Day three of Duluth Trip

Today is the final day of my road trip to Duluth, Minnesota - and to be frank, I had a ton of fun this weekend sightseeing.

This morning we all woke up around 9 am, and got ready to do all the things were originally going to do the day before.

The first thing on our agenda that we wanted to take care of: Riding the Lutsen Mountains Gondola.

But here was the original agenda I had drafted for today:

Final day in Duluth

Itinerary

• Morning: Breakfast at Duluth Grill
• Mid-Morning: Enger Park & Enger Tower climb
• Optional: Lakewalk/Canal Park morning stroll
• Late Morning: BlackBear Casino
• Afternoon: Glensheen Historic Congdon Estate tour
• Late Afternoon: Downtown Duluth shopping + Dinner
• Evening: Canal Park lakewalk
• Departure: Drive home

Key Activities

• Enger Park & Enger Tower
• BlackBear Casino
• Glensheen Historic Congdon Estate
• Canal Park
• Downtown shopping
• Lakewalk

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The original plan today was to explore more of Downtown Duluth, but since we we couldn't ride the Gondola yesterday or see some of the other cool things in Northern Minnesota along the way, we all collectively agreed to drive back up to Lutsen to ride the Gondola.

Here is a picture of Lake Superior from Duluth:

The Drive to Lutsen was pretty long, maybe an hour and a half, but at this point I was prepared for the long wait, and managed to get some ZZZs in.

I have actually been to Lutsen before. Last year, we came to this exact same spot, but we weren't able to really do anything because all of the attractions were closed, and we weren't able to ride the Gondola because of, "wind" problems.

Anyways, we got here and we were all excited.

I managed to take a picture of the Gondola express as well:

It was relatively crowded today at the spot. I didn't anticipate that there'd be so many people here.
There were 2 attractions that we wanted to see:

1. The Gondola (obviously)
2. The downhill ride, which was this downhill ride thingamajig where you rode on this "scooter" type thing down a concrete slide through the Lutsen forest. (Kind of like the Spirit Mountain coaster on the first day.)

We had to buy tickets for both, and wait in line for about 20 minutes due to how crowded it was, but it was worth it. The fresh breeze of the hair and the chilled day made the wait bearable.

While we waited, I took some pictures of the wilderness of this area:

After signing my soul over to these demons, and waiving their legal responsibility, paying $20 for each ticket, and waiting 30 minutes across a sea of people, I FINALLY got my ticket:

Since we couldn’t ride the gondola at the Lutsen Mountains right away due to it being so crowded, the first thing we wanted to try was the Lutsen downhill concrete ride—whatever the official name was. It was easier to access, and for some reason we wanted to save the gondola for last.

We didn’t want to spend the whole day waiting around, so we decided to start with this one.

The ride itself seemed actually pretty cool, so I was kind of excited.

To get to the ride, we had to get to the top of the main hill, so we had to take a ski lift. It reminded me of the one I rode at Spirit Mountain, except this one felt a little more cramped, like the area reused its winter ski lift setup for summer activities - which seems to be a common theme with these Duluth attractions.

Eh, it was fine though, because the breeze from the Lutsen Mountains felt amazing, and it was surprisingly calming

As we rode up, the view was gorgeous—endless trees, rolling hills, and just pure nature everywhere. Moments like that made me genuinely grateful to be alive in a peaceful time where I can appreciate scenes like this.

But the ski lift was so slow. Like painfully slow. I hated that part, but I’ll admit the views from both the front and back were worth it.

At the top, we grabbed these little scooter-looking sled things—I don’t even know what they’re officially called, but they reminded me of the scooters we used in elementary school, just upgraded for adults. It felt weird, but whatever.

The top of the hill itself had an incredible view of Lake Superior, and I loved it. I took a picture of it here:

After that, we got in another line to wait our turn to go down the concrete slide. I won’t lie—it was kind of scary. These “sleds” didn’t look like sleds, but they were built to go down the concrete track all the way to the bottom. The part that freaked me out was the lack of helmets. One bad move and you could seriously injure yourself. But still, I sucked it up, grew some courage, and pushed through the nerves.

The family ahead of me went down really fast—especially this little kid who practically flew. Watching him zoom by made me think, “If an eight-year-old can go full speed, then I can too.” So I got ready, ignored my nerves, and took my turn.

