Picturesque anniversary

Every state has a prized spot, an area that everyone boasts about.  New York has the Adirondacks, and Minnesota has the North Shore.  For our anniversary we spent a night in Duluth, and ventured to several parks along Lake Superior.  This is a state that takes great pride in their lakes and water quality and it shows when you head north.

One of the parks we went to was Gooseberry Falls.  We had a beautiful day, which made for some great pictures.

After this park we kept heading north and went to one more state park where there is an old lighthouse - the Splitrock Lighthouse.   It was built after a storm in 1910 forced 30 ships to ram into the giant rocks that jut out into the lake.  The lighthouse was constructed to give ships an idea of where land was and to warn them about rough water.  With the advent of sonar, the lighthouse became obsolete in the 70s.  The park system bought the lighthouse and it's now one of the most popular tourist attractions in MN.

This is the view of Lake Superior from the lighthouse.

Our one year anniversary!

It's hard to believe that one year ago Jason and I walked down the aisle.  We decided to celebrate our first anniversary on the North Shore in Minnnesota.  We started our trek in Duluth, a town that overlooks Lake Superior.  We headed for Canal Park first, a spot that attracts all the tourists.  You can watch huge barges come through the lift bridge here.  Somehow we timed it perfectly to watch a ship from Canada come through. 

Once the bridge dropped back down we went across to a beautiful beach.  The sand and water are clean - chilly but clean. 

 Duluth from the beach.

After visiting a few sites in Duluth, we hopped back in the car and headed farther North.