Day 4, Lake Superior Circle Tour

Breakfast at the Days Inn and Suites was nothing to write home about. We hit the road about 10 again. Went in search of Hillcrest Park for views of Thunder Bay. There was a good view, but it was cold and windy and spitting the occasional rain drop. Then went back downtown looking for an amethyst joint which was reputed to be good. It was in a really dicey area of town and we weren't impressed with the quality of the amethyst. So we hit the road. And decided to skip the amethyst mines outside of town.

Once on the highway, we encountered the Terry Fox Memorial rest area high on a hill overlooking the Sleeping Giant. Great views and a very nice memorial to Terry Fox. By this time, the sun was trying to peek out. But windy and cold on the overlook.

Stopped at several overlooks for great views. Decided to have lunch in Nipigon. Well, a person could starve to death in this part of Canada, with the exception of fast food joints on the highway. Finally found a licensed pizza place. Now we know that probably means they had a license to sell booze, but the sign said licensed pizza. Turned out to be pretty good licensed pizza.

Our fun adventure in Nipigon involved the railroad. We needed to get across the tracks, but a long freight was passing through town. It finally went by but the crossing gates didn't go up. Finally a woman got out of a truck and held up the gates to let the cars & trucks cross the track. Lights still flashing. And we went through the same thing a few minutes later when we didn't find any place to eat on the other side of the tracks and decided to chance the licensed pizza place.

On our way from Nippigon to Rossport, Turnaround Carolyn spotted a bear by the side of the road. She deftly turned around and we went back to see if we could get his picture. The sound my camera makes when it starts up apparently spooked him and he ran back into the woods. We continued down the road a bit more and executed another turnaround. He was back! Apparently not bothered by all the vehicle noise. We got some good pictures this time. A juvenile black bear.

Carolyn has acquired her new nickname today. She keeps mentioning she's good at turning around and we did a lot of that today. Thus, she has now been christened Turnaround Carolyn.

We arrived in Rossport and found our guest house and the restaurant. The Serendipity Gardens Cafe & Guest House. Only 4 units in the guest house. Very nicely done and very large rooms. We're quite pleased. Sure beats the original roadside motel I had found in Schreiber which looked more like a truck stop. Can't remember how I stumbled on this, but am glad I did. We had a wonderful dinner in the restaurant tonight. My trout had been swimming in the lake this morning. The people are very friendly. We did some serious damage to the plastic at a gift shop across the street which features local artists. Heidi found a great wedding present for her daughter who is getting married. Great stuff! The guest house and the restaurant also feature wonderful local art for sale.

Day 3, Lake Superior Circle Tour

I left all the shades up in the hopes that the light would wake me up. Sure enough, I woke up to a gorgeous pink sky. Made the mistake of going to the bathroom—pink sky was gone by the time I came back out. Got some pictures of the sunrise. The weather on the lake side of the condo was fine, but the weather on the other side was deteriorating rapidly—big clouds moving in.

We packed up, checked out, and went to the Coho Cafe for breakfast. Then we drove up the Caribou Trail to find some maple trees all decked out for fall. Some people we had talked to at Gooseberry Falls yesterday had advised us that the trees were great up there. They were right. Too bad it wasn't sunny, photos would have turned out better.

Then we were off to Cascade River State Park to see the falls. If they're this great in the fall, they must be spectacular in the spring.

On to Grand Marais, where we managed to do a little shopping dashing between the raindrops. Some very interesting galleries in that town. If the weather had been better, we might have wandered more. I'd love to bring home one of the cute birds that folks sculpt from big lake rocks and metal, but there wouldn't be room in the trunk!

Off to The Angry Trout for lunch. Restaurant advertises that the fish on your plate was swimming in Lake Superior just hours ago. Very good fish. Also great homemade potato chips and coleslaw. What I loved about the place (besides the food) was that everything had been designed by local artists—the plates, the chairs, the salt & pepper shakers, etc. When we stopped in the restroom on the way out, there were tile murals of fish on the walls and a turtle in the flooring.

