance

When it was time for our tour, we boarded the NPS bus that took us to the entrance to the Frozen Niagara tour. On the bus, we learned that Mammoth Cave National Park has the longest underground cave system in the world with new sections being discovered each year. The Frozen Niagara tour is named as such because it takes visitors to a section of the cave system where formations have grown into what resembles the Niagara Falls. The inside of the cave is illuminated in an eerie red light, and we were able to see lots of stalactites and stalagmites. It was lots of fun!

Frozen Niagara

After a full day of sightseeing, we made the 2-hour drive to our hotel in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Voyageurs National Park

It took us about 3 hours to drive from Silver Bay, Minnesota to Voyageurs National Park. We arrived at the Ash River Visitor Center (which was closed unfortunately) at lunch time, so we enjoyed a picnic lunch out in front of the visitor center before starting our exploration. In researching this national park, I knew that most of the park consists of water/islands that are best explored by boat. But we were about 1 week too early in the season, so none of the boating concessionaires were opened yet. Not to be deterred, we found a nice hike that gave us some pretty views of the lake and islands. 

The view behind the Ash River Visitor Center

The Blind Ash Bay Trail is a 3 mile hike that took us through a lush forest to the end of the loop where there is a beautiful view of Kabetogama Lake. On our drive to Voyageurs NP we had seen a bear, so we knew we were in bear country. I made sure to play music throughout the hike so we wouldn’t accidentally startle a bear. Fortunately we did not see any bears while hiking.

On the Blind Ash Bay Trail

Also near the Ash River Visitor Center, we stopped at the Kabetogama Lake Overlook as well as Beaver Pond Overlook. Both were pretty spots.

The Kabetogama Lake Overlook

Beaver Pond Overlook

Our last stop of the day took us to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center (again, closed for the season). We walked around outside reading the informational plaques and then spent some time on the docks.

 

Our hotel for the night was the Cantilever Hotel which was a super cute boutique hotel across from Rainy Lake. All in all, this was a quick and enjoyable trip to national park #21.

North Shore of Minnesota - Day #2

We woke up to a beautifully sunny day in Grand Marais, so we headed out to Artist’s Point which is a rocky outcropping that helps to create the harbor of Grand Marais. This is a frequent spot from which artists paint the rocky shoreline. After a bit of rock scrambling, we followed the narrow path of concrete out to the base of the Grand Marais lighthouse.

Artist's Point

 

The Grand Marais Lighthouse

Back on Highway 61 we continued north to Judge CR Magney State Park to hike the Devil’s Kettle Trail. This is a 2 mile round trip hike that follows the Brule River up to the waterfall. It was another raging waterfall!

The Brule River

Devil's Kettle Waterfall

Our next stop was the Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center. The visitor center had numerous exhibits highlighting the fur trade that occurred in Grand Portage as well as the native peoples’ heritage. Unfortunately, the re-creation of the trading fort was not yet open for the season.

A scenic overlook above Grand Portage

The last stop of the day was Grand Portage State Park to walk the short trail to High Falls. There were signs in the visitor center warning that it’s very wet near the falls from mist, so we were sure to wear our waterproof jackets. 

The boardwalk leading to High Falls

It definitely was wet!

We had gone as far north on this trip as we were going to go, so we started back down the shoreline so that our drive tomorrow to Voyageurs National Park would not be so long. We stopped back in Grand Marais where we enjoyed browsing in the Lake Superior Trading Post, skipping rocks in the harbor, and dinner before driving on to Silver Bay (our stopping point for the night).

North Shore of Minnesota - Day #1

It was another track meet that brought us back to the Midwest. With Brooke competing at the Big 10 Outdoor Track Championship in Minneapolis, we decided to head to Minnesota a few days early to spend time along Minnesota’s north shore and to explore national park #21 with a visit to Voyageurs National Park.

We started our trip on a very cold, windy, and rainy day in Duluth. The first stop was Canal Park which sits along the shoreline of Lake Superior. This was a good vantage point to see the Aerial Lift Bridge, although we didn’t get to see it raise since no ships were sailing through while we were there. Due to the wind and cold, we spent just a short time getting photos of the two lighthouses that stand at the entrance to the canal that leads from Lake Superior to the harbor.

The Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge

Once in the car, we started our drive along Highway 61 which is a beautifully scenic road that hugs the shoreline from Duluth almost all the way to the Canadian border. Just 30 minutes from Duluth, we stopped in Two Harbors to enjoy a mid-morning snack from the iconic Betty’s Pies. The story behind this pie shop began in 1957 when Betty’s dad ran a fish shack along Highway 61. Betty decided that the fisherman might enjoy coffee and donuts, then later added hamburgers/hotdogs. Eventually, Betty had her own cafe with a large menu, but it was her pies that were most popular. We can attest to the fact that Betty’s Pies are delicious, as we thoroughly enjoyed our slice of apple toffee crunch pie with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Enjoying a delicious mid-morning snack!

To work off the pie we had eaten, we needed to get a little exercise. Gooseberry State Park was the perfect place to do that. The highlight of Gooseberry Falls State Park is definitely the waterfall. The upper, middle, and lower portions of the falls were raging with snowmelt and recent rain. We followed a trail that took us down one side of the falls and back up the other where we crossed over the bridge at the top. At the state park’s visitor center, we learned that the water flowing over the falls will be one of two colors - root beer or chocolate milk - due to decomposing plants in wetlands upstream that release tannins which stain the water varying shades of brown. It was definitely a murky brown and in fact all of the falls that we visited during our north shore trip were this same color.

Only 10 miles north on Highway 61, we arrived at the Split Rock lighthouse. Before entering the lighthouse, we watched a short documentary film about the history of the lighthouse. The actual tour of the lighthouse is a quick self-guided climb up the spiral stairs to reach where the fresnel lens is housed at the top. The weather was still pretty cold and dreary and as we were walking from the lighthouse outbuilding to the light keeper’s house, we heard thunder rumbling. Then there was a huge crack of lightening and we instantly smelled smoke. It turns out that lightening struck a tree in the parking lot only 300 feet from where we were. Later we walked out to the parking lot to see that the top of the tree had exploded and splintered debris all over the parking lot. This lightening strike was way too close for comfort! We saw on the news that night that the lighthouse would be closed the next two days because of electrical damage caused by the strike.

The Split Rock Lighthouse

Back in the car, the next stop was Palisade Head. Usually you can drive right up to it, but the road was closed. So we parked and walked up the winding road to reach Palisade Head. Once again the rain and cold wind made for a brief visit.

Palisade Head

Up until this point, we hadn’t done any real hiking. So when we got to Tettegouche State Park we set out on a 3 mile round trip hike to Two Step Falls and High Falls. It was a pretty hike to a few more Minnesota waterfalls!

There was still some snow/ice on the trail.

Two Step Falls

The view from the top of High Falls

Standing on the bridge over High Falls

We stopped a few more times as we were driving north to Grand Marais to enjoy more waterfalls right along the highway. The prettiest of these was Hidden Falls at Temperance River State Park. Again the raging river water made for an impressive waterfall.

Hidden Falls at Temperance River State Park

Where the Temperance River flows into Lake Superior

Once in Grand Marais, we had a yummy dinner at the Gun Flint Brewery before checking into our hotel, the Best Western Superior Inn.