Trapped in the Twin Ports
Today's plan was to drive along the Lake Superior shore in Wisconsin. While we were getting up, we put the Weather Channel on, and learned of severe thunderstorms in the area. A quick peek out of the window confirmed it. We wanted views, so we decided that the drive could wait, so we asked the motel office if we could stay another night, then went into Duluth to explore.
The first thing we did was get breakfast, except that by the time we got around to it, breakfast was off the menu where we went. The soup and wrap I had was delicious, as were Debbie's falafels (I'm told). Satiated, we went to look at Duluth's Maritime Welcome Centre, a little free museum of Duluth and Superior's shipping heritage.
The harbour mouth area of Duluth is quite nice. It has what used to be a transporter bridge (where a gondola ferries back and forth), but is now a lift bridge (where the platform is lifted vertically to make way for boats).
- Superior is the largest body of fresh water in the world by surface area, but only the third largest by volume.
- The surface of Superior has room for every person on the planet to lay out a 12' square picnic blanket. It would have to be frozen over for this to work, of course. One source tells us this has only happened twice. Another source tells it it happens about once a decade...
- Superior's volume is larger than all the other great lakes put together, with four Eeries to spare.
- Superior is quite large
As well as fish, there were otters, which were sleek and cute by turns, and Debbie loved. There were also snakes, which Debbie refused to look at.
From the aquarium we went to that great American institution, the mall. It ate time. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was 7PM, we'd been on our feet most of the day, and strangely, neither of us was hungry enough for a full meal. We watched a film (Along Came a Spider -- passed the time, nice twist at the end) on our free Showtime, then went out to grab a drive-through Taco Bell. This turned out to be harder than we thought: Debbie was sure she'd seen one last night, but we drove the length of where she thought it was without seeing it. On the way back along the same stretch, we saw it, tucked away inside a garage. Examining the menu, we were informed "we're closed", so we got back in the car and drove into the heart of Superior looking for tacos. In the end, our search was successful, and we're sat in the motel, watching the local news channel, full of burrito.
Tomorrow, that shoreside drive, rain or shine (there's another thunder storm warning for early tomorrow morning).