North Country 2011--Day 20

Leaving Michigan behind and on to Minnesota.

We rolled out of Ishpeming, Michigan, this morning heading to our next stop on this adventure. We had 239 miles of driving to get to Duluth, Minnesota. It was a fairly leisurely drive along the south edge of Lake Superior through the Michigan U.P, across the top of Wisconsin to Duluth. We did stop, just before leaving Michigan, in the town of Wakefield to let the dogs stretch their legs. During this stop we saw a neat wood carving called "Leading Man". From there we pushed on, arriving in Duluth in early afternoon. We are now set up for the next week at the Lakehead Boat Basin out on a strand called Park Point. This strand separates Lake Superior and the Duluth Harbor. The Boat Basin is not an RV park like one would normally expect. It is actually a marina and working boatyard. In the winter they must take the small boats out of the water and store them on what would normally be asphalt parking lots. In the summer, with all the boats in the water, they have put in full hookup sites for RV's to help with the cost of operating the place. We have full hookups with a good 50amp service plus water and sewer. We love the location since it is within walking distance to Canal Park, Duluth's entertainment and shopping district, and downtown Duluth. We also get a great view over the marina out our front window, as the picture to the left shows. Getting to Park Point requires crossing the Duluth Lift Bridge. Over the years I have taken many pictures of this bridge but always go back to take more. It is simply fascinating. The bridge is over the channel from the lake to the inner harbor. Everything from ocean going cargo ships, to lake ore boats (also pretty good sized ships), to the local harbor tour boats cross through this canal and under this bridge. The only down side to being out on Park Point is almost every time we want to go somewhere in the car the bridge is up. Anyway, we are all settled in and ready to visit with many of Joanne's family members who still live here and revisit some of the sights we love in the area. We started off our stay tonight with a great Minnesota sunset. (Remember, all the pictures can be enlarged by just clicking on that individual picture.)