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| View of lake from our site |
I've been admonished to keep up with my blog, irrespective of texts so am doing laundry and playing catch-up. I've found it takes a fair bit of my data to post pictures and I'm not always as happy doing this on my phone...so my computer and Wi-Fi are helping today. As an update first though, we are at The Pines on Kabetogama Lake - just 27 miles south of International Falls, MN and right within, for all practical purposes, Voyageurs National Park.
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| Laundry |
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| Nice and clean, but costly. |
Laundry room is nice, but I can tell you - EXPENSIVE. I am paying $3.25/load to wash and to dry. I have been told to expect same in Canada and Alaska, so guess I shouldn't be too surprised. That's why I now have lines in my bathroom and a portable line for the back of the camper, just haven't had to use yet, lol. Guess that's going to change. Anyway, back to our last day near Two Harbors.
Duluth is a really nice city, great size and has all the amenities anyone could want. If this area wasn't so darn cold in winter, and so very, very far from my wonderful grandchildren, I wouldn't mind considering relocating.Ha!!!!!
Right on Lake Superior, it is one of the "
Twin Ports" - Superior and Duluth. It is also where the end of Grandma's Marathon takes place - right down town in Canal Park, the area we chose to visit. Although we did walk around that whole area (should I say hiked Jeremy A.?), we spent most of our time in the
Lake Superior Maritime visitor's Center, operated by the Army Corp of Engineers. It is a great museum of maritime history on Lake Superior and is right next to the
Aerial Bridge. They announce the ships that are coming into the bay and under the bridge so that everyone in the area can come see them enter. It is really an awesome sight, probably like watching the ships entering and leaving the Panama Canal. We were there when one came through and watched the bridge in action as well as the ship enter through what seems to be a small canal. It is much larger than it looks, but it still takes quite a bit of skill I'm sure, especially since most of the traffic are ore ships..kinda like a giant tug hooked permanently to the back of a 500+' barge. Think about maneuvering that baby. Almost missed the event, since we had gone back to the car to add money to the meter and drop off some "stuff" but as you can see, at leaset caught it going under the span. The Duluth ship canal was dug in 1871 to develop an inner harbor on the Minnesota side. It essentially caused the original Minnesota Point peninsula to become an island. That meant that ferries, barges, rowboats, skiffs, etc. were used to take people across the canal when it was not frozen over. Then in 1905 the Aerial bridge was built. It originally had a gondola that hung from the span and moved people and goods across the canal on a schedule with the trolley line, essentially an extension of the public transportation system. The gondola was replaced by the moveable lift span in 1929 when automobile traffic increased. The Aerial bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The information on the
COE in the museum was very infomrative. That organization, unofficially, has been in existence since 1775 and the American Revolution. The first trained engineers were French, and one of them, Louis Duportall, was promoted to brigadier general and Chief Engineer, a position he held from 1777 until the end of the war. He advocated a distinct engineering branch of the Army and in 1778, Congress authorized 3 companies of Miners and Sappers (builders of trenches and earthworks). In 1778, Congress passed a resolution forming the Corp of Engineers. Since that time they have been instrumental in both war and peace in the protection of this country in many ways... building, preserving, managing the waterways, etc. We love their campgrounds and always take every opportunity to stay in them as well as tour the dams, visit the museums, etc. They are completely integrated in the history of our country.
We ate lunch that afternoon at Grandma's, yes it's touristy but again, when in Rome....and both of us had Walleye, prepared differently. The pan fried is much better than the normal deep fried in our opinion, much less coating.much more fish. On the way home, we drove the Duluth
Skyline Drive in the direction of Two Harbors - not as scenic as it could be in my opinion, but it has been in existence a long time so am sure it changes. We started in the middle so may have missed most of the really scenic parts but with all of the trees in full flush, it was extremely hard to see anything below. I am guessing late fall, winter or very early spring might actually be the best time for this drive, since they impacted most of our viewing.
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| COE tug boat and rock barges in Agate Bay |
Back in Two Harbors, we watched the COE tow several barges full of big rocks into Agate Bay, nestling up next to one of the ore loading docks. Have no idea what they will be used for as we left the next morning, but maybe to add to bay breakfront? Additionally, we saw one of the ore boats, the Mesabi Miner, come into that same bay, again a real art of maneuvering, especially since the bay is actually very small. Wind was blowing a good 20-25mph also - hard on pictures, and even harder on that captain. If you enlarge the picture to the left, you can see the ore boat, the ore docks and on the right of the right dock...the COE tug and barges, tucked out of the way.
OK, laundry's done..need to fold and get it back to the trailer. Then lunch and get ready to go on our NPS tour in Voyageur National Park to Kettle Falls .Au Revoir mes Amis.
