Hibbing to Duluth Minnesota

 

March 30, 2021 - Today is our 52^nd Anniversary.  We were married in Sunnyside, WA at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.  The day was warm with blue skies.  My father cried and John’s best man had to hold him up as he was about to faint.

Here we are 52 years later with two beautiful children and 2 handsome grandsons, Max, and Mason.

Today the high is supposed to be 25, snowflakes are blowing in the air again and the wind is very strong.  Tomorrow is to be the same, but we will not be here so hard to tell what we will run into.

We had three antique stores on our list.  One turned out to be in a house way off the beaten track.  Another one does not open until Wednesday and of course today is Tuesday and the other one closed months ago.  We did find an old junk store that was 3 rooms and totally unorganized.  I found a book I wanted, and he would not sell it.  In the store we met someone that had lived in Bellingham and moved here for a boyfriend.  Silly girl.

The area we are in has very large iron deposits across the middle of the state.  In the early 1900’s the town of Hibbing was located on a hill to the east of the existing town.  As the mining moved from place to place, the mining companies decided they really needed to mine where the town of Hibbing stood.  So, the mining company literally moved the town to another location and donated and built a huge high school for the city.  That may not sound outstanding, but this high school is beautiful and sits on an entire city block.  One person way telling us that they have Austrian chandeliers in the school.  It is 3 stories with tall spires forming the entrance to the school. 

We drove to where we were supposed to be able to see the mine pit however, the road and tour are closed, probably due to the cold weather.  Maybe sometime in the future we will be back in the area.

Hibbing is no longer a large city and it appears that many of the rooms in the school are not used.

Another bit of history is that Bob Dylan was raised in Hibbing.  The house still stands and is about 3 blocks from the high school.

                                                             Bob Dylan’s boyhood home

About 2:00 pm we started our way south to Duluth, MN.  It is less than 100 miles.  Duluth is a bit smaller than Yakima and sits on the northern edge of Lake Superior.  This is the first time we have been to any of the Great Lakes.

After checking into the hotel, we ventured out to find Duluth Trading Co.  We asked about the store at the hotel and were told the story about Duluth Trading abandoning Duluth about 30 years ago, keeping the name but moving their headquarters out.  There is also Duluth Pack which is the same type of store and which the people of Duluth hold dearer to their hearts.

I wanted to insert a couple of pictures of the north eastern part of Minnesota that we saw a couple of days ago.  It is really pretty up here.  As you can see there is still a lot of ice.

Upper part of MN near International Falls

       

 

March 31, 2021 – We were rather excited today to venture into the antique stores that Duluth had to offer.  When we found them we found they do not seem to carry anything we are interested in.  There was a lot of glassware and many things that remind me of the Plaid Door.  Found our way into an old church that had a few pieces of glassware and some furniture.  But if they had 1 book they had thousands.

Lake Superior comes into Duluth and is the furthest west port on the Great Lakes.  In 1870 the lake was dredged out to allow ships to come into the port.  Massive amount of timber was hauled out along with the iron ore.  Today the shipments include iron ore, coal and something called petroleum coke.  There are three harbors in the area and each harbor has 3-4 ships come in each day.  They average 1000 feet in length, 100+ ft wide and 30 ft. deep.

The early 1900 housing still exists in Duluth.  We were told that many of the early housing was built on very hard granite type surfaces so they are very solid.  Some have been taken care of through the years – others have not.  I was surprised to see how close together they were built 120 years ago. 

As in many cities the canal area has grown into tourism.  There are a large number of breweries/pubs and shopping boutiques.  There are also shops to rent equipment for play on the lake.  During this time of the year there is no charge for parking but I am assuming in the summer the area is like a zoo.

The temperature was between 20 and 25 all day.  When we were down next to Lake Superior the wind chill was probably 15.  We wear our masks not only for protection from COVID but for protection from the wind chill as well. 

Little things make me smile.  Not ever having thought about this before today I saw a fire hydrant with a snow measuring stick attached to it.

I have seen pictures of people in this part of the country during the winter but figured it was not that bad.  What is one day of cold weather?  The upper part of the state deals with 3-4 months of temperatures below 32 degrees.  When it gets cold enough to build an ice bridge to some of islands, that is cold.

