Duluth to Green Bay, WI

 

April 1, 2021 -After exploring the antique stores in Duluth (which were disappointing) we traveled north on the north shore road along Lake Superior.  Two Harbors is a quaint little town, some interesting shops but most attractive because of the lake ships coming in and departing.  We were lucky enough to be there at the right time.  There is a large parking lot near the docks for people to watch the activity.  Some brave soles walked the long break water.  The temperature had not yet reached 40 and the wind was strong coming off the lake.

The ships come in empty and are loaded with some version of iron ore.  As much as we can figure out, trucks come in and dump the ore into large piles like you would dirt or sand.  Then there are small cars on rails that move the ore from the piles to some kind of a slew that allows the ship to take on the cargo.  The same method is used in Duluth and Superior.  The Duluth and Superior ports are larger and can take more ships and maybe larger ones.

Two Harbors is large enough to handle 3 ships at a time.  We were able to watch one come out from its slip where it had to back out like you would a car and then go forward and around the end of the breakwater.  Because the one ship coming out was in motion the other ship waited in open water before it started to come in.  Remember these ships are about 1000 ft long and would not be easiest things to maneuver.

Ship leaving Two Harbors

After watching the ships, we found the visitors center for Two Harbors.  We do this often to learn about the immediate area and if we ask the right questions find out some secret places to visit.

There are numerous waterfalls in the area, which at first, I thought was strange, because there are so few hills in the area.  We visited one called the Gooseberry Falls.  There is a set of 3 because of the change in elevation.  This is a state of Minnesota State Park with a large visitor’s center, gift shop (which is now closed) and restrooms.  The path to the falls is easy with cement steps going down to the middle and lower falls.  After climbing back up to visitor’s center there is another path that takes you to the highest waterfall. 

Even as cold as it was there were a large number of families with children out.  This is spring break for them, and many were from the Twin Cities area.

Gooseberry Waterfalls, Two Harbors, MI

To back track a bit, when we were at the visitor’s center, we asked about a good place to find lunch.  A couple places were mentioned but one name caught my attention. “Betty’s Pies.”  I love homemade pie.  Before going to the waterfall, we stopped for lunch about 1:30. There was a 45-minute wait. (At 1:30 in the afternoon?)  Anyway, we made a reservation for 3:00 pm.  It was a late lunch, but it certainly was good. John had a hamburger with a bowl of ice cream.  I had a blueberry, apple salad with a piece of coconut cream pie.  That is my favorite.

After lunch we stopped into a little gift shop called Superior Finds.  They were overly friendly and helpful.  Easy to spend money in a shop when the staff is interested in their customers.

That brings us to end of another great day.  We had made reservation in Superior, WI for Thursday evening.  There is a lot of freeway construction, so it took a bit longer to find the hotel.  Because of a large lunch, dinner was not necessary.  Spent the evening plotting our route for Friday.  Friday it will be Good Friday and we wanted to double check to make sure places would be open.

Friday April 2, 2021 – Today we are headed to UP Michigan.  Michigan is on Eastern time, so I made a phone call at 8:00 am to see if the museum we wanted to see was open.  Yes, the museum is open, and it is 200 miles northeast, so we were able to get a good start.  Breakfast at the hotel was non-existent so we grabbed a muffin and coffee and were on our way.  

The evergreen trees are more prevalent in this area than in the upper part of Minnesota.  There are still a large number of deciduous trees.  One of those trees if called a poplar, that someone told me was Junk wood.  There are places along this road where you can see the lake but mostly the road is inland.  Temp. today is 46 and we can see where the ice is beginning to melt.  Spring is Coming.

I spoke too soon.  As we continued to travel north, some of the lakes were still frozen and completely covered with snow.

We arrived in Houghton, MI about 3:00 pm EDT.  The mineral museum is amazing.  There are displays of a rock straight out of the ground and then what it looks like inside, polished and not polished.  This area is referred to as copper country.  I did not realize what copper looked like before it was mined.  There was also a section talking about how they would drill for ore or whatever they thought was in the area and test to determine if there was a cost benefit to drilling.  Two hours is not nearly enough time to completely see the mineral museum and then there will be the gift shop, of course.  Will come back tomorrow.

Story of Item below

Fulgurite

Houghton is a college town, home to Michigan Technical University.  Industries are mining, timber, fishing and of course tourism.  Recreation activities are in an abundance here.  Sailing, fishing, hiking, and all sorts of winter activities.  Because the weather is mild during the summer there are a lot of visitors that come north.

Found a local fish restaurant and helped ourselves to some delicious lake fish.  (I cannot remember the name of the fish, but it was good.)

Our research shows that 4 places we wanted to see in the lower part of Michigan are closed due to COVID.  The Gerald Ford Museum, the Ford, GM, and Chrysler Museums are also closed.  So, we have decided we will postpone that part of Michigan until a later time.

Saturday morning, April 3, 2021 - There is a canal that separates the upper peninsula from an island that is still part of Michigan.  We crossed the canal to Hancock, home of Finlandia University, a private non-profit liberal arts school.  There were suppose to be 2 antique stores, however both of them were closed. From what we could see through the window, one of them would have been fun to walk through.  Leading out of town the sign said the village of Calumet was 17 miles north.  Most of the road is along the shoreline.  Houses are perched on a ledge up above the shoreline.  I would wager to guess that thee have a birds eye view of some magnificent storms. Much of the lake in this area is still frozen even  though the temperature is 50 today. 

When we arrived in Calumet it appeared to be a small ghost town.  By the time we turned the corner we were surprised.  There a lot of old building still standing and vacant.  Internet said there were 2 antique stores in town.  In this small of a town we figures they would be closed.  Low and behold, they were open and doing business.  The first one was three floors very nicely done.  The fun thing was that there were 5 guys sitting or standing around "holding court" as John puts it.  One of them tried to sell John a plaster Indian statue.  I did find a table lamp that we are bringing home.  This is a Finish community which was evident by their accent.  I had to ask them what the accent was. The second store was mostly books with a few antique items.  We are looking for an old Saturday Evening Post and a book from Scranton Correspondence School, neither of which she had.

From Calumet we headed back to Houghton.  We did not have success find antique stores in Houghton open for business.  Later in the afternoon we had our first Pasties.  This is a combination of potato, carrots, rutabaga, and ground meat all wrapped in a pastry shell.  It is served with gravy or some people use ketchup.  We preferred the gravy.  Next stop is Iron Mountain, MI

Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021 -  Today we listened to Easter Service on Zoom.  After leaving Iron Mountain, MI we drove to Green Bay, WI finding one antique store along the way.  Tomorrow we will start exploring another area.

Good Night for now.