04 Day 30 - 40, Aug 8 - 18 ~ TWIN CITIES, MINNESOTA

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL

Sister cities, growing up on opposite sides of the Mississippi River, Minneapolis and St. Paul are fraternal, rather than identical twins.  They have the same history, but the two cities have distinctive personalities.  Chrome, steel and glass skyscrapers seem to sprout daily in Minneapolis; St. Paul proudly protects the stately brick and stone mansions of days gone by.  Even from a distance the cities’ skylines demonstrate their differences.

Downtown Minneapolis and
one of the windows on the Corporate office building for Target

 

St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota. It started out as a settlement known as Pig’s Eye; named after the nickname of Pierre Parrant, a French-Canadian whiskey trader who started the settlement around 1840.

Mississippi River seen from the Science Museum
Minneapolis skyline seen from the State Capital

Today Minneapolis has a population of 368,400 and St. Paul’s is  287,151.  We plan on staying here four nights.  There is a lot to see and do in both cities.

After 3.5 hours and 147 miles, we arrived at Apple Valley, just outside of the Twin Cities.

LEBANON HILLS REGIONAL PARK

This is a city park located in Apple Valley, about 15 miles south of Minneapolis.  It is about 5 miles from the Mall of America.   It is a good location, close to everything.   A little too close to the airport, so there is lots of air traffic and noise.  This is actually the best RV park/campground we stayed at on this trip.  It has two loops, paved and level with lots of grass and some trees.  The showers are nice and there is free WiFi in one of the loops.  I’ve never heard of WiFi at a city park.  No cable TV, but you get several channels with the antenna.  It is very quiet during the week, but full, busy and noisy on the weekend.

           

Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under MINNESOTA to see a review and more pictures of this campground.        http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/

CRISIS #1 Aug 8 (Mon):

As we were getting settled into our site after we arrived we noticed a burning smell and saw heat waves coming from one of the trailer’s tires.  Dave took the tire off and found that the wheel bearings had disintegrated and there was some major damage to the axle.  We called in a mobile RV service and he showed up about an hour later.  We were told that the axle had to be replaced.  We sat there stunned and watched the rest of our trip go down the drain.  How long is this going to take...days....weeks...can we extend our stay here.....  Tom (Mobile RV Service) took some measurements and made some calls.  He told us a week.  He left and we waited for more information.  We talked to the managers of this campground and extended our stay, but we would have to move to another site as some other family has reserved out site for the weekend.  Two days later, the axle has been ordered and it is on its way from Indiana.  It should be here early the next week on Tues or Weds.  It will take a day to install (on site) and we could leave the next day.  We extended our stay here in the Twin Cities by 7 days.  Instead of leaving after 4 nights on Friday, we will leave the following Friday (11 nights later). 

CRISIS #2 Aug 9 (Late Tues night):

Just as we thought things could not get worse, it did.  Late the next night Crystal was banging on the screen door chasing a moth when the screen door suddenly popped open and she fell out of the trailer.  Confused and scared, Crystal ran deep into the bushes that surrounded two sides of our camp site.  How do you look for a scared cat in the dark?  We went into the brush with flashlights and it was impossible.  The brush was full of dense shrubs, trees, and vines.  On the other side of this line of brush is a busy road.  Next to our campground loop is more brush, another loop, and a lake and more brush and trees.  It is hopeless. 

We rented two ‘live animal traps’ and set them up in the brush.  She never touched them.  For the next 5 nights she would come out, wander around, meow and hang out at our trailer.  We saw her and heard her.  She still had the collar with bell on.  But we could not get near her.  As we approached her she would run into the brush.  It is so frustrating to be so close, yet so far away.  We did not see her the 2 nights over the weekend as we had to move to another site.  The campground was full that weekend.  It was busy and loud, plus a severe T-storm rolled in that Friday night.  We feared she would disappear forever.   But as soon as we were able to move back into our site, she was hanging out at our trailer again. 

The 5^th night, we put the pets into the car and left the trailer doors open, hoping she would come into the trailer.  We rigged the screen door so that we could pull it closed from our bed.  Crystal did come into the trailer and meowed a few times.  We pulled the string to shut the door which made a great noise.  We thought we had her.  But when we turned the lights on, we saw that she got out the door before it shut.  This is pure torture for us.

As we waited for the axle to arrive and still had hopes of catching Crystal, we did manage to do some sight seeing of the Twin Cities.

MALL OF AMERICA

Is the biggest mall in the USA.  Dave & I have been to a bigger one.  A much bigger mall is in Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada.  Mall of America was once the site of the Metropolitan Stadium where the Twins (baseball) and the Vikings (football) played.  In 1982, they moved to the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.  In 1989, construction started on the mall and it opened its doors to the public in August 1992. 

Hear are some facts about the mall: There are 3 levels with a 7 acre theme park in the middle on the first level, the theatres are on a 4th level, 4.2 million feet of gross building area, 12,500 on-site parking spaces  in two ramps, 520+ stores, 11,000 employees year-round (13,000 during peak times), 30,000+ live plants, 32,000+ tons of trash recycled each year,  8 acres of skylights allow about 70% of the natural light to enter the Mall, 4.3 miles of total store front footage, 86 hours is the length of time it would take to complete your visit to the Mall if you were to spend just 10 minutes in each store, 7 Yankee Stadiums can fit inside the Mall, 32 Boeing 747s could fit inside the Mall, 258 Statues of Liberty could lie inside the Mall, and 170,000+ Legos have been lost in the LEGO play area. 

Dave & I visited this Mall a couple of times during our stay here.  We also ate some dinners here (they have great restaurants to choose from).  We visited the shops, but didn’t buy anything!  Well, except me (Jo).  Coldwater Creek was having a great sale.

MINNESOTA SEA LIFE AQUARIUM

There is a very nice aquarium at the Mall of America.  There are 5,000 sea creatures in the 1.2 million gallon aquarium.  You walk through this underwater tunnel that goes forever through sea life then through river life.  This place is very magical and worth the price.

MINNESOTA ZOO

This place is not in any of the Twin Cities, but in the city of Apple Valley.  This is where we are camping at.  In fact the zoo is just down the street from where campground is.  Sometimes you can hear the monkeys howling from our campsite.  This zoo is a major WOW.  It is one of the best that we have visited.  It is a magical place with wonderfully designed grounds.  You view exotic animals from around the world in natural habitats and a garden-like setting. The Tropics trail and the Minnesota Trail are all inside and you follow a path that puts you right their in their environment. This zoo opened in 1978 on 500 acres and featured 1,200 animals representing 238 species.  Today more than 3,711 animals (518 species) reside at the zoo.  This zoo also participated in 24 Species Survival Plan programs.  This zoo is wonderful and a MUST SEE!

Mexican Wolf

THE MINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM

This is a premier public garden and run by the University of Minnesota.  This is an amazing place.  It is 1,137 acres and has 12 miles of walking trails.  There is also a 3-mile scenic drive that circles inside the garden.  You can park at various places and explore the gardens in that area.  This place is that big.  We spent about 2.5 hours here on our first visit exploring the gardens and still didn’t see half of it.  We returned a second time and hiked on some of the trails; the Forest Trail and the Bog Trail.  The hike was very scenic, but it was hot and humid and the mosquitoes were eating us alive; we forgot our bug spray. 

There were some interesting sculptures on display throughout the gardens.  Steve Tobin’s (no relation) “Steelroots” will be in the gardens through January 2012.  There are 17 of these roots.  We saw a lot of them, but not all of them.

SCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNEAPOLIS

Artifacts from King Tut’s tomb were on display for a few months as a special event at this museum.  We saw this exhibit in San Francisco about 20 years ago.  The artifacts were different at this museum, so we enjoyed seeing more of King Tut while we were here.  The exhibit was set up very nicely.  There were several artifacts from several different kings that led up to entering King Tut’s tomb.  His sarcophagus was not on display (which we saw in San Francisco).  But his mummy was, or rather an exact copy of his mummy (the only one).  The real one will never leave Egypt.  The rest of the museum had a lot of hands on stuff including a stair case that plays musical tunes when you walk up or down.  Several young people were running up and down.  Ahh, to be able to do that again.  This is a very nice museum.  The museum is located near the Capital building in St. Paul and along the Mississippi River. 

