It took us awhile to get to our destination, but it was totally worth it rain or shine! If you want to read why it took us 8 hours to get to our 3 hour campground go Here.

Ryan and I never took a true honeymoon after we were married. Instead we stayed home and enjoyed spending time together painting the house. Trust me it was fun! Although, I have questioned what it would have been like if we could have taken a getaway some place we had never been before, I do have wonderful memories of our “honeymoon at home”.

Gooseberry Falls is very much a place for honeymooners or anyone who is looking for an incredible setting for camping (check out top 10 Romantic Camping Destinations in Minnesota). We were blessed to have family watching all our children for the weekend. Man, time sure does fly when you don’t have any little ones running around everywhere!

How we spent our time away from kids –

Saturday morning, I woke up naturally around 9am to find my husband Ryan sitting at our kitchen table in the camper reading a book he just picked up the other day. It had rained all day off and on the day before and the forecast for the whole weekend was more rain. I noticed it hadn’t started yet and jumped out of my cozy bed to get ready to start my day at Gooseberry Falls along the North Shore. We were going to start with a hike to the falls.

Oh Dear, there’s a Deer!

The campground is wonderful, spread out and super peaceful. While we were walking through the campground we ran into a funny little tent. I had to introduce myself to the family camping in the site and ask if the mini tent was for a pet or what was the story behind the cute little thing.

It turns out the small tent belonged to the 11 year old grandson! He was a cute kid who kept making funny one liners during our brief conversation. I giggled each time I saw him during our stay. Along the way we ran into a few buildings which were built by the “CCC Boys” back in the 1930s.

The “CCC Boys” were a group of young men ages 18-25 who went to Gooseberry Falls on a work/schooling contract. They spent up to 6 months building stone structures and earning college credits during their stay. The halls were used for meetings, dances and family gatherings.

We came across the guest center which had a variety of things to buy in the shop as well as a hand full of animals to view.

A few steps away from the center was the beautiful lower falls section of Gooseberry Falls. You can get up close and personal with the water. It made me thankful we didn’t bring the children with us this time because we would be over stressed about them getting too close to the water or slipping off a rock or running too far ahead. Many more reasons why it would have been hard to enjoy the surroundings if we would have had them tagging along.

I fell in love with all the areas we were able to take photos. If you like to take photos of nature Gooseberry Falls is a location you would enjoy!!

Unwind from the day to day –

I was happy to get the chance to take in the falls with just Ryan. We spent a good amount of time sitting around the falls.

As you can tell in the photo above I wasn’t kidding when I told you how close you can be to the falls. If you decide to take your children to visit Gooseberry Falls I would tell you to take great caution. I was shocked to see nothing roped off or keeping people from testing the waters. There was a plate at the middle section of the falls telling people it isn’t a good idea to swim in memory of a 16 year old boy who lost his life at Gooseberry Falls in July 1978.

Top favorite photo of us –

On our way out I saw a cave. I love the storybook “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.” and I tried to go on my own bear hunt up to the cave.

I’m not scared –

Once I got in there I was greeted by a horrible smell. I didn’t stay long!

No bears –

The view of the Gooseberry Falls was even gorgeous from afar! There was a bit of a haze floating just above the treetops making it so breathtaking.

I didn’t want to stop hiking around, but it was getting cold and a slight rain was starting in on us. We moved forward to the campground.

It looked like it was going to be raining for the afternoon. Making the most of it we chose to take in the sites in Two Harbors. Rainy days are best with a good cup of coffee. We found ourselves eating lunch at the Vanilla Bean Cafe. It was fine food, but at a higher cost than most cafes. After the bowl of chicken wild rice soup I really wanted to sit down at the local coffee shop with a warm cup of joe.

The Northshore Pizza & Coffee House

I have to say this was the best coffee shop in the Two Harbors area. The homemade cookies are to die for and the coffee was fabulous, plus I made a friend!

A must stop at Coffee Shop!

After some time filling our bellys with baked goods at the Northshore Cafe we visited a shop called Buddy’s Mercantile.

Buddy and his beloved wife got a good laugh out me when I pulled back the box top for my free sample only to find a fake mouse attacking my finger! I jumped back with a serious scream!!! Ryan even came to my rescue. He also got a hearty laugh at Buddy’s joke.

 

A good cup of coffee goes a long way on a rainy day –

After dinner we went for a walk around the campground. We came across a HUGE Monster dog…

Dog appears BIGGER in Real Life!

We weren’t looking for the lake, but we ran into it without trying. I was amazed at how massive it feels on the edge of the water.

The rocks were slippery from the rain and the fog was settling in over the lake. What a beautiful sight to see with your own eyes. If you haven’t made  the trip to Gooseberry Falls, MN yet put it on the List To Do.

We watched some guys fishing from the sand banks and explored the coast together before the rain started in on us; again. I liked being able to take in the whole day without a care in the world.

Hey, look at that! They have our Cabela’s tent!

We stopped to ask the campers with the tent if they like it and also if they have used it much. The owner told us she LOVES her Cabela’s Alaskan tent and she said it has been great for all season’s of camping so far. Good to know because we plan on trying a winter trip in our tent.

Hide & Go Seek wasn’t as fun without the kids.

The dark started in on us faster than I had expected. We spent the rest of our night by the little red camp fire followed up with a great board game of Carcassonne (which I lost).

The next morning we didn’t linger too long since getting there took us 8 hours we thought we better pack up and start earlier to head home.

I said goodbye to our Gooseberry Falls campsite.

I am happy we were able to see Gooseberry Falls because it was very pretty. I would love to take another trip just Ryan and me someday to the Boundary Waters.

I loved the two tunnels on the way to Two Habors –

I even found a special road!

Thanks for stopping by today. If you want more photos of our trip I have over 400!

Happy Camping, Kelly