Superior Weekend, Superior Weather

Nate and I took a trip to Duluth, MN to visit some good friends this past weekend.  We had such an amazing time and the weekend was full of great weather, great conversations and a lot of fun!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and took a detour by the Mall of America to grab some lunch and shop a little bit.  WOW - so large that some of the bigger stores repeat on each end of the mall.  We enjoyed lunch while watching other enjoy the amusement park, then just walked around shopping for a little bit.  It's a little overwhelming to shop there because there are so many choices.  Unfortunately, Lego Land was a work in progress - perhaps they are changing it for Christmas.

After the mall - we headed up to their house.  Duluth is about 3 hours from Minneapolis, so we enjoyed our scenic drive North.  They live on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior and I have seen pictures of their view, but my breath was taken away when we walked in their house and truly saw their view.  They get to wake up every morning and enjoy breakfast while watching the lake in all its glory.  Beautiful!

Views from their back decks

Large shipping industry town.  We got to watch ships like this come and go all the time.

Sun going down our first night

On Friday, we all slept in a little bit and then headed downtown to experience Duluth, the city.  They have a lake walk through town and above one section they have a huge rose garden.  We got there just in time as all the roses were in full bloom.  There were three different gardens all with beautiful, fragrant flowers.  Here is a selection of just a few.

I cannot even begin to tell you what a beautiful weekend we had.  The sun was shining the entire time and with the exception of one windy day, the weather was in the 70's the entire time.  Amazing.  We fell in love with that Duluth - not the Duluth that will soon be 20 below for a long time!

Took a stop right out of the rose garden to get a pic with the aerial lift bridge in the background

After the rose garden, we headed to lunch and then headed down to the canal to watch the ships come in.  Lake Superior is not only the largest lake, it also houses the largest aerial lift bridge in the world.  The entire bridge moves up and down and there are some very large boats that go through the canal and under the bridge.  It's pretty impressive - we got to see two 1,000 foot boats come through.  We got to see one enter the harbor and one head out to deliver.  Below is a collage of the ships coming and going.  There is one picture of a sailboat going through that shows you how truly massive these ships are.  There is a little house in them middle of the bridge and someone is in that house 24/7 to lift it for the ships.

Afterwards we headed to get ice cream (because it was still warm enough) then headed to ride the alpine coaster!  This was the first year that it opened.  It is different from an alpine slide because these little cars are actually on a track.  It is on one of their local ski hills and hosts some pretty amazing views.  I rode with Nate, so our weight combined allowed us to go pretty fast.  The hair pin turns were a little unnerving because you could feel and hear the car trying to come off the track, but it was an amazing ride!

We headed back home for a nice home cooked meal, again with the best meal all week!

Saturday morning, Nate and I got up to watch the sunrise since it rises right over the lake.  It rises there at 7:15 - so we didn't have to get up all that early.  It is pretty impressive to see the sun peek up over the horizon - we just don't get chances like that here.

That afternoon, we headed down to the shoreline.  We ate lunch at a place that served the best pie ever and then headed to one of their many state parks.  We enjoyed the sights of Gooseberry Falls, then had a light hike down to the shore.  Lake Superior is the most amazing thing.  On Friday, the water and sky were the same color so you couldn't tell when one ended and one began.  The water was also smooth as glass and looked like a lake you would see here.  On Saturday, the water was a brilliant turquoise and the wind was up so there were waves, just like in an ocean.  They say it is always changing color and there are even some parts of the lake that you can surf on.  It is a sight to behold.

 From the shore, we headed a little bit further down to another park to catch a view of the Split Rock Light House.  We weren't able to take a tour of the lighthouse, but we saw some pictures of the prism that creates their light and it was beautiful.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church with them.  We enjoyed a very nice service then headed out to a yummy brunch.  We then headed to another shore that is a beach.  The landscape around the lake changes at just about every turn you make.  It was a sunny, warm afternoon.  The sand felt like sand in the gulf and it was just a little bit darker.  I loved it.

 On our way back home, we got "bridged" - stuck on one side of the bridge while it was going up.  We were the first car in line so we got to see the bridge work up close.  Luckily it was just a few sailboats and a short ship so we weren't there very long.

 We headed home after that to rest and relax (and watch football) the rest of the day, then left Monday to come home.

We had a wonderful trip!  Thank you to our friends for being so hospitable and making it a memorable weekend!  And thank you to the Lord for blessing us with pretty much perfect weather so we didn't freeze our little tushes off!