August 28, 2014 – Duluth, Minnesota

After three days of speeding along on the Montana and North Dakota autobahns we have arrived at long last on the shores of Lake Superior. 

Our only stops of significance were to visit with great friends who treated us to the nickel tour of Helena and a charming new home in Bozeman. 

Lake Superior has a surface area of 31,700 square miles, which makes it approximately the size of South Carolina. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world in area, (there are two lakes that exceed it in volume), and standing on the pier in Canal Park in Duluth we get our first glimpse of its size and beauty.

We choose dinner on the deck at Grandma’s Saloon and Grill because we have a great view of Duluth’s main attraction: the aerial lift bridge. 

The bridge is raised and lowered twenty-four hours a day as huge ships and small local boat traffic access and exit the Duluth harbor. When fully raised it provides 180 feet of clearance over a water passage 386 feet wide. It weighs almost 900 tons but is pretty darned speedy. Brez counted 46 seconds as it raised almost to full height.

We walk the bridge, over and back, then stroll to the end of the long concrete pier to stand underneath the small lighthouse as it sends its red warning beam out into the dusk. The bridge is lit with spotlights and glows against the night sky. We have our first taste of what is to come.