The Best Trip to Minnesota's North Shore—with Great Food All Over the Place!
Veteran journalist and food writer Jennifer Miller gives us exactly the kind of travel writing we want: informational, inspirational—and a great read, to boot.
Wini’s Note: I’ve often said that America’s vastness makes a challenge to find those lesser-known, off-the-beaten path gems when traveling. There’s a lot of nothing as you travel from one place to another, which is why you need an expert you can trust to help you find the gems. Here, Jennifer Miller, who’s traveled the north shore for almost 20 summers, lays it all out for us. It’s a great read—and sounds like a terrific trip.
P.S.: You know that Jennifer Miller (aka J.R. Miller) was the Datebook Diner a few years before I took on the column, right? Naturally, she’s rooted out some major food finds for us!
Ode to the North Shore
You know that feeling when you arrive someplace that’s not your home-home but is home? And immediately your computer-bowed shoulders unhunch, your dramatic sighs become big, deep, appreciative breaths, and it’s like the spot where you stand is tuned exactly to your frequency?
My home is Lake Superior, specifically the Minnesota part known as “the North Shore.”
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world (holding 10 percent of world’s fresh water) by surface area and the third-largest by volume. That is to say, humongous; it’s basically a sea. The lake is a rift zone that was first layered with volcanic bedrock a billion years ago, then excavated into a basin by Ice Age glaciers grinding down from the north, and then filled with water by the last retreating glacier.
And it. Is. Spectacular.
The Miller family has been roaming up and down Highway 61 between Duluth and Grand Marais since we made our way to the area for the first time at the turn of the 21st century.
It fulfills all of my summer vacation requirements. A hot day there is in the upper 70s; it is water, water everywhere; it has natural beauty to spare; and there’s easy access to first-rate, pie-hole-filling food. (Including pie! More on that later.)
After the family’s first foray to Lutsen, Minn., we just never stopped going. (I mean, we did go other places, but 19 of the 24 years — so far! — we were Lutsen bound.)
Head up I-35 and once you hit Duluth and beyond, you’re on Hwy. 61. And the opportunities for scenery and roadside agog-ery just keep coming. It happens to be lined with some of the most beautiful byways, beaches, and state parks you’ll ever have the great good fortune to wander.
And that stretch of Hwy. 61 is also scattered with everything from a tatty roadside flea market to art galleries of every stripe. And food. Lots and lots of food. Obviously.
Disclaimer: Many places along the route are seasonal, so if you’re heading up when it’s not Memorial Day-ish through Labor Day-ish, know before you go.
Let’s start in Duluth.
Actually…
Let’s start with lunchtime in Cloquet, Minn., on the way to Duluth. Two things make Cloquet worth a pit stop. First, there’s a gas station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. A working gas station—where I bought wiper blades once. Second there’s Gordy’s Hi-Hat, an order-at-the-counter burger joint, a going concern since 1960, that also happens to make fresh blackberry milkshakes. IKR?! The burgers and fries are good—but don’t bother with the onion rings. And be prepared to wait.
OK, now Duluth. We nearly always stop for a night there. It’s a singular sort of place — part industrial port, part touristland (but with a lowercase “t”), and part laid back, smallish Midwestern city (pop. 87,000) that happens to have been built on one of the most breathtaking sites in the country.
There are lots of hotels, lots of restaurants, lots to do, and lots of facetime-with-the-lake opportunities. If your sojourn there is brief, be sure to stop (and/or stay) at Fitgers, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and houses a historic brewery (good beer), a restaurant with very good bar-type food, and several nice shops.
The epicenter of all things lake-related in Duluth (at least for visitors) is Canal Park, a shopping, dining, and water-gawping district that includes the perfect spot to watch huge tankers pass under the famous Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge. Take a walk (or rent a surrey bike for two or four) along the 8-mile Lakewalk. I’ll admit it’s a tourist-forward area but feels more fresh-faced and earnest than most. And for the love of all that is belly-related, do not skip the Portland Malt Shoppe, perched on the lake and housed in a wee old Western Oil building. There will always be a line. Wait in it. There’s nothing like a caramel malt slurped while gazing over Superior.
If you’re still around for breakfast/brunch/lunch do NOT — and I cannot stress this enough — skip Duluth Grill. Despite its homely moniker, it has a hippie-esque vibe, and everything is homemade and fresh and offers a little twist on the usual, e.g. the Red Flannel Hash made with beets, sweet potatoes, and carrots. If I had to, I would do many illegal things to get their banana cream pie. Luckily banana cream pie is still legal in Minnesota.
Going Norther and Norther
Time to head norther. Instead of being efficient and driving the four-lane Hwy. 61, Please take Old Hwy 61, because this is where you really hit the “North Shore.” The old highway runs between Duluth and Two Harbors (cute town and undoubtedly worth a stop, but oddly we’ve never spent any time there —because we’re on a mission).
On this stretch you’ll find two of my favorite spots. New Scenic Café and the Great! Lakes Candy Kitchen.
New Scenic Café has been around for a long time and it seems ever-changing. It has a beautiful outdoor waiting area, plus outdoor seating, and a kitchen garden. It’s Nordic and Nordic-adjacent fare with a little bit of random French, Spanish, and American (amazing burger!) thrown in. (I know I just heard you groan but doubt me not.) The food is extraordinary and beautiful. You can journey all the way from deviled eggs to a slice of opera cake over the course of a meal. And if you get past the bakery case at the front without buying something to take with you, you’ have more restraint than I.
Stopping in at the Great! Lakes Candy Kitchen up the road apiece after lunch at New Scenic Café is a great idea. Because woe betide the traveler who goes in hungry. Third-generation candymakers follow the same recipes created by their grandfather, founder Gust Canelake, in 1905. They’re all good (pro tip for the sugar-mindful: the sugar-free dark peanut clusters are great).
About that pie: Back on regular Hwy. 61, just past Two Harbors is the Rustic Inn Cafe, where you’ll want — nay NEED — to pick up a pie or three to get you through vacation. Somewhere in your trip-planning research, you will come across the words “Betty’s Pies.” Ignore them. They used to be handmade beauties with lard crust. Alas, IMO, Betty’s is a victim of its success, and the pies are now mass-produced and run-of-the-mill at best (though you wouldn’t know it from the lines). So, we have switched our allegiance to the Rustic Inn, which also serves good food.
There’s lots more to explore on Old Hwy. 61, but the clock is ticking, and we still need to get to points north (which is also often east).
You’re going to need to stop at Gooseberry Falls State Park. Minnesota’s North Shore state parks are some of the very the best I’ve visited. All clean, each with its own character, and breathtaking every one of them. But Gooseberry is an up-north rite of passage and has good infrastructure for every age including wheelchair-accessible wonders. You can muscle up to the Upper Falls or just stroll up to the Lower Falls. And if you have kids (or act like one), don’t even think that they (or you) will stay dry. Because in the lower area of the falls, you can walk in the river and climb behind the falls. Take towels and water shoes.
Get Your Lodgings
Now it’s time to get down to business and get to where you’re going to lay your head. There are resorts new and vintage and rental houses and cabins galore all along the route to choose among. Most are managed by Cascade Vacation Rentals, but you’ll also find places on Airbnb and VRBO.
Because the Millers are all swimmers, canoers, and dock-sitters, we have always stayed on Caribou Lake in Lutsen, a lovely inland lake about 5 miles up Caribou Trail from Mother Superior. People do get wet in Superior but with an average water temperature of 40 degrees — somewhat warmer than that in the summer — it takes some cojones to take a dip (although children seem impervious). But the rocky beaches make for some hours-consuming rock studying and collecting. It’s also considered prime agate-hunting territory.
Wherever you stay Up North, at least one trip to Grand Marais is de rigueur (Lutsen is about 20 minutes south of Grand Marais and we usually make two or three trips). It’s the ultimate Lake Superior town, both timeless and hip. My favorite store is Upstate MN, a beautiful little shop with a clean-lined vibe (tagline: “Northwoods Modern”) and handmade gifts, kitchenware, jewelry, sassy greeting cards and just nice, elegant things. You should also poke your head into the Lake Superior Trading Post, a sort of all-things-to-all-people (from jelly to footwear to trail maps), two-level marvel.
There are lots of spots for a delicious meal, but DO NOT miss the Angry Trout Cafe. Housed in an old commercial fishing shanty. Most of the fish they serve comes right off the boats that pull in next door. Your life is incomplete until you’ve had fish and chips made with that day’s haul of herring. Produce is organic (the salads are a thing of beauty) and almost everything is made in-house or locally, even the dishes. You will have to wait to be seated, but while you do, have a sit on the chairs provided on the restaurant’s mini-beach and just … be.
Wait for a spot on the patio perched right ON the harbor. The view, the lake-cooled air, and if you’re lucky, the otters that usually hang around, make the really uncomfortable old tractor-seat chairs bearable. Don’t forget the dreamy Swedish Crème with lingonberry sauce for dessert. Then stop next door at The Fisherman’s Daughter to pick up some fresh fish to grill back at home base and some smoked fish to take a bit of the North Shore back to real life.
Thus fortified, take a walk out to the lighthouse, and then follow the break water out to Artist’s Point. (Pro-tip: the park service’s parking lot at the trail’s beginning is a great place to park for the day. The whole town is easily walkable.) It’s less than a mile and you’ll be walking on the millenniums-old stone that formed the lake’s basin. There’s a little bit of up-and-downing but it’s an easy little hike for all ages — and kids go ape for it.
I could go on and on (and have I suppose…) There are more amazing things north of Grand Marais, but sadly, Wini has given me a word limit. A few of those things are the Kadunce River, where you can hike in the river (grippy shoes are a must); Grand Portage National Monument, which has a great visitor’s center; and the High Falls (Minnesota’s tallest waterfall) at the Grand Portage State Park right at the Canadian border.
I’ve only scratched the surface of the North Shore’s wonders. So many, many more fun, beautiful, and delicious places to explore but I guess a little mystery is good. (And besides, Google.)
Wini’s Notę: Jennifer gave me a few more leads, but alas, we’ve reached the word limit for this post. Find more links to even more things Jennifer loves in this post.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Read more work from professional Iowa writers through this state-wide collaborative!
 | A guest post by
|
And, if you have time, visit the Naniboujou Lodge and restaurant about 15 miles east of Grand Marais on Lake Superior. Google it for a picture of the dining hall and history behind the Lodge.
Auto correct you're not doing me any favors!