Days 11 – 13: Duluth/Two Harbors

 

Sunday was a very rainy day in Duluth, but it cleared off by the middle of the afternoon.  We did housecleaning in the motor home and some laundry and made a quick trip for some groceries.  We saw another 1000’ freighter pass under the lift bridge as it was leaving the port of Duluth. 

Monday we drove up the North Shore Scenic Drive to Two Harbors where we are staying at Burlington Bay Campground.  We explored Two Harbors and bicycled some.  The Depot, now a history museum, has two very old locomotives.  The harbor has 2 working ore loading docks.  

Today was chilly – not cool, chilly.  It was gray and overcast and windy until late afternoon.  But we took our jackets and headed to Split Rock State Park to visit the lighthouse there.  We saw the video and exhibits in the visitors center and then went on the lighthouse tour.  The lighthouse was built after a storm in 1905 wrecked 6 ships within a dozen miles of the Split Rock River.  It’s on a tall rock base and all materials were brought there for construction by boat and hoisted up the rock wall. 

We drove north past Silver Bay to Palisade Head which has incredible views of Lake Superior, Shovel Point, and 200-foot cliffs. Palisade Head was formed by molten lava billions of years ago and is part of Tettegouche State Park.  There were rock climbers preparing to go down the cliff when we were there.  It was a very pleasant day, and by the end of the afternoon, the sun was shining and it was almost warm.

Day 10: Duluth

 

We cleaned the bugs off the front of the coach this morning which had accumulated on the  upper cap since we left Rome. Then we went to Glensheen, a 39 room mansion built between 1905 and 1908 along the shore of Lake Superior.  It’s a lovely home and very  cutting edge for it's time:  early electric lights, all indoor plumbing bathrooms, even a shower with 8 shower heads. Even the servants quarters had full indoor bathrooms at a time when most middle class families did not.  There was a multilevel terrace with flowers and a fountain at the back of the house and lovely vegetable and flower gardens.  The annual arts and crafts festival was being held today – an added  bonus to our visit. The source of the wealth? Iron ore from the iron range.

Our next destination was the North Shore Scenic Railroad at the  historic Depot where we boarded the Lester River excursion train which runs along the shore of Lake Superior.  George enjoyed talking with our conductor who is a retired Delta 747 pilot who became certified as a train engineer after he retired from Delta, though today he wasn’t the engineer.  He took his training to be an engineer at Peachtree City (near Atlanta). 

 

Day 9 – Duluth

 

We shouldn’t have been surprised to wake up to a heavy fog this morning since we are on the shore of Lake Superior.  The fog cleared off by mid-morning, and it has been a pleasant sunny day with cooler air coming off the lake.  We actually needed jackets this evening.  Today’s “tour focus” has been the lake and boats on the lake.  We bicycled to the Lake Superior Maritime Museum where we joined an Army Corp of Engineers talk about the history of the area, construction and maintenance of the canal and the lift bridge across it, and its lighthouses.  Then we toured the maritime museum. 

When we left the museum, the 1000 foot “Indiana Harbor” freighter was exiting the Duluth harbor after taking on a load of coal.  It was exciting to see a boat this large go under the lift bridge out to Lake Superior.  Then we continued on our bikes to the S.S. William A. Irving Ore Boat Museum which was the pride of the U.S. Steel fleet when it was launched in 1935 because of its adva in propulsion – steam turbines. We also went to the Omnimax Theatre to see “Mysteries of the Great Lakes.”  We’ve never seen an IMax quite like it. It had a circular screen that came over the audience like a planetarium.

View Full Album

Day 8 - Duluth

 

Our day got off to a great start with an exhilarating bicycle ride on the Willard Munger Trail from Carlton to West Duluth, a 15 mile ride with lots of downhill over rivers and through rock cuts and hemlock and aspen forests.  Then we were ready for a good lunch in Duluth and went to Sir Benedicts as recommended by our RV buddy George Sanders, a former Duluth resident

View Full Album

. 

