DULUTH, June 2022

On Friday, June 3, Ella and Paul drove to Duluth. 

Of course, our first stop was Jay Cooke Park which lies just south of the city of Duluth. We bought a season pass to Minnesota parks, and Ella picked up a hat. 

And we headed for the famous Swinging Bridge. 

The Bridge spans the root beer waters of the St Louis River which flows approximately east and eventually into Lake Superior. Once across the bridge, there are hiking trails into the park. We didn't walk any this time; we just explored the rocks to the right of the bridge.

Then we cruised into Duluth and checked into our room at the Radisson Hotel. You can see it here on the left side of the photo - it's the cylindrical building. We like this hotel because the top floor is a restaurant that slowly rotates 360 degrees. Unfortunately, we were not able to get reservations during our stay there.

But the pool was open, and Ella went for a refreshing swim. Here she is caught in mid-jump.

For dinner, we agreed on take-out and drove to Leif Erikson Park which sits above the Lakewalk. The views were simply wonderful, and the aerial bridge called to us. 

So we drove down to Canal Park, arriving in time to see the Ashtabula departing Duluth with permission from the bridge. 

In the water, ahead of the boat, two Common Loons were recorded by Ella's phone camera.

And Ella and I were recorded by the Canal Cam which was then captured by Keely, in Denver. As the sun set, we made our way back to the hotel.

Saturday morning, we drove to Uncle Louis' Cafe for breakfast, but people were standing outside on the sidewalk, waiting for a table to open up. We didn't want to wait, so we headed up Woodland Avenue and found the Vanilla Bean restaurant. 

Then, after breakfast, we went to Enger Tower to perform a little ritual. 

The wind caught the plane just before it cleared the parking lot trees and forced it into the top of one of them.

It is likely the next storm will blow it out of the tree, and some lucky kid will get a big styrofoam plane.

Our next adventure was the Lakewalk. During two recent storms, the lake literally shredded the Lakewalk along its west edge leading into Canal Park. It was so badly damaged, many people were ready to abandon efforts to repair it. But the City decided they had too much invested in the attraction, and spent about $30,000,000 reinforcing the shoreline with enormous boulders, and restoring the two pathways. 

 

 Near the end of the lakewalk, about 3 miles opposite its start at Canal Park, sits the Hertzel bench. 

With its hidden plaque, bolted to the backside of the bench. 

From the Lakewalk, we drove to the old neighborhood to have a look around. The huge trees are gone from the boulevard, but the big brick church hasn't gone anywhere. 

And the house seems in good shape, still blue-gray with white trim. An air-conditioning unit on the attic window indicates they have turned the attic into living quarters.

A block west of the house is a favorite attraction, a meandering creek that tumbles down the hillside and into Lake Superior. Huge concrete culverts carry the water under the succession of streets on its way down the hill. Ella and I explored the one under 5th Street.

 

 

At one point I fell down and scraped my elbow, something I never did when I was young, but we made it all the way to the end.

For dinner, we found a promising Chinese restaurant across the Blatnik Bridge in Superior Wisconsin. I can't remember the last time I was in Superior. We agreed the restaurant was superb, and we think it will become a regular stop on future trips to Duluth.

 

After dinner, we returned to Canal Park to experience the diversity of the nightlife there. Photo by Ella. 

 

 

Then we drove across the Aerial Bridge to hear that distinctive sound made by the tires on the steel mesh surface, and continued out Park Point to the end. 

 

As the sun set, Ella took a picture of the last light of the evening reflecting off a distant line of cumulonimbus clouds.