We made it a short day today.  We have been traveling for 1.5 weeks and we do get tired.  Spent 2 days here in Duluth.  Tomorrow we are going to take a drive up the north shore of the lake, which we understand we really pretty.  And it is supposed to be warmer tomorrow.  There is also an antique store up that way.

From there we will head south to Wisconsin.  Since the Canadian boarder is closed, we cannot get across to Michigan from Minnesota.

So, we will travel across the most upper part of WI into the upper part of Michigan.  We have been told there is not much there, but that will be for us to find out.

Good Night for now.  I will write more tomorrow.

Fire Hydrant with Snow Measurement

                                           

 

Grand Forks ND to Hibbing, MN

 

Sunday March 28, 2021 – Today is Palm Sunday.  There is an Episcopal Church in Grand Forks, ND that was having services in church, but we choose to listen to the service at St. Timothy on Zoom.  Fun to see the faces of our friends and Mo B. 

Since church started at 9 am and that would be 11 where we are, we had breakfast first.  We were staying at the Hilton Garden Inn next to the University of ND.  There was even a walking covered bridge that connects the University to the hotel.  Breakfast was good; however, management needs to improve the service with additional staff.

After church we found the one and only antique store in Grand Forks.  I found a pretty brass plant stand that I thought about bringing home but when I contacted by antique consultant, I was advised they were asking too much for it.  We are seeing more large crocks, Shawnee, and McCoy pottery.  Since we first started cruising antique stores, we have learned what may be an antique and what is not an antique or what may be a reproduction.

I guess there are some other stores, but they are open every other weekend only.  Maybe it is because it is still winter here.

Just entered Minnesota.  The first store we see is a large Cabela’s.  It is 220 miles to International Falls, MN where we will spend the night.

We have driven about 60 miles and still seeing the same farmland.  Crookston, MN one of the towns we drive through sits in the fertile Red River Valley, once a part of glacial lake Agassiz. As the lake receded it left behind the rich mineral deposits.  They grown grain, sugar beets and potatoes among other things.

We drove about 90 miles and turned left at Bemidji toward International Falls.  On the map the highway is designated as a scenic highway.  There is a wide swath of brown grass on each side of the road and what appear to be a handful of evergreen trees and a huge number of birch trees.  Of course, at this time of the year the birch trees are still barren.  The land is still flat and of course there are no mountains.  Makes one appreciate the scenic highways in Washington State.

There are several small towns along the way.  The smallest posted that there were 57 inhabitants.  I think the largest posted 256.  International Falls is not very big.  In the early 1900’s there was a water fall that probably has something to do with the name of the town.  But Mr. Backus came along and wanted to build a paper mill.  However, before the mill could be built, he needed to build a dam to generate electricity. So the water fall was no more.  Because the water fall linked the US and Canada, he had to make a deal with Canada, and Canada received one-half of the electricity produced.  Mr. Backus built the US paper mill and the Canadian mill on the other side of the lake.  The Canadian mill operated for just 100 years and is presently being torn down.  The US mill is called “Big Blue” and employs the majority of the residents in International Falls. 

When we came into town, we arrived at a railroad crossing just as the light bar went down.  The entire train consisted of containers.  The container industry started in the mid 50's by the White Pass & Yukon RR.  The first container was 6x6x6 and developed and used to carry newsprint from Seattle to Skagway, AK.  John's grandfather was president of the RR at that time and the first container ship bore his name, Clifford J. Rogers.  The ship was eventually sold and went down in the Bermuda Triangle.

The hotel was a bit different.  It is a combination of a distillery, restaurant, and hotel.  The room was nicely appointed with a ceiling made of iron bars and painted brown.  The bathroom was large as bathrooms go with a slipper tub wrapped in 3 shower curtains.  Because the tub was sitting on claw feet it was a bit higher so being careful getting in and out was critical.

We had dinner in the restaurant which again was laid out a bit different.  There were 3-4 tables, and the rest of the seating was at several bars placed around the room.  The bar where drinks were made was in the center of the room.  Because they did not serve wine (which is what I prefer) I had one of their specialty drinks, a pear gin and tonic.

