A Weekend at the Grand Superior Lodge

Our Grand Superior Lodge cabin

My dad’s surprise 70^th birthday was celebrated in fine fashion with a weekend at the Grand Superior Lodge on the north shore of Lake Superior. For months, my sister, brother, and I worked to make all of the arrangements. And it went off virtually without a hitch. Virtually? Yeah, there was something about someone losing some car keys at a point, but that’s another story for another time.

How was the Grand Superior Lodge? It’s a long drive to get there from the Twin Cities, but, in short, it’s worth the effort. Almost any well-kept cabin in northern Minnesota is, though, at least in the nice summer months. But, the Grand Superior has a little something that sets it apart. More on that in a second, but first…

THE ROOMS

It’s not so much a room as it is a house with three rooms, a living room, kitchen, dining area, and deck with a grill. This made it a perfect fit for our whole family of eleven. Six people – my father and his girlfriend and my brother and his family – stayed in the two rooms upstairs. My sister, her family, and myself were able to split the sleeping areas downstairs. We had plenty of room to spread out, play games, watch movies, and lounge outside, so it was easy to get away if you needed a break from all of the family craziness.

The living room

One of the rooms, the others both have in-room jacuzzi

There were a few things that were obviously well-used, like the fireplace with all of the small ember burns in the carpet in front of it, but generally speaking the property was well maintained. And if something wasn’t, or if it broke, all it took was a phone call. We had to make a couple during our stay, and the staff was always quick to respond and friendly when they did, which leads me to talk more about…

THE SERVICE

S’mores!!!

The Grand Superior Lodge’s rooms are owned by other people, but rented out to guests. It’s kind of like a timeshare in a way. Knowing this in advance, I didn’t expect the service to be all that stellar. I figured we’d be on our own for the whole time after check-in. But that wasn’t the case. As I said, if something broke in our unit, we only had to make a phone. And if we wanted s’mores or a fire down by the shoreline? Yep. Just another phone call. They’d send someone down who would happily take care of it all for us free of charge.

THINGS TO DO

Full up on s’mores? Then take advantage of all of the nearby things to do. And believe me, there are a bunch. We only scratched the surface in our visits to Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse, and a stop in Duluth on the way up. There’s plenty more to do with Lake Superior only a few feet from your back door, the nearby town of Two Harbors, and the vast Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. If we had more than four days we surely would have hit more, but, in the essence of the trip, we really just wanted to relax and spend some time together as a family. And the Grand Superior Lodge is perfect for that with free movie rentals (don’t forget the free popcorn!) and available games.

The iconic Split Rock Lighthouse

THE FOOD

How good the food is really is up to you. There’s a full kitchen in main ground floor unit. We used it with the grill outside to prepare our meals each day. The smaller upstairs units, which can be rented with the downstairs ones, have mini fridges and microwaves for quick meals and cups of coffee. There is also a bar in the lodge’s main building, but, despite having a complimentary gift card, we never made it over to check it out.

Pie!

Need another option? Then head into Two Harbors. It’s only a fifteen minute drive. There are plenty of local restaurants there. Before we got on the road to return, we stopped at one – Betty’s Pies – which is a must visit. There are certainly other things to order besides the pies, but why would you? There’s a reason the place is called Betty’s Pies. So, don’t be embarrassed, tuck in and order a few slices for lunch. We did. Seriously.

The moon rising over Lake Superior

THE END RESULT

The Grand Superior Lodge exceeded my expectations. I was truly impressed with our visit. Sure, there were little things I’d like to see changed, like a nicer BBQ grill available, but nothing I can truly complain about. It was a great place, and I’d most definitely stay there again.