Duluth, Minnesota

On the third day of our trip to Minnesota, we all got in Uncle Sparkie’s truck and he drove us north to Duluth. On our way there, we came across a few small bridges as we cross these mini-lakes. Uncle said that there are supposed to be 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. That’s what it says in their license plates, “10000 Lakes.” We wondered if there were really 10,000 of them. Are there really 7,000 something islands in the Philippines? 🙂

When we arrived in Duluth, we went to the tourist district called the Canal Park. We first went to the Downtown Lakewalk. It is a three-mile long walk that leads to the Lighthouse Pier. Uncle pointed out to us this huge structure which is called the Lift Bridge and is one of the main tourist attractions of Duluth. It is called the Lift Bridge because they raise or lift that bridge so that ships could pass through.

We were lucky because a ship was arriving when we got there. The Presque Isle (the ship) is 1,000 feet long and Uncle said that it transports iron ore. After watching the ship pass, we walked all the way to the lighthouse and took some pictures.

Then we went inside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers building. Inside is a sort of a museum that displays models of ship engines, parts of ships, replicas of ships, etc. There is a map that shows The Great Lakes. I thought of the boys again because they learned about the Great Lakes in school and I even remember helping my then 10-year old son memorizing the five Great Lakes of North America, in order from the largest to the smallest.

After visiting the museum, Uncle said that we’d go to Grandma’s restaurant to have lunch. Walking on the way there, we saw this Ice Cream stand called Grandma’s Boxcar. I thought it was a cute little place. We reached Grandma’s restaurant but they were still closed. They open at 11:00 a.m. So we thought we’d walk around and then we saw Grandma’s Salon Grill. Are you now seeing a pattern here? I started voicing out my thoughts. Why is every place here called Grandma’s? Does a grandma own all of these places? Or are these places meant only for grandmas? And of course Uncle and I started teasing the grandmas (Mama and Auntie D) because they were always trailing behind us. 🙂 After walking a little bit more, we found Grandma’s Marketplace. We went inside and bought a few souvenirs to take back home. It’s not really a marketplace. It is a gift shop.

Then we started walking down Lake Avenue to look for a place to eat. I spotted the sign Hell’s Kitchen. Hey, I know that show. Uncle said that they sometimes film the show here. I also saw these signs, Father Time Antiques and Old Chicago. See, the trend continues here. Antiques, Old, Grandmas . . . 🙂

We ended up eating at Old Chicago and we ordered a big round tray of meatlovers’ pizza. It was good.

You can view my Duluth, Minnesota album here.

Next: Two Harbors