Summer Trip: North Shore, Minnesota (dog-friendly)
Lake Superior - Lutsen, MN
A Trip north from Duluth to Grand Marais with the dog.
Duluth
We spent three days in Duluth in June. The weather in June is still a bit chilly so bring your jacket for the evenings. Staying on Park Point allowed for runs up & down it in the morning and easy access to take our dog, Monty, to the beach. Dogs are allowed on the beaches in Duluth. We stayed closer inland to Canal Park which allowed us to walk to the Ariel Lift Bridge and all the other more “touristy” things in that area. Spend an afternoon in Canal Park watching the bridge lift to let boats come through, grab drinks at Vikre Distillery (they use local ingredients and Lake Superior water to distill their spirits!), and have dinner at Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar (Amazing food & drinks + lots of Veg options).
Duluth is home to some incredible breweries. Bent Paddle & Ursa Minor are the big ones and they both have dog-friendly patio/yard areas. Both have live music and a bunch of events going on (especially in the summer), so check out their websites or Instagram pages for up-to-date info. If beer isn’t your thing there are two cideries right next to Ursa Minor. Wild State Cider & Duluth Cider are also both dog friendly. Wild State Cider has the cutest logo and their cider was phenomenal. A yummy place to grab lunch around this area is Hungry Hippie Tacos.
We left Monty at the Airbnb and spent a morning visiting Glensheen Mansion. Glensheen was built between 1905-1907 by the influential Congdon family who opened up iron mining in this region. The house is massive and there is so much history to learn about the family & Duluth by doing a tour. The views of Lake Superior from the property are beautiful. You could expect to spend about 2 hours here.
On our way back into town we had lunch at Boat Club Restaurant where we sat out over the water with views of the lake and the lift bridge. It was a lovely lunch menu and after our meal, we grabbed chocolate malts at The PortLand Malt Shoppe which is an absolute must! The afternoon was spent on the 12th street beach letting Monty play in the sand and swim! Later that evening we had a romantic dinner at Va Bene. If you can get a table in the outside porch area you get beautiful views of the lake and can watch the sailboats go by during sunset. We ended our day with a nightcap at the English-style bar, Sir Benedicts Tavern on the Lake. The entire place had such great energy and has live music almost every night!
Accommodation: We stayed at an Airbnb on Park Point (the skinny land that juts out to Wisconsin). There are many properties to choose from that are dog friendly & walkable to beaches/restaurants/shops.
Additional Food:
Love Creamery (Dairy & Vegan Ice Cream)
Juice Pharm (Acai Bowls + Healthy options)
Additional Things to Do:
Two Harbors
The drive from Duluth to Two Harbors is about 35 minutes. Plan to stop for lunch or dinner at New Scenic Cafe. It is about halfway between these two cities. New Scenic Cafe was one of the best restaurants I have EVER been to. Not only was the food amazing, but the staff also was friendly, and the overall vibe of the restaurant was incredibly cozy. They have a ton of vegetarian options, in addition to meat dishes, and tasty desserts! There is outside seating where you can order food to go and sit outside with your dog. We opted to sit inside and leave Monty outside to nap.
Within Two Harbors we stopped at Castle Danger Brewery. They have a huge outdoor space that is dog friendly and has food trucks plus yard games. I highly recommend trying the Castle Cream Ale…yum!
Lutsen
We took our time driving up the shore from Two Harbors to Lutsen because there were several places we wanted to stop along the way. Betty’s Pies was our first stop. The pie here was AMAZING. Highly recommend the rhubarb pie. You can order a pie from the outdoor window and sit on one of the benches with dogs. After we were full of pie we headed to Gooseberry Falls State Park to hike it off. There were several trails to take and the entire park was dog friendly and free! Coming from someone who is much more familiar with parks on the west coast I was shocked that dogs were allowed everywhere in the State Parks in MN and that some were free!
Next up was Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. If you want to go into the Lighthouse & surrounding property the admission fee is $12 per adult. The Split Rock Light Station was built in 1905 after a November storm wrecked nearly 30 ships into the rugged shoreline. It is one of Minnesota's best-known destinations and has stunning views of Lake Superior. Doing a tour of the lighthouse and property is very interesting and there is a lot to learn about the area. Dogs are not allowed within the lighthouse property. Walking around the lighthouse property takes around an hour.
We then headed for Tettegouche State Park. A nice place quick stop before the park is Palisade Head. You will drive up a steep incline to a parking lot where the views are spectacular. You may even see people rock climbing the sheer cliffs here. You can walk along the edge or sit and enjoy the views.
Tettegouche State Park allows dogs in the whole park but did have a $7 vehicle fee. Instead of paying that and driving in we just parked at the visitor center and hiked along the Baptism River to a waterfall loop. It was still gorgeous and we only ran into a few other hikers. We were pretty tired of hiking by this point so we only did about a 2-mile loop.
When then finished the quick drive to Lutsen which was our next home base. We stayed at the Lutsen Sea Villas which is located between Tofte and Lutsen. The villa was reasonably priced, had a full kitchen, fireplace, large living room, plenty of on-property amenities like a pool and playground, and had direct access to the lake shore with firepits.
Three highlight activities we did in Lutsen were golfing at Superior National, Lutsen Ski Mountain, and North Shore Winery.
A beautiful golf course with views of Lake Superior the entire 18 holes. The staff was so nice and provided me with a free set of brand-new women's clubs.
The gondola takes you 1,000 feet above Lake Superior to the summit of Moose Mountain. Enjoy a glass of wine at the top & take in the views. There are hiking trails to explore as well as an alpine slide. Dogs are allowed on the gondola for free. It is $29 per adult to ride the gondola or $40 for the alpine slide & gondola.
Quality wines and lovely outdoor area to sip wine, play games, and hang with your dog. They have live music on Sundays on the outdoor stage. Closed Wednesdays.
A trip to Minnesota isn’t complete without going out on a lake, so we spent the afternoon paddle boarding on Caribou Lake. The water was still cold in June and the mosquitos are no joke...so bring your bug spray!
Paddle Boarding Caribou Lake, Lutsen
Grand Marais
The final area we explored on the North Shore was Grand Marais which was a 20-minute drive from Lutsen. We stopped halfway to hike some of the Superior Hiking Trail in Cascade River State Park. If you are unfamiliar with the Superior Hiking Traill, like I was, it is a 310-mile-long hiking trail in northeastern Minnesota that hikers backpack. Cascade River State Park has a $7 admissions fee.
Grand Marais is a quaint town with lots of restaurants and full of places to hike, mountain bike, and look for wildlife. We had beers at Voyager Brewery which had a dog-friendly rooftop and snacks. We then walked out to Grand Marais Lighthouse for sunset which had nice views of the town and boats on the lake.
We ended the last night of our trip with a bonfire on the shoreline and a bottle of Boundary Waters White from North Shore Winery then headed back to Minneapolis in the morning.
The North Shore of Minnesota is an easy and fun summer trip to take with the family + dog!
