Summer Trip with Friendship Force to Minneapolis - St Paul and Northern Colorado plus visiting Richard's brother in Yukon, Oklahoma
As you can see by the US Map, we flew non-stop North to Minneapolis. We met our friends, Terese and Michelle, for a pre-trip journey to visit the Boundary Waters between Minnesota and Canada. Terese knew about this area because she lived there earlier in her life and she wanted to share all the best destinations with us. Her other goal was to finally experience canoeing in this pristine area.
from which Great Lakes Ore Boats carried iron ore to the steel mills of Cleveland.
It was a cloudy cool day just right for viewing Duluth in the distance at the Tourist Center.
 |
| The Gate Overlooking Duluth |
We drove down to experience the Aerial Lift Bridge and watched river traffic go through. We even found time to walk over it, marveling at the old time construction of it.
We found a free museum to tour and learned about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Here I am posing at the ship wheel.
Michelle wanted to check out a local brewery (she loves beer!) and her wish was answered. Here we are tasting a flight of beers outside. The firepit kept us warm!
Terese wanted us to experience "Grandma's Restaurant," a famous place in the area to eat. It did not disappoint and I really enjoyed my Wall-eye fish dinner there. We also tasted the best wild rice chicken soup, another specialty of the area. We headed over the border to the state of Wisconsin for a good night's sleep at a local motel.
triple berry with crumbles pie, coconut cream pie, ice cream. You can't imagine how good it all tasted!
We also stopped at Gooseberry Falls (see picture below) and the famous
Split Rock Lighthouse. We were fortunate to see a more tranquil falls because 4 days later, there were heavy rains that flooded the area, closing roads.
 |
| Fours Days Later After Heavy Rain |
Our driving destination for the day was the little town of Ely, Minnesota, a good place to stay and a launching place for canoeing the area. We had 3 glorious days and nights there at the wonderful Ely Grand Lodge, where we enjoyed the hot tub, restaurant and sites of the area.
The next morning we rented a 4-person canoe and luckily figured out that we could pay a mere $15 for the guide to place the canoe at the foot of the lake. This avoided us carrying it through the woods, which were full of mosquitos, the size the small birds! Yes, that was a great decision!
Here we are all geared up with our life vests, hats and of course face mosquito netting! Good thing we had our old netting from visiting Africa. The Boundary Waters are infested with these critters, but once you are gliding in the canoe, they seem to leave. They like the woods better than the water!
South Hegman Entry Point is where we started. We had to canoe down the lake to the end and portage (carry or drag) the canoe to the next lake and put in and paddle some more. Our goal was to find the famous Hegman Lake Petroglyphs . Check out our gorgeous pictures below. Don't you wish you would have come with us?
The picture above demonstrates our team portaging a canoe. Of course, this canoe is a small replica of what we really had to do! The four of us made a good team!
The next day was rainy and it was perfect for visiting the Bear Center and Wolf Center. These were special places and we got to learn about them and see them up close. It is so great that these centers are helping research them and their habitats.
 |
| Sunset on the Boundary Waters |
On Friday our hosts took us to the picturesque Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for a look at plants and sculptures. We could have spent days there viewing the unique flora and set ups of landscapes.
For more, click on Minnesota
Landscape Arboretum
It was neat to see the beginnings of the Mississippi River up here.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment