My wife and I made a long weekend trip to the North Shore this past weekend.

Our first -- and only -- trip up together was for our honeymoon summer 2017. That was the first time I'd ever visited the North Shore, and we both loved the natural beauty, history and long list of must-try food, drink and activities.

We finally made a trip back this past weekend, re-living some of our fondest memories from the last trip and making some more along the way, including:

1. Visiting Ursa Minor Brewing in Duluth

Ursa Minor Brewing is the newest taproom/brewpub to join Duluth's already impressive craft beer scene. The taproom opened just last week and has already had a very positive reception -- the beer was fantastic, the food was delicious, the staff was impressively well-organized and efficient (for having just opened), and the taproom was full of local, unique character. We we incredibly impressed, would highly recommend a visit to anyone and look forward to visiting again!

2. Hiking Duluth's Lester Park

Lester Park on Duluth's east side is full of hiking and biking trails, river, waterfalls and scenic overlooks. We met up with a long-time friend who showed us some of his favorite walking trails, explaining some of the park and Duluth's history along the way. Being from Central Minnesota ourselves, we were amazed that so much natural landscape and beauty existed right there in city limits; it felt like we were miles outside of town!

3. Eating Betty's Pies in Two Harbors

Betty's Pies is always a must when visiting the North Shore. Our summer visit was a highlight of our honeymoon trip, and we wanted to re-live it again. So we got a couple slices to go -- caramel apple for me and raspberry rhubarb for my wife -- and drove over to eat at the scenic lookout at the nearby Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel. Fortunately, Katie managed to eat most of her pie before I accidentally dropped it on the ground. I felt awful, but she laughed anyway.

4. Eating Sven and Ole's Pizza in Grand Marais

I'd never been to Grand Marais before, so this was my first time up and furthest trip to Northern Minnesota. We'd heard Sven and Ole's Pizza was highly recommended, so we settled into a booth for delicious a chicken and wild rice pizza (though the Oktoberfest pizza with Polish Sausage, Spicy Brown Mustard, Sauerkraut, Red Onion and Mozzarella, Cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheeses also sounded delicious!). I had to laugh at the menu which seemed riddled with misspellings until I realized that everything was spelled phonetically as Sven and Ole would say in their thick Norwegian accents!

These are just a few of the highlights from our North Shore trip. What's your favorite North Shore destination?