Travel Desk: Lost and found on the North Shore

This holiday weekend, many of us are driving to a treasured spot in the state. Lucky us. We will encounter blue skies, sparkling lakes and few crowds. Where there are others, well, Minnesotans, generally speaking, are a pretty pleasant bunch.

I know about such luck. I just returned from my own experience of uncrowded shoreline, shining waters and kind Minnesotans along the North Shore.

I was heading home on Interstate 35, in the southern reaches of Duluth, when my daughter asked to see our "Guide to the Superior Hiking Trail" book.

"It's in my purse," I told her.

True enough. But, as quickly became clear, my purse was not in the car. She didn't see it, but I suddenly had an all-too-clear vision: It was on the rocks beside Lake Superior at the French River, a good 30 minutes northeast.

I turned around at the nearest exit. My daughter, meanwhile, dialed the Duluth police to see if anyone had reported the lost purse. They sent us to the State Patrol, who provided the phone number of the DNR fish hatchery office at the river, where I could call to see if someone had already dropped the bag with them.

I stayed calm. Not because my wallet held a mere $16 in cash. I just didn't believe a bad thing could happen. We were in Minnesota, after all, and the sun was sparkling on the lake, it was a beautiful day, and it's not such a bad thing to return to Superior's shores no matter what the cause.

We pulled into the parking lot, and I noticed that the sunbathing woman who had smiled at us when we first stopped there an hour earlier was gone. Hers had been the only other car in the lot. Then we climbed down the rocks. The purse was there. The wallet was in the purse. The money was in the wallet.

We did what anyone would have done in such a situation: We waded into the water again and skipped rocks.

Send your questions or tips to Travel Editor Kerri Westenberg at travel@startribune.com, and follow her on Twitter: @kerriwestenberg.