A Much Needed Vacation

Day 1-  Duluth

We arrived in Duluth for a 5-day vacation. We were supposed to spend 2 weeks in Maine this summer but the COVID issue nixed those plans. Shamefully, as Iowans we had never been to Duluth MN, only 6 hours away. Ironically, Minnesota has been conspicuously blank on our map since we went full time. It seems over all these years we have travelled every direction from Iowa but north. It was time.

Our first impression as we drove into Duluth was how beautiful it is. We are both drawn to cities by water. We have spent time on the shores of Lake Superior from the U.P. of Michigan and the north shore of Wisconsin.  We noticed right away the Duluthian’s love to be outside in the summer! I would too, if I had to live in what must be an utterly frozen hell the other 8 months of the year.

View of the Duluth on arrival

We settled into a little campground along the Saint Louis river the empties into Lake Superior about a mile north of us. Our daily entertainment is a squirrel who lives in the Walnut Tree next to where the RV is parked is none too happy that a cat has taken up residence at the base of his home. He tries to come down and finds Buster laying in his lawn chair. The squirrel chatters and shakes his tail, to no avail.

We spent today exploring. A morning bike ride along the paved state trail in the area, then a walk around the trail the circumvents the point that the park is build on.  The number 1 recommendation was a drive along Skyline Parkway. It took 5 hours as we stopped at several parks including Enger Park with it’s tower to take in the sights from on high of the Twin Harbors area of Duluth and Superior Wisconsin. At 55 years old I walked through the first Japanese Peace Garden I have ever visited. A joint project between Duluth and their sister city Ohara-Isumi, Japan. We stopped at a Nature Center that I knew was closed but a Ranger went inside and brought a birding list to me. We ate our packed lunch in a park on the waterfront and watched the guys mow the park in preparation for an evening concert. Having mowed for park services ourselves, we watched and knew how annoying it is to mow in a heavily used area. Stop, wait for the pedestrian, turn the blades back on, make sure you are facing away from the people, stop again, wait and repeat. Eventually you get it mowed. We sat at our picnic table enjoying our lunch in the middle of it all, knowing we were “those people”.

Part of the Japanese Garden

Enger Tower

Lunch in the park

View of the Areal Lift Bridge from the tower. The park we ate lunch in is in the foreground

View from the tower of the barrier island the separates Lake Superior from the Saint Louis River

The most challenging piece of the day was the trek out to the Entry Point Lighthouse at the mouth of Superior and the Saint Louis River. The walkway deteriorated years ago. In order to get out to the lighthouse and get the full effect we navigated a quarter mile of break water granite boulders. Not for the faint of heart or old of joints. Champ bounced along like he was 20 of course. He is ever the gentleman and held out his hand many times to help me, my decrepit knees and fear of falling as I moved along much slower that he could move. We made it out and back and I have to say, it is the hardest I have ever worked to get to a lighthouse but is was so worth the extra effort. Every time I visit Lake Superior, I have such a hard time reminding myself that it is a lake and not an ocean as I gaze out at the vast expanse and endless horizon of the water. It is a remarkable place full of history and energy. Little wonder people are drawn here.

View from the Shore

Navigating the Breakwater

View of Duluth from the Lighthouse

Entry Point Lighthouse. Graffiti was disappointing but not surprising

Looking out at Lake Superior

View to the shore from the platform of the lighthouse

The weather is fall like here this week. Highs in the  70’s lows in the  50’s and virtually no humidity. People at home gave us the usual grief about why we think we need a vacation. In their eyes, we are always on vacation! Only a full timer gets it.

After canvasing the area, we are back sitting around a nice fire that has been so unappetizing in Iowa’s hot summer we almost forgot what it is like to sit around a campfire. Tomorrow we’ll explore in kayaks from the water side of the area. We realize we have missed out on a gem of an area all these years. We will have 4 more days and know we will only scratch the surface.

 

Until Next Time…