But not for long. Here comes the I-535 bridge over
the mouth of the St. Louis River as it empties into Lake Superior�s western
most point. Lise was driving this time and could swear this bridge was
higher (translate = scarier) than the Mackinac Bridge! The very beautifully
sculpted sign at the other end says, �Welcome to Minnesota�.
Try going over it on a motorcycle once, it will
scare the begeezers out of you, especially if it's windy, on the other
hand, once you've been over in on a motorcycle, pulling our '73 Excella
is nothing :-)
We followed Minnesota 61 northeast through Duluth
and toward our destination of Two Harbors. We are planning to meet up with
at least three other Aistream families there. For Clevelander�s reading
this, imagine a drive along Edgewater Drive with many beautiful houses
to ooh and aah at, including one called the Fair-something Mansion. (I
know it started with Fair, but it might have been Fairlane, Fairpark, something
like that. I was still driving and didn�t catch it completely.) It was
a gorgeous red brick or stone structure that beckoned us to come back and
take a tour sometime!
Well there's Fairlawn in Superior Wi. (see other
post) and there is also the Congden Mansion on the north end of Duluth,
I've gone on the tour of this mansion. You missed the Railroad museum
in downtown Duluth, as well as canal park wwith the lift bridge and Corp
of Enginers Museum.
Along came a fork in the road. We had a choice to
make: Expressway to Two Harbors or the Scenic Byway. We chose the Scenic
Byway and enjoyed the slower vacation-like pace through wooded shoreline
and smaller towns.
It's not really all that much slower than the expressway,
a bit more curvy though. We've stayed at the Big Blaze Campground for the
last few years in Aug. ( we have reservation this year as well) you passed
it on your way to Two Harbors, about 5 miles south as I recall, their Campsite
are right on the lake, as in the back end of the trailer practically hanging
out over the water, When we're there we can hear the water along
the shore all night long.
We were intrigued to find lengths of orange plastic
snow fence along the sides of the roads in spots, along with little wooden
�no parking no parking no parking� signs staked into the ground. Then,
twice actually, we drove by multiple rows of what must have been fifty
port-a-potties. Eventually we figured out that the road would be used for
a race of some kind. This occurred to us just slightly after we drove over
a large white line painted on the pavement with the word �START� under
it. Hmm. Yes, I think it must be a race of some kind they�re planning on
having here! We are college-educated vacationers, after all!
Sure enough, we passed a sign advertising the Grandma
Run for June 16, that�s tomorrow. We are not sure if the town of Two Harbors
is always this bustling or if it is because of the upcoming race, but there
seemed to be people everywhere.