Then off to Grand Portage National Monument. Way too cold and exceedingly windy, so we didn't do any trails. The visitor center is a very nicely designed new building. I wished I could have helped myself to some of the slate just lying around!

Crossed into Ontario, Canada. Rather surly border guard who didn't want to have a conversation, just wanted to see our passports and wanted to know if we had any guns, liquor, cigarettes, can't remember what else he was interested in. Wanted to know why we were coming to Canada. I wanted to reply that we were beginning to wonder about that given the welcome we were receiving, but I bit my tongue. Many of these security folks take themselves way too seriously.

Just before Thunder Bay we spotted a bunch of horses in a field wearing blankies. Not just ordinary horse blankets—these were all different and quite colorful.

Arrived at Thunder Bay where we're staying for the night. When I announced we were now on Eastern time, Heidi's response was, “Great, now we can eat dinner earlier tonight!” By the time we got all the junk into the rooms, we decided we were too tired to go out for dinner and that we would dine on all the leftovers we had from the dinner at Bluefin Bay last night. We couldn't even finish all of that, we had such a big lunch.

Well, no lake outside the windows tonight and no fireplace, so we're reduced to blogging, e-mailing, etc.

Day 2, Lake Superior Circle Tour

Woke up to a glorious, warm, sunny morning beside the lake in Duluth. My roomie was sleeping in, so I went downstairs for some coffee and went out to the lake walk and a bench by the lake. Walked the lake walk a bit and had all sorts of interesting conversations with people doing the same thing. Went back up to wake Heidi up, then we all went down for breakfast. Ate out on their lovely patio overlooking the lake. We then strolled the lake walk some more. Decided we had picked the best hotel in Canal Park. Comfort Suites, right on the lake, next to the lift bridge. Their lakeside patio was definitely the best, the rooms were large, and the staff was exceptionally friendly and helpful.

Packed up and headed up the north shore drive. Stopped at the New Scenic Cafe (which seems to have had “new” removed from its name) to pick up some lunch since we weren't quite ready to eat. Found a lovely lakeside park in Two Harbors and had our picnic there. Then on to Gooseberry Falls State Park for a look at the falls.

After that, we went to Split Rock Lighthouse. Had a very interesting tour with a young docent from the Minnesota Historical Society and then toured the lighthouse and the other buildings there. We then proceeded to Palisade Head Overlook in Tettegouche State Park—gorgeous drive back in there and fantastic views at the overlook.

We've rented a condo at Bluefin Bay for the night. Right on Lake Superior again. We enjoyed sitting on our deck before dinner and watching the geese, seagulls, and occasional canoes. Had a very good dinner at the restaurant here and we're now relaxing by the fire. Heidi is running a bath in the whirlpool tub since the place doesn't come with a butler!

Day 1, Lake Superior Circle Tour

We left my house at 10 this morning. Got off the freeway at the Thompson Hill Information Center to see if we could get some information on Skyline Drive since basically all I could find online was that it was difficult to follow the route. Skyline Drive follows the ridge of the hill above Duluth.  Very helpful person there gave us a map and some useful information and said they have finally got around to posting signs just two weeks ago. We would have been hopelessly lost without the signs--the road meanders all over the place! Climbed to the top of Enger Tower for a great view, did not spot any hawks at Hawk Ridge (but there were some way cool owl decoys), and ended by driving Seven Bridges Road (all bridges constructed by the WPA folks and all still beautiful) back down to London Road, then back into Duluth and our hotel.
We're staying on Canal Point right next to the lift bridge. We checked in and then started out to drive to Lake Point, a spit of land that separates Lake Superior from the harbor. When we got to the bridge, the lights were flashing and the bridge was going up. Perfect timing! Everybody just abandons their cars and goes to watch the giant ore boats passing under the bridge. We got to see two, one right after the other. Then everyone goes back to their cars and drives over the bridge.

We drove out to a park where we could access the sandy beach on Lake Superior. I had read that it is warm enough to swim there sometimes. Well, not in late September! I stuck my toes in and it was frigid. We then went back to town and strolled around for a while. Had dinner at Grandma's. After dinner, I went to walk on the bridge to see what you can see. Not much in the dark! Although the bridge is lit up.