The North Shore

Candy: Yesterday was the first partly sunny day after three days straight of rain, so Tim and I decided to trek upstate to Duluth.

I hadn't been to Duluth since I was in college, and Tim had been to Duluth during his stint at Pillsbury, but only to whatever college campus his teams were competing against. He had never been to Canal Park and the lakefront area on Lake Superior.

We took some back roads from St. Cloud heading northeast so that we could pick up I-35 into Duluth. The trees were probably 70% clothed in their fall apparel, and the trip was lovely. The sky became progressively more clouded the farther north we traveled, but when we reached Duluth there was still a bit of sun peeking through.Canal Park is a fun little area right by the two port lighthouses, one of which is featured in this posting. Visitors to the park can walk out to either lighthouse, though the only one that seems to get any foot traffic is the one featured in most of this post's pictures.

I guess this lighthouse pier's popularity is helped because it's much easier to get to and it's quite a bit more picturesque than the other one.The park area has a three-mile boardwalk for foot traffic and paved paths for tourists renting bicycles, carts, or horse carriages for rides along the shore.

The port is also highlighted by the city's famous Aerial Lift Bridge, seen behind Tim in the picture below. Tim and I joked about how fun (or not) it would be to be the person operating that bridge all day long. While we were at the lakefront area, we saw several sailboats as well as a large freighter pass into the port under that bridge. The park was an old warehouse district that was converted in the 1980s into trendy restaurants, shops, cafes, and hotels. The Great Lakes Aquarium is located in that area as well as the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center.We walked through the area, enjoying the sunshine, and when we got chilly stopped in the local Caribou Coffee shop for a Hot Apple Blast, one of our favorite hot drinks.

When the light began to fade we headed back to the El and drove home, enjoying our time on the road almost as much as we did Canal Park.We both hope that you will have a terrific week and that you didn't spend too much time looking at the picture above to see what it is.