Fun Finds Up the North Shore

So the other day my friend and I took a drive up the "North Shore".  What a fun treasure that was!  I've lived here my whole life, and I have been up the North Shore several times, yet I discovered a whole new undiscovered (by me) world!

Nearly halfway between Duluth and Canada lives a little town called Silver Bay and there is a whole lot to see and do in Silver Bay.  Who knew!?

The first exciting fun find was giant chairs!

I have always wanted to sit in giant chairs, and there they were just calling our name on the side of the freeway.  So we took that as a sign and got our photo opp.  How can you not smile sitting in giant chairs?  When we were leaving, an older couple was pulling up to also sit in the giant chairs.  The excited smile on the lady's face described exactly what we were feeling.

Next we drove up this mountainous terrain called Palisadehead.  This was quite the fun find! High up on rocky cliffs gazing down at the Caribbean looking Lake Superior was breathtaking in every sense of the word.

I had to crouch kind of low to the ground to keep my bearings and my sanity.  It was scary being up so high with no real protection in between you and the ledge where you would plummet to the bottom of the rocky cliff into the frigid and quite rocky water below.  When we were done, I had the Jello legs.  But it was well well worth it.

Then we headed to Black Beach where we were in search of black rocks.  Instead we found nothing but a bunch of NO TRESPASSING signs.  They were every few feet, clearly marked, with a "Violators will be Prosecuted" warning.  We decided to risk it.  We ventured out of the car down a path toward the beach.  We hear a vehicle slowly approaching.  And what do you know, its a cop.

I start kind of running back to the car and the cop.  Heart is pounding.  Cop asks, "Having fun?"  Our reply, "We are trying to".  He questions, "Trying to?"  We explain we were trying to get to the Black Beach and asked if he knew how we could get there.  His response was "Not legally.  What do those signs say?"  We hung our heads in shame as we solemnly answered, "No Trespassing......"  However, the cop then directed us to follow him while he showed us the correct, though still illegal, path to get to the Black Beach.  I thanked him for not arresting us.

On our way home, we really wished we would have answered differently when he asked us what the sign said.  After having a significant conversation in English, we wish we would have answered, "Senor, no hablo Ingles".  Though funny to us, it may not have been funny to the cop so we were pleased with our result.

The beach was different than we expected.  Still cool.  A beach full of taconite, which gives it the black color for which it is named.  We didn't stay long, but just took a glimpse since we were there illegally.  We were both so angry that someone (mining company) could claim a whole cool beach for themselves and not share it with the public.  How can that be?!

Our fun find adventure ended with a trip to the candy store!  What a sweet finish for an awesome day.  Can't wait to return next year to see what other hidden gems await us Up the North Shore.