March 29 – This morning we were late in getting on the road.  The hotel did not serve breakfast and in fact the kitchen and bar are closed on Monday.  The Chocolate Moose was recommended to us, so we set out to find it.  Google maps got it wrong, truck navigation got it wrong and the address we were given was wrong – so I called them to get directions.  It is one of those restaurants where one meal would be enough for 2 people and the prices were reasonable.  Makes up for the places where the prices are not worth what they put on the plate.

After breakfast we found our way to the Chamber of Commerce/Visitors Center.  They were extremely helpful, and we wound up spending the entire day in the International Falls area.  First thing we did was drive about 15 miles out to the most northeastern point of Minnesota.  If the ice/snow were melted we could have gone over to the Voyageurs State Park, which is an island.  During January, the ice forms a road over to the island, but the ice is too thin now.  There are several peninsulas that you can get to from the main road and we did meander out to a couple.  This is a vacationer’s paradise if you live in the area.  There are cabins, resorts, campgrounds, house boats and private homes you can rent to stay in.  There is hunting, fishing, hiking, snow shoeing, snowmobiling, and boating for activities as well as playing on the beach.  The average temperature from June-August is mid 70’s.  It is really something to see.

After exploring the water area, we went to the local museum.  The name of the museum is Bronko Nagurski.  Bronko was a local hero of International Falls. His claim to fame was being a Chicago Bear Football player.  He was recruited because he was big and fast.  He also played basketball and wrestled.  When he was not playing sports, he returned to his home to farm and be with his wife and 6 children.  He was born in 1908 and died in 1990.  When we were leaving the museum, I commented about the story they had about Bronko and even though we are not football fans, it was a good story about a local hero.  Turns out, one of the girls there is the great-granddaughter of Bronko.

After leaving the museum we headed south on Highway 53 to Hibbing.  This area was previously huge in mining iron ore.  Much of the ore is gone but there is still a small mining operation.  We will be able to see that tomorrow and visit the 3 antique stores in Hibbing.

Had a great dinner and are now doing the washing.  Laundry does tend to pile up after a while.

Good Night.

Spring 2021 Adventure

March 21, 2021

Daughter Jennifer helped me set up the blogging capability and son Charles said that if I am going to do this it needs to be interesting with a limited number of pictures.  So here goes...........

Technically we left on Monday, March 21.  The week prior was in preparation for leaving and there were a lot of things on the list that needed attention.  Two or the most important things were for John and me to receive our second COVID shot.  Now knowing how we would personally be affected by the shot I allowed for a couple of down days.  Fortunately, neither of us had side effects from the vaccine.

I still had tax returns to finish and a couple of small accounting projects to take care of.  John had to take the snow plow off of the tractor and re-install the mower blades for the guy coming to mow the lawn in April.  

One last bit of business was to drive to Sammamish to see Charles, Charli, Max, and Mason.  We decided not to leave from Sammamish because the North Cascade Pass Highway is still closed, and it was faster to drive home Sunday night and leave Monday morning.

Day 1 March 21: So, this is actually the first day of our adventure.  We drove to Carywood, ID., a small community on highway 95 about 25 miles south of Sandpoint. Traveling today was uneventful.  The roads were good, temperature in the 50's, blue skies with rain showers here and there.  

In Carywood we met up with some old friends.  Jim and Jenn Adair.  Jim was the best man at our wedding 52 years ago. Jim's sister, Bonnie (John's first girlfriend) and her husband joined us for dinner and a long overdue visit.   There was reminiscing, laughter and catching up.  The end of a great day.  Tomorrow we head for Kalispell, MT over highway 2, assuming the roads are passable.

Day 2, March 22 - We did not leave Carywood until about 11:30 am but Kalispell is just 175 miles east.  Drove north to Sandpoint and then east to Bonner's Ferry.  It is 16 miles from Bonner's Ferry to the Montana boarder and few miles to Libby, MT.  Our first stop was the visitors center.  We were encouraged to change our route to Kalispell and travel over Highway 37 instead of Highway 2. 

Before leaving Libby, we found a diner where we had lunch.  The special was half a roast beef sandwich with a bowl of vegetable beef soup.  Sysco did not have a hand in making this delicious lunch.

