Cabin weekend. Up North. Girls trip. Winter wonderland? My teammates and I built fast friendships in college, we spent nearly every waking minute together for four years. Different jobs and different cities after graduation keep us apart at times but we’re always able to pick up right where we left off. This fall a group of us were able to come together for a full weekend up the North Shore in Lutsen, MN and it did not disappoint.
October in Minnesota (especially up the shore) is unpredictable. Last year I attended a friends wedding with clear blue skies and 60 degree sunshine. This year was a different story. The first snowstorm of the year started early Friday morning, making the commute from Minneapolis to Duluth longer and slightly more terrifying than usual. After 3 hours of white-knuckling the steering wheel, I rendezvoused with the group and our grocery list then we made our way up the Scenic Highway.
A trip up North wouldn’t be complete without a brewery stop along the way. Castle Danger Brewery gave us just the push we needed to continue up the shore to our snow-covered cabin. By the time we got to Lutsen it was late and it was dark, but we could hear the waves of Lake Superior crashing on the shore.
We rented through Cascade Vacation Rentals, basically a VRBO for north shore homes, and I would absolutely recommend. Our cabin was private, and on the shore line of Lake Superior, i.e. gorgeous. We could have created the perfect weekend just by sitting around the wood stove (and we totally did), but we took it a step further.
The first snow of the season could not have fared better in our favor. Saturday brought glistening white forests underneath a bright blue sky and we set out on the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT). Snow also meant muddy trails, but what’s an adventure without a little adversity? We started at the Lutsen Mountain trailhead, just through the village past the main parking lots. Early on, the trail comes to an overlook showcasing the Poplar River and Lake Superior. Our group actually started cheering when we saw the view, just incredible.
We continued on up the mountain, through switchbacks and camping sites. Our hike was only a few miles round trip, but the SHT continues to the top of Moose Mountain and through if you’re up for it. Lutsen also runs its Summit Express Gondola outside of ski season if Moose Mountain by foot seems too daunting. It looked like a lot of fun, but we were cold and our minds quickly turned to Bloody Marys. Lucky for us, there was a bar open on the mountain at 11 am, so we headed over to Moguls to get a round and play cards to escape the cold.
The rest of our Saturday was spent at our cabin on Lake Superior. We played endless games around the kitchen table, drank our fair share of beer and wine, fired up a charcoal grill (an adventure in itself), and sat around a campfire on the beach. With our lack of experience, the campfire would have been a more effective way to cook dinner than the charcoal grill, but *hindsight*. I learned how to play cribbage, revisited some classic playing card drinking games from college, and played countless rounds of hilarious traveling pictionary (seriously, you need to play this game).
The weekend was a blast, something we all wish we could do more often. At the end of the day we absolutely made the most of our short time together. Just under 2 hours from Duluth, Lutsen makes a perfect weekend getaway for all ages and walks of life – there is truly something for everyone.
Related post: check out what I wore
