We woke up on the shores of Lake Superior to a cloudy dark day. It looked like it might have rained a little in the night. A little rabbit jumped around outside our motel room. Our first stop of the day was at our most favorite lighthouse: Split Rock Lighthouse. This was a premier lighthouse built in 1906 after severe storms had caused 29 ships to be lost on Lake Superior in this area the season before. It is a wonderful lighthouse station, built here on the top of 130 foot cliff overlooking the great lake. In early times, everything to both build a lighthouse and to supply the keepers and their families, had to be brought up the cliff ships from ships. Eventually, they were able to build a little tram system for rail carts to come up. In 1926, Minnesota Road 61 was built running along the lakeshore and a couple years later a connecting route went out to the lighthouse. In the 1930's this lighthouse was known as the most visited lighthouse in the United States. It had both a large light that would reach out for 22 miles as well as a fog horn. This prevented shipwrecks until it was finally decommissioned in the 1960's. Once GPS and other modern navigational techniques were available, it was no longer needed.
We have visited this lighthouse multiple times, but always stop by when we get a chance. We went up in the lighthouse to take a look at the amazing lens. and we also walked a path down to the Lake Superior shoreline where we took the classic pictures of Split Rock Lighthouse. The view was beautiful and we were pleased that the blue sky was peeking through in some areas. We took the path down and stairways coming up. The wild flowers were enchanting, the view is beautiful.
We stopped to see Gooseberry Falls waterfalls, one of the many places where rivers and falls come down to Lake Superior from the Iron Range. Most of the steel made in the US comes from the ore mined in these low mountains. We chatted with another couple who had lived in the San Diego area when the husband was in the Navy. And then with another woman who was on a Roads Scholars trip, where they were studying the voyagers, and were going to do a little canoe trip into the boundary waters. There were a lot of people on the move today enjoying the beautiful day.
The sun came out and we got a blue-sky drive headed down the coast to Duluth and on to the Twin Cities.
Roadside Attractions pointed us in the direction of a large statue of a rooster and the giant voyager canoe guy "statue without pants". Of course we had to stop and take pictures of both. We learned that actually, it was historically accurate that voyagers often wore tall boots, and then long tunic shirts, leaving their thighs bare. We spent quite a bit of time reflecting on why this would be a good idea, considering the amount of mosquitoes around and how it might be hot here in canoeing weather. But, we got the mandatory photo with the “pants-less voyager”.
After that, we headed south on I-35 going towards the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. This is an area where Patti lived for 15 years and Dick lived for 10 years. Even though we’ve now lived in California, we still have people who are dear to us who are in that area. So we’re looking forward to a number of very fun visits this week.
Our first visit is our dear friend Faith who we’ve known for over 30 years, having met in a dance class. This was actually the same dance class that Dick and Patti met in around the same time. She has a lovely home on the lake and we’re so thrilled to settled in for a nice dinner and visit and spending the night with her. We also met her guy, Neil, who shared the good fortune with Patti of being born in North Dakota. We all spent good good time talking about travels, home improvement projects, and then went out for ice cream. We stood in a line with about a hundred other people to get our cones. The cones were good, and it makes a good story. So good to be back in the Twin Cities.
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