Highway 37 is more scenic even though a bit longer.  We spotted 5 deer and 3 small mountain goats along the way. The rock formations are beautiful to see with so many varied colors. The highway runs along Koocanusa Lake, which is almost 70 miles long.  There is one bridge at the northern end which is the longest and tallest bridge in Montana.

So, day 2 was taking in some beautiful county that we had not seen before.  Temperatures were in the mid 40's, blue skies with high clouds and snow on the mountain tops.

When we arrived in Kalispell we settled in for the night.  John went for a walk and I listened to a Lenten study on Zoom.  Lunch was so filling we had a small bag of popcorn with water (John) and wine.

Our original plan was to travel highway 2 along the upper part of Montana.  After looking at the map in greater detail we decided there would be more interesting things to see and visit if we went south to Helena the state capital of Montana.

Day 3 Kalispell to Helena, MT – Our first stop was Jeff Fleming Art Gallery.  Jeff is quite an artist of what he refers to as whimsical forest animals.  We have two of his wood carved bears at home.  Today I was interested in his paintings.  We found a print of 4 bears in and on an old tree trying to retrieve the honey from a beehive.  It is really cute.  Also picked up some cards and a magnet.

From the art gallery we located several antique stores that were calling us in.  John found an old Heathkit electronic equipment piece with the original instruction book. 

For a late lunch, we found an old soda fountain restaurant after which we fed the truck some fuel and set out for Helena.  By this time, it was 5:00 and Helena is 200 miles east.  The temperature in Kalispell ranged about 40-45 with snow showers every once in a while.

After leaving Kalispell the temperature dropped and the snow flurries were constant.  The lowest was 27 degrees but the highway was warm enough that the snow did not stay on the highway.  We did have to slow down for all the deer along the side of the highway.  The valleys stretch for as far as the eye can see with grazing cattle and horses.  There were several newborn calves in the pastures as well.

We finally arrived in Helena about 8:30 pm and found a local diner for a light dinner.  Our rule on the road is that we do eat at any restaurant we could go to at home.  Sometimes we have to set that rule aside but most of the time are able to find really great homecooked type meals.

John is looking up antique stores in the area for tomorrow’s adventure.  If we find too many for us to cover in a day, we will stay another night.  Whatever we do, at this point we do not know where we will be tomorrow evening.

 

 

 

 

Helena to Grand Forks, ND

 

Thursday March 25, 2021 – We really enjoy visiting antique stores and are finding the antiques vary by the area of the country we are in.  When we began traveling and going to every store,  we could spend all day at any one place.   As with any learning experience we have been able to limit our time in a store because we know what we are interested in and are able to spot those items pretty fast.  So today when we walked into a 10,000 sq. ft. store we were there for a couple of hours.  We found one piece of furniture that both of us liked but do not have a place for it at home.

We wanted to reach Glasgow by evening.  It is 400 miles NE of Helena and that makes a long day.  So, we headed for Great Falls, MT 90 miles northeast.

Great Falls is a land locked city except for the Missouri River.  The Missouri brought Lewis and Clark to the area more than 200 years ago and is still a mystery as to how they accomplished their voyage. 

What supports the large population of people varies from health care and social services to mining, quarrying, gas, and oil.  Of course, the highest paying jobs are in the mining, gas, and oil.

From Great Falls north, the land is rolling hills but mostly flat.  Some of the parcels look like they are farmed, and others look like they are left with natural grasses. At this time of the year, it is all various shades of brown. 

One of the beauties of traveling on the road is to see all the different types of terrain in a short distance.  From Helena we traveled through rolling wheat fields natural grassy fields, high plains with sandstone hills and rugged rocky mountains. The colors range in hue from reds, greens, and blues to tan, beige and black.  The sandstone hills have been shaped by the wind and rain and offer homes to animals and birds of the area.

The weather patterns also varied with a low of 30 degrees to a high of about 45.  Most of the time it snowed but did not stick to the ground.  When the snow stopped, the temperature dropped, and the wind blew.  I would not be surprised to know the wind chill was about 20.

Those that know me real well know that I like American history particularly having to do with the American Indians and western lore.  The landscape in this area and others lead my imagination to seeing teepees camped on the plains or people sitting on their horses looking over a canyon or the bison grazing the huge fields of grass. 

Other things that we see are old homes, barns and trailers have been abandoned along the way.  Some were burned, some people have just moved on.  Their stories would be interesting to listen to.

