Sorry I'm slow to respond, daverave. Hopefully you're still checking WTW while on the road.
I don't know if you're a fan of these but I always like to sample the
pasties ('PASS-teez") when we're traveling through the U.P. I'm partial to the ones with rutabaga. Many grocery stores have them but I like to stop at small pasty shops as some have stories to tell about their secret recipes.
Since you mention Voyageur NP, I'd also recommend a visit to Ely, Minnesota, particularly the North American Bear Center. It has dozens of video displays with very interesting bear footage. I was impressed with how thoroughly they anticipate and answer any question we might have about bears and bear research. I imagine many folks do a walk through on their way to see the live bears out back but there's a heck of a lot of good info on those video displays. Also- on both our visits there we were able to talk to very experienced bear researchers.
Ely also has the International Wolf Center. We enjoyed that and took the night-time wolf-calling tour. You don't need to pay for a tour if you want to call on your own as I can provide location details on a good night-time wolf-calling point with an overlook into the Boundary Waters wilderness.
There's also a 50-plus mile gravel road we enjoyed in the Superior National Forest north and west of Ely... the Ely-Buyck road (route 116). It's also sometimes called the Echo Trail, presumably because it goes to Echo Lake. It felt kinda remote but then we'd pull into an out-in-the-boonies canoe launch and find the parking lot nearly full as this is in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The lakes in that area are wonderful but you do need a permit. Also- here's a link to a possible adventure along that road:
Hegman Lake Pictographs ( I just ran onto that in a search for Ely-Buyck Road). Alltrails has a route there called Hegman Lakes Hike and Paddle Route.
Ely itself is an interesting little town. You might also keep an eye out for anything to do with Will Steger in and around Ely. I see he recently returned from an expedition and had a premiere showing of a new documentary called 'After Antarctica' in Ely last month.