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Cabin Retreats on Lake Superior's North Shore

10/28/2026

🕯️🍂Trick or treat, smell my feet, bring your dog for a spooky retreat🦉🍂

10/22/2026

A little piece of Patagonia.

We named this cabin the Gaucho after the traditional horsemen of Patagonia, a place we fell pretty hard for, calling it home for many years. There’s something about the gaucho way of life that has always stuck with us: time outside, a strong connection to the land, and not being in quite so much of a hurry.

Maybe that’s what we love most about this place.

Photos: Keith Richner — Travel & Hospitality Photographer 📷 & Stevie Anna Plummer

10/20/2026

Forget the North Pole. The Polar Express is headed for the North Shore.

We’re putting December 5 on the calendar a little early, because some Christmas plans are worth making room for.

This year, the old Great Northern Caboose will become a little Christmas stop of its own, with Santa, warm drinks, carols, vintage photographs, and the kind of simple holiday magic that belongs to a small town in December.

Bring the children. Bring your Christmas spirit. Bring someone you love.

Saturday, December 5 · 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.
3095 MN-61 · Grand Marais

Mark your calendar. We’ll see you at the caboose.

10/05/2026

POV: you took a weekend trip and accidentally booked a room in another decade. 🍂

09/24/2026

A pretty exciting little update from us…

After a few weeks of quietly soft-opening the caboose and welcoming our first guests aboard, we’re officially opening the calendar through the end of 2026.

It feels pretty special to finally say that.

We’ve spent so long working on GNX257, and it’s been such a fun (and sometimes very long) process bringing her back to life. Getting to see the first guests stay aboard made all of it feel very real.

Now, the 2026 calendar is open across all three of our booking options: directly with us (and save a little more), Airbnb & Vrbo

We’ve also had quite a few people asking about winter. We’re still working on those dates, and our winter 2026 calendar will be coming in the next few months. We’ll announce it in our newsletter as soon as those dates are open.

We’re really excited to see what this next year brings and to have GNX257 become a little part of so many people’s North Shore trips.

See you aboard,

Stevie & Juani

09/01/2026

We’re often told there are two kinds of people: introverts who crave quiet and extroverts who crave people.

But maybe it’s not that simple.

Many studies have found something surprising. Whether someone considers themselves introverted or extroverted, most of us struggle with intentional solitude.

Not loneliness… solitude.

Those are very different things.

Loneliness is the feeling that something is missing.
Solitude is the decision to become present.

One leaves us empty.
The other often leaves us restored.

Yet intentional solitude has become increasingly rare. We live surrounded by notifications, conversations, music, podcasts, headlines, and endless opportunities to avoid silence. Even our walks are often accompanied by earbuds. And our waiting often interrupted by a screen.

Perhaps that’s why quiet feels uncomfortable at first..

Not because we’re doing it wrong.
Because we’re out of practice.

Silence has a way of revealing what constant noise keeps hidden. Our worries. Our gratitude. Our creativity. Our prayers. The questions we’ve been too busy to ask.

It isn’t always easy.
But some of life’s best things rarely are.

We don’t believe rest is simply the absence of work.
We believe it’s the presence of something we’ve forgotten how to hear..

Sometimes the most meaningful conversation you’ll have all week is the one that happens after the world finally gets quiet.

08/26/2026

Years from now, you probably won’t remember what the weather was that day.

But you’ll remember the way the cabin smelled after the fire was lit.

The sound of the trees outside.

The way your hands shook just before you reached for each other.

The quiet that settled in after you said, “I do.”

Sometimes the smallest weddings leave the biggest memories.

08/20/2026

Still summer in the maples.

There are a few quiet weeks left before the canopy turns amber and the forest takes on its autumn colors.

For now, the maples are deep green, the afternoons are warm, and there’s still time to linger beneath the canopy.

A little more summer, before the season changes.

08/10/2026

Consider your Monday brightened courtesy of our Campo cabin guest🤎

07/09/2026

For most of human history, silence wasn’t something we searched for.

It was simply part of life.

Today, it’s becoming one of our rarest resources.

The World Health Organization has identified environmental noise as one of the leading environmental threats to human health, behind only air pollution in its overall impact in many parts of the world. Chronic exposure to noise has been linked to increased stress, disrupted sleep, cardiovascular disease, impaired learning, anxiety, and even a shortened life expectancy.

Yet noise isn’t only measured in decibels.

It’s the constant stream of notifications.
The television that’s always on.
The podcast during the drive.
Music while we cook.
Scrolling while we wait.

The habit of filling every quiet moment simply because it feels uncomfortable.

We’ve become so accustomed to constant input that silence can feel almost unsettling.

But perhaps that’s because we’ve forgotten what quiet is for.

Quiet isn’t empty.

It’s where we notice things again.

The wind moving through the poplars.

A loon calling across the lake.

The person sitting across from us.

Maybe the greatest luxury isn’t more entertainment.

Maybe it’s simply a little less noise.

Address

Grand Marais, MN
55604

Website

http://greatnorthernstays.com/

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