We were caught in some road construction and had to sit for about one-half hour for one way traffic.  That delayed our arrival to Glasgow about the same amount of time.

Traveling across many of the states you begin to realize the large number of trucks and trains that traverse the U. S. going north and south, east, and west.  They carry coal, oil, grain, vehicles, lumber, food products, containers, animals, huge pieces of equipment and the list can go on and on.  I do not think we see as much of that in Washington because of our proximity to the seaport.

Glasgow is a small community supported by farming, tourism, and some construction.  Driving by a farm implement dealership you will see not a half dozen new pieces of farm equipment but dozens of huge pieces of equipment.  Not only that there are multiple dealerships on both sides of the road with different brands of equipment.

Tomorrow is Friday, March 26.  We will continue east toward Williston, ND. 

Had a great night’s sleep.  The night before was short because we went to bed too late, and the day was long due to the number of miles we covered.  I think we were asleep by 10 and even John was still in bed at 8:00 am.  The bed was amazingly comfortable.

Fort Peck is known for its massive lake created by the dam on the Missouri River.  It offers fishing in both the winter and summer with over 50 varieties of fish.  The dam was started in 1932 and employed over 10,000 people.  It was one of many of the Great Depression projects to put people back to work, supply electricity, irrigation and flood control.  The lake is 134 miles long and has 1520 miles of shoreline.  It appears to be an earthen dam but to keep the water from seeping through there is cement and piling poured hundreds of feet below.

Driving east toward ND is the same rolling hills of wheat land.  There is a railroad line that runs parallel to the highway with several tracks.  So far this morning we have seen at least 4 different trains.  Some are carrying containers and others are hauling grain. Sometimes we forget where our food comes from.  The hundreds of thousands of acres that are farmed and the thousands of people that are instrumental in growing the crops and getting the crops to the mills and processing plants.

The Missouri River is on our right. As it flows through the land, I try to imagine what it must have been like for Lewis and Clark.  This country is bitterly cold in the winter.  They left the state of Missouri August 31, 1803.  I am not sure how long it took them to get to North Dakota or Montana, but they were probably there during the winter months. Survival would have been difficult. They are truly heroes of our country.

Starting to see a few oil wells pop up.  We are about 30 miles west of Williston.  The old, abandoned barns and houses are so interesting.  Would love to bring some wood home from them.

Just entered ND.  The land changes so gradually it is easy to forget that you have just crossed the state line. 

Williston ND was not as I had imagined.  I expected a town full of construction because of the large increase in population the last few years.  The economy of the area, while historically agricultural, is increasingly being driven by the oil industry. Williston lends its name to the Williston Basin, a huge subterranean geologic feature known for its rich deposits of petroleum, coal, and potash.

Williston appears to be a clean city, expanding to the north with new housing and industry.  We visited an antique store and had a nice visit with the 80-year-old owner.

Next stop is Minot, ND.  I remember a few years back when a friend, Pat Reynolds, went to Minot with the Red Cross to help with a flood.  This year they have not had the snow or rain as in past years/  In fact ND is in the middle of a drought and really need the rain. There are lakes all over the landscape.  Due to the cold temperatures, the lakes are all partially frozen or have large chunks of ice floating in the lake.  On one of the lakes, we saw someone walking across the ice. Today the high temperature was 41 with wind so you can see why it takes so long for this part of the country to thaw.

Stayed in Minot.  Did not sleep well but there are antique stores to explore so we were up and going by 9:30. The third one we visited was small with more ordinary items at fair prices.  The first store had a lot of fancy furniture and dishes and was extremely high in price.  The second one was a junk store. 

Met a fellow and his wife that purchase items in the 3^rd store to repurpose.  Happens that he trained at the Yakima Training Center many years ago.  At least he knows where Selah is.

Left Minot about 2:00 pm for Grand Forks, ND.  The landscape is not too much different than the previous 200 miles, flat land growing different grains and/or hay.  After arriving in Grand Forks and getting settled for the night, we planned our trip for the next 2-3 days.  Some people ask why we have come to ND and MN.  My answer is because it is here, and I want to see it.  Tomorrow after visiting antique stores we will head to International Falls, MN which on the Canadian border.