The Gitchi-Gami Girls

Fall colors were in the past-peak stage in Up North, Minnesota, last weekend. There were plenty of yellows but rarely any oranges or reds. Everything looked basically dull the first two days, but then Saturday, the sun came out and color popped. And my camera clicked.

A few views for you of nature along the North Shore ...

We had an inlet outside of our AirBnb that reflected some pretty colors when the sun came up. We had a campfire ring down there, too, but it was much too windy all weekend. And well, cold. Even though fires should warm you up.

Hanging out under a bridge where the Stewart River flows into Lake Superior, somewhere near Two Harbors. Kinda felt like a troll under there, but what a cool view!

Shoreline looking north. A smattering of color. And cold waves.

 

This gull fancied himself a super model. Wait for it...

Yup. Perfect pose!

So we other super models (haha) had to follow suit! My twin and me (R7 and R8).

Rachel (R6)

RoAnn (R4)

Rayna (R1)

Renell (R3) and Romey (R2)

I could see pretty rocks in the clear water but didn't spot any agates like Lake Superior is known for. I also didn't look very hard.

A wild mushroom makes a nice bed for a fallen leaf.

On Saturday we went to Enger Park where the Enger Tower was. I thought all along my sister was saying Anger. So our Anger Management for the day involved climbing to the top (yes, I did) and checking out views from there and around the park. Even with past-peak colors, it was still a gorgeous view of surrounding nature and the lake they call Gitchi-Gami!

Occasionally we'd see those just starting to change! Like barely!

A ship in the harbor. Not sure if it was the one we saw come in earlier that day.

Now I see why I was a bit freaked driving over that big bridge! Very high.

I think this is the land mass they call Wisconsin Point, coming out near Superior. Or was it Minnesota Point, coming out of Duluth? Or both?

Another loner. One single leave was willing to start autumn and the rest are holding out!

There was a peace bell and Japanese peace garden as part of the part. This is the river of pebbles.

Oh kids these days on their phones!

We also saw some wildlife on our wild weekend...

Finally a moose with horns!

And Sasquatch was hanging out everywhere!

My favorite colors were the sunset on our last night. No filter here. Just a color palette in the sky on Island Lake. 

Thanks, Mother Nature. The Gitchi-Gami girls were pretty happy with your work!

Holy Ship!

One of my highlights this weekend was seeing the famous Duluth Lift Bridge in action. It happened that on Friday while we were sightseeing around Two Harbors, we saw this ship heading toward the Duluth Canal.

I wondered out loud about what it was doing and my sister RoAnn rattled off all kinds of information about it. Of course, I thought she was having one of the LeRoy moments and pretending to know, but she really did. She showed me the website where all the incoming and outgoing ships are listed. And as it turned out, one was set to dock on Saturday morning.

I knew right away I wanted to see how a thousand-foot ship could gracefully glide into that canal. My sister Renell wanted to see it, too, so we woke up early and headed down to the harbor at 8 a.m. 

Later, after waiting and freezing with the windchill (not kidding), we realized it was coming in 49 minutes late. But it was worth wait.

I have only seen draw bridges in action, so was curious to see the difference with this one.

Basically the whole bottom zooms straight up so the ship can come on in, barely glide under and pass through.

Here she comes! Barreling in at 9 mph.

Even getting closer, it was hard to tell that it was as long as a train. 

Then you started to see more of it and it was like, wow! How long is this thing?! Yes, I asked myself that even though I new it was 1,000 feet by 100 feet.

Entering the canal.

Holy ship, Batman!

That is lo-o-o-o-ong!

And it looked like it just sneaked under!

And then had to make a sharp left turn. What?

The lift goes back down.

One more tiny boat goes practically unnoticed under it! Such a contrast!

So glad we went down to see that! Definitely worth checking out if you're ever in that northern neck of the woods!