Carol Slept Here – Two Harbors Lighthouse

I returned home last night, and I’m thrilled to be back. I was never so happy to walk down the street and hear Arabic, Chinese or Spanish…whew!

My trip to Minnesota took it out of me… lots of driving on a flat, beige plain and wacky weather for a week was enough for me to last a lifetime. I don’t see myself heading back to that neck of the woods again anytime soon.

I’ve been looking through my pictures and I can say they aren’t much to look at. On most days the sky was overcast and caused glare on my subjects. I’ll share one or two of the shots I like – but that’ll be for another post.

This post is about the Two Harbors Lighthouse on the north shore of Lake Superior.

I slept in it.

Yes, this adventurer booked two nights in The Keeper’s Room at the Two Harbor’s Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast.

This Lighthouse is a volunteer operation and maintained by the local Two Harbors historical society. To assist in the cost of upkeep for the lighthouse, they have three rooms on the upper floor of the lighthouse (which all share a bathroom, by the way) but you are treated to the calm, quiet views of Lake Superior you wouldn’t be able to find in a regular hotel/motel on the north shore.

Yours truly in front of the Two Harbors Lighthouse, Minnesota. Yeah, I slept here.

What was I looking out at, you may ask? The view was an unending stretch of slate blue water with small whitecaps from time to time. The shoreline is black rock – no sand in sight.

I was standing in the “front yard” of the Two Harbors Lighthouse, but the picture was taken looking East so you can see the shoreline. The view from the lighthouse is straight out onto Lake Superior.

Out of all the places I visited in Minnesota, I’d recommend the North Shore. It has a varied landscape between the lake shore, lighthouses, and hiking trails leading to waterfalls.

In the summer time the population on the north shore swells to at least four times the size it is during the winter. Locals from Minnesota, Canada, Wisconsin, North Dakota and elsewhere swarm the place.

If you are planning to go here in July and August, expect traffic jams (there is only one main “highway” along the north shore, Rt 61) overflowing state park parking lots, and rubbing elbows with every 6 foot 4 Swedish boy from a 100 mile radius.

Good luck with that.

While it’s true the weather didn’t cooperate so early in the season, as you can see from these photos I got blue skies and chilly but pleasant weather for the one day I was able to do some hiking. I needed a sweater, scarf and jacket in May – but it could have been worse – as it was the next day when it dropped to 40 degrees and rained buckets.