The perspective from the top was amazing, but once I started going down, the ride was fast. Way faster than I expected—scary, but thrilling. The track had hills and dips where I honestly thought I might fly off, but luckily the sleds had brakes. Still, I swear someone out there is going to wipe out on this thing one day and paint the concrete slide red with their brains.

Because the ride went by so quickly, I didn’t really get to appreciate the scenery on the way down, but the adrenaline made up for it. I ended up beating my family to the bottom—my guess is they took it slower.

After we finished the ride, we headed to the main Lutsen store to look around and see what they had.

The store itself wasn’t bad. It was basically a standard tourist clothing shop, but they did have some cool little trinkets and souvenirs that fit the vibe of the area.

I really wanted to buy a hoodie that had the Lutsen design on it, but the damn thing was like $75. I wasn’t about to drop that much on a hoodie, so I skipped it. Here’s a picture of one of the patches I bought. It wasn’t the only one, but it’s the one I decided to show.

Next, it was time to ride the gondola—and honestly, I was really excited. I’d never been on a gondola before, so I was really looking forward to the experience. I handed my ticket to the machine, the staff guy waved me through, and I took pictures of pretty much the whole process.

The gondola itself was this massive machine that lifted you into a small cabin and carried you all the way across the park to a mountain on the opposite side. The ride was actually really fun. It gave me an amazing view of the entire Lutsen area and the northern Minnesota wilderness. We floated over rivers, forests, and rolling hills, and it was incredible.

Thankfully, the fall colors were still hanging on, so I got to enjoy the bronze and fiery reds of the autumn trees spread out across the landscape. Here are some of the photos I took on my phone during the ride.

When we finally got atop the Hill and exited the Gondola, the surrounding area was very very crowded. Like there was a bunch of people here- I guess riding the concrete sled slide was worth it, if it meant having to avoid the original line to get to this spot.

The view from atop the main Lutsen Hill was incredible. I saw the vast expanse of the Northern Minnesota wilderness. But the only disappointing thing was that the majority of the trees in the forests had already shed their leaves, and it was more a vast expanse of naked trees rather than color.

It was too disappointing though because the air was nice, and there was still some color to appreciate.

I took some pictures:

There was this main hiking trail that led to the main congregational area. This entire place was essentially a skiing hill reused as a hiking trail, but it was still fun to explore nonetheless.

At the end of the trail led to this giant cabin, which people were entering in and out of.

It wasn't so bad, we went inside and they had a selection of generic American food. I ordered a Cheeseburger, and some onion rings.

We ate outside, and the view from the balcony was pretty cool, it directly looked into Lake Superior. I thought I took some pictures of the view, but I couldn't find any.

However, this is when the shittiness began to start, because suddenly, the weather changed and it began to rain. And it wasn't like any light rain, it started to downpour pretty hard - and THAT really ruined the experience.

So once that began, we decided it'd be best to leave and we made our way back to the Gondola to get back to ground level, however, it seemed like everyone else at the spot had the exact same idea as us, because before we knew it, everyone there was scrambling to leave.

The rain made things a LOT worse.

Luckily, we arrived at the line to leave first, but unluckily given that the Gondola exit line was getting packed, we were forced to leave with random people, and were bunched up in the cabin like sardines in a tin can.

It was still raining pretty hard, and given the fact that we were packed in the Gondola cabin with a bunch of random people, I didn't have the dexterity to take good photos.

I did manage to take this photo from the inside of the Cabin though:

Once we reached the bottom of the hill again, it ironically, stopped raining, but it was still pretty cloudy.

But what a fuckin' ironic twist. The minute we set our foot down at the base level, is when it stops raining.

Eh, it's fine. When we left the Gondola, I took a picture of the pulley system:

And I also took another picture of the Lutsen Mountain's area when exiting:

Finally, I took some more pictures of the surrounding nature now that the rain was gone, but too bad it was still so cloudy.

When we left the area, we had originally planned to hike Oberg Mountain, but it had just rained and the sky was still cloudy. We were worried it might start raining again—and even more worried that the trail would be muddy. None of us wanted to deal with that. So instead, we decided to check out some of the small mom-and-pop shops we’d passed on the drive earlier.