The Railroad Museum at the Depot was our next stop.  It includes local history as well as an excellent collection of rail cars and history.  Irene especially enjoyed the china display from the area’s trains of a bygone era, and George said the Depot was the best railroad museum he’s seen. 

Duluth has a lovely Rose Garden located in Leif Erickson Park, and we ended our day’s  excursions there.  Overlooking Lake Superior, the garden is well laid out and is immaculately kept.  The amazing thing is that in the winter, they prune the roses to 18 - 24 inches and tie the limbs together, loosen the roots, dig a trough beside the bush, and lay the rose bush over.  Then it's covered with about 3 inches of soil, and bags of leaves donated by the community are placed over them for the winter.  The tree roses are kept in greenhouses thru the winter.  And that’s how the rose garden survives winter in Duluth. 

Day 6&7 Duluth

 

Yesterday morning we set out on our first bike trip in Duluth. We crossed the bridge and got on the Lake Trail which follows Lake Superior to the NE. We noticed all the landscaping was very well kept and everything was lush and green. We had lunch at Midi at the Fitgars Brewery complex. Our lunches were superb. George was very pleased to find that the RR runs parallel to the trail in this area and in fact we saw a passenger tour train returning to Duluth. We’ve scheduled to take that trip later in the week.

After lunch we returned to town and biked East Superior Street down to the Radisson Hotel which is headquarters for the NRHS RR convention. We went in the depot which is across the street and got information about our trip later in the week. We then took a 20 minute trolley loop tour of down town. Afterwards we headed to the house.

Today we spent a lot of time in the morning trying to plan how to do the Willard Munger bike trail. We want to start at Carlton and do the 15 mile section one-way down hill to west Duluth. We tried renting a car but none were available. A bike shop told us no shuttle was available. So, we went to the grocery before lunch and in the afternoon we went out to the west Duluth trail head. We saw a camp ground there and learned that Willard Munger’s son was in charge of the campground and he would take us to Carlton much cheaper than a car rental

– the perfect solution. So, we’ll meet him tomorrow morning at 9 am. On the way back we did a section of the Skyline drive above Duluth which gives excellent views of the city and port. 

Day 5: Duluth, MN

 

Before leaving Chippewa Falls this morning, we beautified the Allure by washing below the floor line, and of course, the wheels. It had road spray on it from a light shower  yesterday.  Then we headed for Duluth, MN.  One hour out the temp went from 81 degrees to 74 degrees. We were quite impressed as Lake Superior came into view.   From our RV park, which is a marina, we have marvelous views of the hillside, the vertical lift bridge, and the boats in the marina. 

After we got settled in, we went over to Canal Park and also the area adjacent to the park and walked around and then got dinner.  George ordered walleye pike

View Full Album

which had been recommended by a Minnesotan.  Later we took a short bicycle ride down to the bridge and watched it raise for a boat.  Near the bridge is a home with a truly beautiful garden in full bloom.  The flowers must flourish in this very pleasant weather which we were told is warmer than usual.

Day 4: Chippewah Falls, WI

 

As we drove today, we left cornfields behind and enjoyed the wooded roadsides, seeing conifers and aspen.  Early in the day we passed by a large wind turbine farm.  We saw rocky knobs of Mill Bluff State Park and took a walk to a scenic overlook of Black River Valley, a nice break at a rest area.  Nume

View Full Album

rous east-west railroads caught George’s attention.  We enjoyed the benefits of a tail wind much of the day as we did yesterday.  It’s much cooler now, around 75 degrees at 4:15. Boy does that feel good. Wal-marts are not as plentiful in this area, but we stopped for a few provisions at one near Rockford, IL, and ate lunch in the

coach while we were there. We had 3G in Rockford, IL and again in Madison, WI. Irene has started doing her internet connections while on the road so George has more time to do his while in camp. The campground here in Chippewa Falls, WI is really nice. We are now only about 150 miles from Duluth. We’ll be glad to stay put for a week.