Toes buried in the sand, I look off into the windswept waters, spotting a bright red freighter, a couple of jet skis, and a curving shoreline edged with parks and beaches. Grandma Lizzy floats on a blow-up recliner, while the cousins take turns hauling each other around on a boogie board. Shorebirds forage for insects in the sand. For our California crew, it feels like a classic beach day. I have to remind myself that we are over a thousand miles from the ocean, squarely in the Midwest at the tail-end of a sweltering summer. Welcome to Duluth, Minnesota, home to Grandpa Billy and the Rogers cousins, first stop on our family vacation.

It took several years of planning to put together this easy beachside scene. Ever since Grandpa Billy passed away, we knew we wanted to meet in his hometown, to share memories in his old haunts and experience his favorite places with three generations of Rogers. Duluth is charming. Old stone buildings, once teeming with industry, now house restaurants, distilleries, and galleries. The lake is bustling with sailboats, yachts and freighters. A lakeside trail rims the clear, blue waters of Lake Superior, winding through parks and historic neighborhoods.

We know we can’t do everything in four days, but we do a lot. We have cones at the Portland Malt Shoppe, drinks at Fitzger’s Brewhouse and a friends and family dinner in Bill’s memory at his favorite Pickwick Restaurant and Pub. Cousin Liz’s beach house on Park Point, the world’s longest freshwater sand bar, is a welcome meeting spot for a beach day barbecue. We tour the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center in Canal Park before renting a surrey and pedaling out to the North Pier Lighthouse for a unique view of Duluth’s historic Aerial Lift Bridge, which lifts vertically to let ships into the harbor. Grandma Lizzy treats us all to a sightseeing cruise on the Vista Fleet, where we learn about Duluth’s history as one of the largest inland shipping ports for Powder River Basin iron ore. One of Grandpa Billy’s first jobs was on an iron ore freighter (a “Laker”) just like the ones we see offshore as we play on the beach.

We spend our final days in Minnesota on the North Shore, road tripping from Duluth to Lutsen and the historic Lutsen Resort, Minnesota’s oldest resort at 130 years old. Grandpa Billy loved the North Shore. It’s easy to see why. Life slows down here, where we are far enough north to look earnestly for the Northern Lights when the suns falls. There is water, water everywhere—Lake Superior, of course, but also rivers chock full of waterfalls and hundreds of smaller lakes up lazy, mountain roads. We have a delicious meal at the Angry Trout Cafe in Gran Marais, right down the road from the North House Folk School, where artisans learn and practice traditional northern crafts like basketry and felting. We have heart-stopping fun at the Alpine Slide at Lutsen Mountain, a summer luge down Eagle Mountain, before taking the aerial gondola to Moose Mountain, marveling at the views—lake on one side, endless green forest on the other.

My favorite part of the trip is an impromptu trip to Fourmile Lake. We wake up on our last full day in Minnesota and decide it’s as good a day as any to go canoeing. We rent canoes at Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte, and take the shopkeepers advice to head into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. We launch our canoes in a quiet lake rimmed with water lilies, paddling out to a nearby island. We have a makeshift memorial for Grandpa Billy, swapping memories as the last of his ashes swirl into the fish-filled waters. We share a bottle of Sawtooth Mountain Cider. A golden eagle alights from a tree. It’s a fitting end to a special vacation.

To visit Happy Cabin during your trip to North Lake Tahoe / Tahoe Vista / Kings Beach, click here.