One store that caught our eye was a little place called Fish Out of Water, and it seemed interesting enough to turn around for. So we drove back, which took about half an hour.

We knew it was probably a tourist trap, but curiosity got the better of us. Normally, these little mom-and-pop shops are the kind you’d just drive past because you assume they won’t have anything worth stopping for—and ironically, that’s exactly why we wanted to check it out. We were genuinely curious about what a place like this even carried. So we parked the car and headed inside.

The shop was owned by an older man—probably in his 80s—who told us he was retired and planning to sell the entire property for about $600,000. He lived nearby, but it was pretty clear he also spent a lot of time in the shop itself. One section of the building was connected directly to a residential area, so we figured the whole property used to be his house and he had converted part of it into a store.

The shop had two floors. The main floor didn’t sell anything particularly unique—mostly everyday trinkets and tools like Swiss Army knives, notebooks, toys, and random gadgets.

The second floor was more interesting, with Minnesota-branded clothing and a few items representing the local area.

Outside, there was a big barn attached to the shop that was filled with furniture and miscellaneous items. It felt like a mix between an antique store and an upscale garage sale. Nothing stood out enough for us to buy, but it was still fun to wander through and see what was there.

After that, we got back on the road and headed to our next destination: Black Beach.

We’d heard it was a beach with completely black sand, and we weren’t sure if that was actually true, so we wanted to see it for ourselves.

The drive took about another half hour, and here’s a picture I took from the drive.

When we arrived at Black Beach, we were surprised by how crowded it was. We weren’t expecting it to be some isolated, untouched spot, but we also didn’t think there’d be that many people. There was an RV campground right next to the road heading down into the beach, which explained the crowds. Luckily, it was easy enough to avoid everyone by heading down to the main beach area. To get there, you have to walk through a forest and follow a trail that leads straight to the shoreline, so we found parking and started heading down.

On the way, we came across this vendor set up right in the middle of the woods, selling crewnecks and other apparel with Black Beach and Northern Minnesota designs. I thought they were super cool, so I grabbed a few—one for myself and some for my family. They were insanely comfortable too. I’m actually wearing one of the shirts right now as I write this.

The guy running the booth was really chill. The shirts were a little pricey, but honestly worth it. He told me he owned the business and designed everything himself. He takes photos of the surrounding area, edits them in Photoshop, and turns them into logos and prints. He joked that he learned everything from “YouTube University,” and we both got a laugh out of that.

After buying the shirts, I brought them back to the car and then returned to take a picture of the trail that led down to the beach.

We eventually made it to Black Beach, and honestly, I was so glad the cloudy weather had cleared up by then, because the view was absolutely incredible. As soon as we emerged from the forest and stepped into the beach area, a huge gust of lake breeze hit my face, and it felt amazing. The wind was crisp, the air was refreshing, and the whole scene was just breathtaking. I genuinely enjoyed every minute of it.

The beach itself wasn’t exactly pure black. It was more of a grayish-black tone.

I was curious as to why the beach was even this color in the first place, and if it was a natural phenomenon, and why it occurred.

After doing some research, I found that Black Beach gets its name from the dark, almost black sand and pebbles that cover the shoreline (which is obvious), which were created from the volcanic rock (basalt and other dark minerals) that's common along the North Shore.

The dark coloring comes from the ancient lava flows and volcanic activity that shaped this region over a billion years ago.

BUT - There is another reason why the beach is black as well:

Black Beach was created from taconite tailings (waste rock) dumped into Lake Superior by the Reserve Mining Company. Starting in the 1950s, the company processed low-grade iron ore (taconite) and disposed of the fine-grained waste material directly into the lake.

These dark tailings consisted of finely ground rock particles left over after extracting iron ore. Millions of tons were dumped into Lake Superior over several decades.

Eventually, these tailings washed up, and consolated here at Black Beach, giving it it's unnatural, but 'natural' color tone.

So the reasons for the beach's coloration originate from a mix of both natural and artificial environmental causes.

Still, it's very very cool.

The beach itself was a lot more crowded that I thought it would be.

To the right side of the beach, there was this massive rock formation—basically a giant cliff—that was way taller and more impressive than I expected. I wanted to climb it to get a better photo of the entire shoreline, but once I got closer, I realized how dangerous it actually was. A lot of people were trying to climb it too, but it looked tougher than it first appeared.

I tried climbing up for a bit, but I eventually chickened out—and honestly, that’s fine. I’d rather back out and enjoy the view safely than try to scale the rock, slip, and crack my head open. Still, I was able to walk around part of the formation. There was a small path that wrapped around the side, and from there I took a picture of the lake from the outer edge of the cliff. The view was worth it.

I also took this pic of the outer area to the right of the "mountain" a bit more:

I started to climb the rock formation from this angle, and I had to actually claw up some rocks to navigate through the formation.

Before I climbed up, I took these pictures of Lake Superior:

Atop of the formation, I managed to see the lake, and the shoreview much more clearly, and saw how far the vast stretch of Lake expanded.

I also snapped some photos of the trees growing out of the rock. There were some red berries on them—I’m not sure what they were, but after putting the picture through ChatGPT, it identified them as "American Mountain Ash Berries" , which are a common shrub that grows along the coastline of Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

Apparently these are usually eaten by birds and small mammals, and that, while edible and not deadly, the taste of the berries are bitter very bitter and can cause stomach upset if eaten raw.

They’re usually only used after cooking, freezing, or fermenting—and even then, most people don’t eat them casually.

Traveling down more, I snapped more pics of the lake:

Anyway, like I mentioned before, the rock formation was much more huger than I thought, and while I wanted to climb up, I couldnt find any decent leverage to use to get up. I took a picture of the formation though.

After navigating through some more rocks, and managing to not slip, I reached the backside of the formation, and took this magnificent picture of the lake from an open area.

Then I had to navigate through the crevices AGAIN and manage to not slip, but before I did, I took a picture of what I had to deal with:

After climbing down from the rock formation, I made my way to the opposite end of the beach.

There was another rock formation there, smaller and tamer than the first. As I got closer, I noticed graffiti on the rock—people's initials and other little designs—which I thought was pretty cool.

I walked up to inspect it more closely, and here's a picture:

Not wanting to leave without leaving my own mark, I added my graffiti name with the year. Honestly, I'm pretty proud of it. I know I'm a toy, but I graffiti casually—so don't hate on me.

Luckily, compared to the previous rock formation, this one was easier to reach. There was a small trail near the forest that led to the top, and I followed it up.

From there, I got a much more magnificent view of the lake—it was really chill. The rock itself was more stable, making it easier to walk on, and I had better dexterity for precise footwork.

Here is some pictures atop this Rock formation:

After exploring, I walked back down and made my way toward the car. Black Beach was actually really fun—definitely an experience I enjoyed. While it’s not dramatically different from other beaches, it has a unique charm I’ll always remember.

I took this final picture of the beach:

On the way back, I noticed a sign with graffiti and couldn’t resist adding my name again. I know I’m a toy at graffiti and not the best, but I just had to leave my mark.

KTAH for the win.

Before leaving, I took a picture of the Black Beach sign and also snapped photos of the shirts I had bought from the vendor at the beach entrance. Then we drove back to Duluth.

Bye bye Black Rock Beach

On the drive down back to Duluth, I took this photo on the way capturing the natural geographic beauty along the Lake Superior coastline:

The next agenda on our list before we decided to go back to Duluth was to visit the famous Split Rock Lighthouse along the way.

Split Rock Lighthouse is an iconic lighthouse built in 1910, dramatically perched on a 130-foot cliff overlooking Lake Superior on Minnesota's North Shore. It was constructed after a devastating 1905 storm to warn ships of the dangerous rocky coastline. Now a state historic site about 20 miles northeast of Two Harbors, it's one of the most photographed lighthouses in America and offers tours of the restored lighthouse and keeper's quarters.

It was on the way back and I've always wanted to check this place out.

There were a handful of pretty cool monuments to check out, and I took pictures of them:

By the time we arrived, it was around 6 p.m. The lighthouse closed at 6:30, but I still wanted to try to catch a peek inside. Luckily, there was parking available, and it wasn’t too crowded. I’d always wanted to see the museum and explore the interior of a lighthouse, so this felt like my chance.

