Duluth, Minnesota…

On our trip to see all the Great Lakes this summer we had originally planned our last stop to be in Duluth, Minnesota where Lake Superior ends its westward reach. What we didn’t plan for was the huge annual Blues Festival held there! As a result we were unable to secure a good campsite near Duluth so we decided that we would start to head south from here in Ashland Wisconsin. But… before doing so we thought we should at least make a day trip over to Duluth to see some of the sights it had to offer.

Although the drive was about 75 miles it took about an hour and a half to get through all the little towns with stoplights on the two lane road. I mean geeeesh all these slow RV’s on the road makes it take longer to get where you are going ;). We had a nice drive and headed over to a scenic byway we read about called the Skyline Parkway. We finally found the starting point only to be greeted by a sign that said the road was closed… CLOSED!!! One of the main highlights we drove over to see was the Skyline Parkway and all we were able to see was a neat little bridge and a great swimming hole being used by the locals… It may have been opened for traffic elsewhere but we decided to go forgo searching for another entry point and do something else.

Next on our list was to go check out the downtown area. We parked and stated to walk around the town where upon we stumbled across the Fond-du-Luth Casino. Well we couldn’t resist so we signed up for a player card and got some more free money to play with. After playing a bit we left with a few bucks. There wasn't much of interest to us in the downtown area so we drove over toward the waterfront and parked in a lot near the Aerial Lift Bridge. This is a cool bridge as it was originally constructed in 1905. This unusual elevator bridge is 386 feet long and spans the canal off the St. Louis River which is the entrance to Duluth Harbor. Right when we were walking to the canal  a ship over 1000 feet in length had just made its way under the bridge. Too cool…

 

We spent the better part of two hours walking along the waterfront trail near Canal Park, checking out the canal, watching ships, walking to the light houses and simply people watching. As we walked across the Aerial Bridge we could see the large tents on the waterfront set up for the Blues Festival and could even hear the music as we crossed. Marcia Ball was pounding the piano and we could hear her singing clearly across the waterfront. Several boats were parked off shore near the Blues Fest and were obviously enjoying the music too.

We then visited the Corp of Engineer’s Lake Superior Marine Museum.  It was a nice little museum with some interesting exhibits. Just before heading back to the parking lot we noticed a little microbrewery on the lake. Canal Park Brewery was calling our names so we stopped by and ordered a nice IPA and Honey Nut Brown Ale.  We sat outside on a patio overlooking Lake Superior which was a perfect setting for our final stop in Duluth…