Premium @ Superior

Please excuse the mess on the table in the photo above, but I just love the view from inside the Airstream at this “premium” camping spot—directly on Vandeventer Bay, the west end of Lake Superior.

This campground doesn’t have the woods, the privacy, or the direct lake access for the kayaks (I think) that we just left at Black Lake, but it has so many other awesome aspects that we’ll probably stay an extra week.

Coolness #1: This is our back yard.

You can’t see much of the bay behind, but it’s the entire horizon to one side and behind us.

The camper to the other side has a direct path to the water, and if we can make friends maybe we can drag the kayaks out there without having to go to the boat dock.

And there are no bugs (so far), so although we set up the netted tent, we haven’t stepped foot in there. It’s been cool enough that we want direct access to the sun whenever it’s available.

Coolness #2: So much is within an hour’s drive.

This cold and stormy weather has been an unexpected adventure. Our first day here was rain all dang day long, so we drove to Duluth, Minnesota, to run errands. On the way, we stopped for a picnic near the funky-looking town of Superior and ate spicy burritos at a wayside picnic table by the lake, with the wind threatening to blow our plates away and the rain driving Banjo under the table. It was oddly thrilling!

We also stopped at a famous smokehouse to buy smoked Whitefish, which breaks off into delicate, complex-tasting morsels, like sashimi but robust. Sweet, savory, smokey. Yum!

Coolness #3: Hiking trails are everywhere.

We’re within driving distance of several state parks and a ton of hiking trails, but so far we’ve been busy enough with the small trail from the campground to Washburn’s city marina.

It’s a great walk for Banjo because she gets plenty of chances to stalk her new favorite animal: seagulls. I don’t know why she’s fascinated by them so much that she’s given up interest in Canadian Geese, but they thrill her.

The marina has a surprising number of sailboats on it—I took crap pictures while walking through this morning but saw a few small ones that made me think of my sister.

This is my favorite spotted item so far, a giant steak, right?

This ranks up with the giant beer bottle in Ohio. Paul Bunyan must’ve scattered his dinner all around the country in a fit, once.

Coolness #4: We can walk to a farmer’s market and a brewery.

Okay, so this is slightly illogical, but something that’s really turned me on to this campground is that we can walk to both a farmer’s market and a brewery with outdoor seating.

I know I’ve been lucky as am American to be getting out and seeing so much while my friends are going stir crazy in the same settings for the last five freaking months. But in my own traveling way I miss going in to places. We keep passing small town stores and museums and breweries and not daring to stop, so being able to walk over to these two outside places is a huge bonus.

Three cheers for shopping for fresh vegetables in person!

Tracy’s walking back from the market here with green onions poking out of our bag, but hidden are tomatoes, eggs, cilantro, lettuces, and a fresh bone for Banjo.

(This view of a street running straight down to the lake is common here but nonetheless striking, I think.)

And the brewery!

Suggested to us by Tracy’s cousin Angela, it’s a winner. We are a little spoiled by our last stop at Deb’s Brewtopia where every single beer is amazing, but so far we’ve tasted four of these beers at South Shore Brewing and liked three very much.

I’m thinking they set up their “beer garden” just in the last few weeks to get customers into the grassy area out back, and I’m all for that.

Tracy would be just as happy to buy beer from them in bottles and cans and drink it outside the trailer, which has a much better view and would be cheaper. But I just can’t get enough of feeling “like normal” at a brewery, where you’re sliding off your barstool set on unlevel ground and spilling your expensive draft beer on your rigged-up table. I don’t care! Next time we visit (today, maybe? yes, yes!) we’ll take a snack and Banjo.

There are still several things around here that we know we want to do, and we have the rare advantage of being in a non-reservations campground, which means we can stay as long as we want. So we’re going to do just that, and we’ll see what we can find.