When we went inside, I asked for admission, but the staff warned me they were closing in 30 minutes. I told them I’d only need about 15, so I basically had to speed-run the whole visit. I headed straight for the lighthouse and explored as quickly—and thoroughly—as I could. Fortunately, there were only a handful of people left, so I still managed to enjoy it.

I cut through the main museum and made my way to the lighthouse itself as quickly as I could, but I still took a bunch of pictures of everything that I saw:

I took a ton of photos from top to bottom as I worked my way up. It was actually really cool. I didn’t expect it to be this narrow; I always imagined lighthouses being huge, but this one had its own charm. There was also a recreated lighthouse keeper’s house that showed how people lived back in the day—I don’t remember the exact year it was modeled after, but it was pretty interesting.

Another panoramic view of the glorious Lake Superior.

Walking up the lighthouse:

The lighthouse room itself. I couldn't get the entire view because I didn't want to take pictures of the people in there with me. The entire tower was pretty confined and small.

Outside the museum, there was a perfectly recreated little house showing how lighthouse keepers lived back when lighthouses were still essential. It was a cozy cottage filled with period-accurate amenities and details that really illustrated their daily lives. Honestly, it felt a bit like walking through a real estate open house—except it doubled as a time capsule. They maintained it so well that you could almost imagine people still living there. It was a bit crowded, so I couldn’t get all the photos I wanted, but I was proud of the ones I managed to take.

Final pic of the lighthouse itself directly:

After exploring the house, I headed back into the museum and took my time checking out all the little facts and displays. I didn’t expect lighthouses to have so much history and depth, but the information was genuinely interesting. There were tons of fun facts I never knew about the importance of lighthouses along the Northern Minnesota coastline.

When I finished exploring the museum, I met up with my family at the gift shop and picked up a few more patches for my jean jacket. By then, the lighthouse museum was closing, but that was fine—I was just glad I got to experience everything, even if I had to speedrun part of it.

The patches I got:

The last thing we wanted to do before heading back to Duluth was visit the coastline to see the lighthouse from the cliffs and take in Lake Superior one more time.

The thing is, we had a take a little mini hike down to the coast. I guess that makes up for missing out on the original hike at Oberg Mountain. The weather was perfect, not too cool, and a light breeze, mixed with the fresh coniferous air surrounding us.

Hiking down to the coast was beautiful, and the sunset's gaze shined down upon us.

I took some pics:

trail down

When we finally reached the bottom of the coastline, the view was absolutely breathtaking. The vast expanse of Lake Superior stretched out before me, and the sunset painted the sky in unforgettable colors. The air was crisp and clean, the sky calm and mellow—it was incredibly calming. In that moment, I felt truly lucky to live, laugh, and appreciate the world I’ve been given. I’m grateful for the people who support me and for the freedom to protect my peace from those who might take it away.

This view quickly became my favorite part of the trip. I took several photos of the lighthouse from the coastline. I wish I had a better camera to capture it all in higher quality, but I’m still happy with the shots I got. I took quite a few, trying to capture the scene from every angle, and here are the ones I thought were worth sharing.

Yeah, I know I took a ton of pictures of the lighthouse- but I just couldn't get the "perfect" one, xd.

Here is the picture of the wrist band the museum gave to me to allow me to explore the light house originally.

Some more pictures of the beautiful sunset above Lake Superior.

And a final picture of Split Rock Lighthouse that I liked the most!

After that, we made our way back to car, and headed back down to Duluth. I took this picture whilst on the way.

When we finally got back to Duluth, we were hungry again and decided to revisit PhoHolic. It had been delicious the first time, and it felt fitting—like a perfect Ouroboros ending—to finish the trip where we started.

A good start deserves a good ending, and this place delivered on both.

I ordered the same dish as my first visit: rare lean beef pho. And just like before, it was absolutely delicious.

After dinner, I captured a beautiful photo of the moonlight illuminating the sky.

On the drive back, I took one last picture of downtown Duluth before heading home to the Twin Cities.

Overall, this weekend was one of the best I’ve ever had, and I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to travel to northern Minnesota. I’m deeply grateful for my family, my freedom, and the beauty of the Earth that God has given me.

Thank you to anyone who made it this far—I truly appreciate your time, your interest, and your willingness to follow along on my journey as I explored northern Minnesota during this chapter of my life.

With love,

Devv