Duluth

Hello from Duluth, Minnesota! As always, please forgive any typos or poor writing style!

Mike picked me up from Minneapolis Thursday. It was 65 degrees and sunny, just perfect. The flight was fine, full of people heading north from busy Orlando.

I sat next to a nice couple traveling to Duluth for a family event. As the plane got over Minnesota, there were perfect squares of farms visible below, each one with a house, maybe two on it. Traveling outside Central Florida somehow always makes me feel better about the amount of open space still undeveloped. Much less urban sprawl here. The farms went on for hundreds of miles even as we got close to the city.

The airport in Minneapolis was jam packed with people and cars, but within an hour we were through Minneapolis/St. Paul and heading north to Duluth. With the Memorial Day holiday Mike thought it would be good to have a room booked.

We weren’t in Duluth for 20 minutes before we realized we definitely wanted to stay for 2 nights! Luckily they had a room for the second night, because we were exhausted and still didn’t know where we were going next. When I opened my suitcase, there was a note from TSA that my bag had been searched, and I kinda wished I had packed my socks and undies on the bottom haha.

I was really tired by the time we got to the hotel. The guy at the front desk was so friendly, asking why we were in Duluth, but I swear I could not understand his Minnesota accent! Mike translated for me lol and we learned that Willie Nelson was in Duluth! When we got downtown in the evening there was a huge traffic jam. No problem, we parked and the very helpful lady at the parking lot asked if we were going to see Willie–clearly Duluth was proud he was in their city! We had to wait to cross a foot bridge that was raised up for a boat:

We walked along Lake Superior to Canal Park Brewing Company. We sat outside where it was windy and pretty chilly, right on Lake Superior. Many people were wearing shorts!

We learned that the traffic jam was from the “Lift Bridge.” When a cargo ship passes, the entire bridge goes up, parallel to the water. Sorry for the lousy picture, but this bridge looked more like an imperial walker out of Star Wars, and the entire bottom platform was raised as a massive cargo ship went by. Even the locals stopped to watch the ship.

Over breakfast we reviewed our travel options. As it turns out, there is now a road open to Alaska! We spent a full half hour planning our trip west, considering alternatives in case the fire advanced.

But then Mike found a map of the fire hazard levels:

And 20 minutes later we were, once again, canceling Alaska. It is simply too risky.

So we started brainstorming where to go in the east. Putting off final decisions once again, we spent an amazing day in Duluth. The weather was pretty awful really–43 degrees with 25 mph winds, 40 mph gusts. I put on everything I owned and we walked to the waters edge where the waves were slamming the rocky shore.

My weather app showed a No Swim Warning–really, who in the world is swiimming!?

You have to be tough to live in Minnesota, that I know. Even the flowers held on tight and scoffed at the weather.

We spent a couple hours wandering outside and in a few outdoor-stores. I was so heavily bundled I could barely move and my hands were very cold even with gloves. Since it is supposedly the end of the summer, I found a fleece and mittens on sale!

We were the first ones to arrive at a tempting Italian restaurant right on the lake. Maybe because we endured the weather to go there, we were given the best seat in the house!

I had a yummy beet salad with goat cheese and pistachios, not something you get in Florida much. We watched the waves getting bigger, then saw rain coming straight at us from across Lake Superior.

By 5 pm we figured it was time to check out a couple breweries. The sales clerk at one of the stores told us her husband worked at Ursa Minor–and with a cool name like that we went there first.

Like many of the breweries we have been to, it’s a family place. This one even had a play area with toys for the kids.

We toughed out a 12 minute walk to the Bent Paddle Brewery, leaning into the cold wind. It was worth it though–they had some of the most delicious beer we have had, so of course we got t-shirts!

As we walked back toward the car Mike noticed a cidery, so we stopped for a small cider and listened to a very good band. We made it back to Ursa Minor for pizza and another band too–Duluth was hopping on a Friday evening!

Every so often we would discuss a thought about where to go. Mike said we should definitely camp by the lake, and I was almost game but asked him to check the overnight temperature–37 degrees. Nope. So we made a reservation for Thunder Bay Canada.

So as it stands now, we are heading to Quebec City, making our way there along Lake Superior. From there we will head to Newfoundland, a province even Mike hasn’t been to! We are hoping to take a ferry from Blanc-Sablon Newfoundland across the water and head to St. John’s. I have only heard of St. John’s from a detective show called Republic of Doyle, which made it seem like a cool place that is only accessible by ferry of plane, so we will see!

First we will spend an unknown amount of time exploring the Canadian side of Lake Superior, which provides 10% of the world’s fresh water, as noted beautifully at the Bent Paddle: