After getting married in September, my husband and I headed up to the North Shore of Minnesota with our two dogs for a little R&R after all the chaos that is having a wedding!  We were originally going to do two weeks in Europe, luckily, we decided before COVID hit that we might want to move at a bit of a slower speed after all the hubbub.  This was the best decision we could have made, not only because we wouldn’t have ended up being able to go to Europe, but also a week up north spending time with our little family was exactly what we needed to take in all the wonderful and amazing moments we had just experienced over our wedding weekend.

We rented an adorable Airbnb 4 miles outside of downtown Grand Marais that was located on 5 acres, which gave the dogs plenty of room to run! And they took full advantage chasing the chipmunks and squirrels all over the yard.  It had a deck with a view looking out to the back woods that was the perfect place for my morning coffee and a nice fire pit for our evening fires.

Here were some of our favorite things we did along the North Shore:

Brewery stops:

  • Castle Danger in Two Harbors on our way up to the Cabin
  • Voyagers Brewing in Grand Marais, the food or beer never disappoint, and we found ourselves here a few times over the 6 days we were in town.
  • Bent Paddle in Duluth on our way back home.  Such a fun spot with great beer and atmosphere.

Hiking to the highest point in Minnesota, Eagle Mountain Peak.  This was 7 mile hike round trip but the views were worth every step of it! There was a nice lake the dogs got to swim and cool off in along the way and we had a little picnic at the top.

Lunch & Dinner spots:

  • Voyager Brewing – Highly recommend the cheese curds and walleye tacos
  • Sven and Ole’s – Such good pizza and always worth the wait
  • Hungry Hippie Taco – Everything was so good, bonus they have a great beer selection!

Day trip to Lutsen to ride the gondola to the top of the ski mountain and have lunch with an amazing view! We followed lunch up with a ride down the alpine slide, It was so much fun and the views on the ride were so beautiful I wanted to go a second time! And we finished the day with a stop of the cutest winery, North Shores Winery.  I got a flight of reds, all were quite good, and Steffan got a flight of ciders that were equally impressive.  There was plenty of patio space, complete with fire pits, a stage for music and even a little hiking trail loop you can take your wine on!

Shopping in Grand Marais:

  • Upstate MN
  • Sivertson Gallery
  • Lake Superior Trading Post
  • Joy & Compnay

There are so many things to do and nothing is at a rushed pace up along the North Shore of MN.  It was the perfect trip to wind down and reflect during.  We got to be close to nature, enjoy each other’s company, drink good beer, and relax.  We cannot wait to get back up there again!  If you’ve been up to the North Shore what are some of your favorite spots or activities up there? We definitely have more to see and do the next time we are up there! Or do you know of other areas across the country with a similar vibe? Because writing about this past trip has me itching to plan our next one and I am all for recommendations of new places we can explore too!