   

STATE CAPITAL – ST. PAUL

This building is spectacular.  The first Capital building was first used in 1849, but not finished until 1854.  In 1881 it burned down.  A new building was put up the next year, but already too small for the growing state.  The current building was opened to the public on Jan 2, 1905 on a site a few blocks away from the original and second buildings.  The current Capital was designed by Call Gilbert, a St. Paul architect.  Construction began in 1896 and took 9 years to complete.  It is 434’ long, 215’ wide and 223’ high.  The dome is 60’ in diameter and one of the largest self-supporting marble domes in the world.  Exterior walls are Georgia marble and the foundation and steps are St. Cloud granite.  The interior walls throughout the building are made with more than 20 types of stone.  There are works of art all over the place.  You see signs of the North Star, Minnesota’s state motto, everywhere.  This place is amazing and very impressive.

COMO PARK ZOO AND CONSERVATORY

This is a very nice place in a very large city park in St. Paul.  It is free to the public, but they ask for a $2 per person donation.  This zoo is quite big and it’s the first zoo we have visited this trip that has zebras and giraffes.  It was a hot and muggy day, but we moved slow and managed to enjoy the day.  For over 100 years, Como Park has played a vital role in providing an outdoor haven for the residents of St. Paul.  Today the Zoo and Conservatory is operated by the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department. The Zoo features a large cat exhibit, primates, birds, hoofed animals, aquatic life and a polar bear exhibit.  The Conservatory is a half acre indoor and outdoor facility with a number of different wings dedicated to a variety of plant life including bonsai trees, ferns, orchids and seasonal flowers. 

MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ART

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts was founded in 1883 by 25 citizens of Minneapolis.  The original building opened its doors in 1915.  This side of the building looks like the Lincoln Memorial with huge columns.  We never saw that side.  We entered on the more modern side of the Institute, a new wing that was added in 2006.  This was a major renovation and expansion that included 34 new galleries.  There are more than 80,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history.  Art work includes work by Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso.  There is a lot of Asian, African and Native American art as well as photographs, textiles, drawings, marble statues and bronze statues.  

Also a lot of modern art work that is really weird.  You look at some of these pieces and wonder why it is called art.  We saw a large framed piece of art that was a solid white canvas.  I got up close to it, stared at it thinking I would find a tiny spot..something.  I found nothing.  Then I though maybe the art work was temporally off display...but no.  That framed white canvas was the artwork....really weird. 

THE CRISIS
We had a happy ending to our crisis that came down on us at the beginning of our  stay in the Twin Cities.  On the 6th night of Crystal being loose (8/15) I finally sat outside our trailer, late that night after all the lights went out and waited.  Sure enough she came out and wondered around, walked by me a few times then suddenly turned around and started rubbing on my legs.  I was in shock.  I didn’t move.  I slowly started to pet her and she reached up for more.  I grabbed her and ran into the trailer.  End of story, it was that simple.  We should have done that the first night!!!

The next day (8/16) our trailer axle arrived.  Tom’s Mobile RV Service arrived on the following day with the axle and spent the morning replacing, repairing and checking the other wheel bearings.  Crisis #2 has now ended and we are doing the happy dance (picture two old people jumping up and down all over the campsite...not a pretty picture, but a happy one).  For the first time in 10 days we got a good sleep that night. 

We lost a week by having to extend our stay in the Twin Cities.  But it could not have been a better place to be stuck in.  This is a nice area with a lot to see and do.  It was a depressing and stressful time for us, but we also had the time to see a lot of the sights we would have missed if we had left after the planned 4 nights.  And at times you are thankful for the delay; that the damaged axle was a blessing as it gave us the extended time to search and wait for Crystal to come home.  But it all ended well and despite the crisis, we enjoyed our time here and we will be back to the Twin Cities on a future trip

Our next destination is Wisconsin, America’s dairy land and the land of cheese.

WISCONSIN  FACTS: 

Settled in 1766

Entered the Union on May 29, 1848

Wisconsin has a population of around 5,363,675 and 56,154 square miles. 

State Capital:  Madison

State Nickname:  Badger State, America's Dairyland

State Motto:  “Forward”

State Motto (funny):  --

State Flower:  Wood Violet (1949)

State Bird:  Robin (1949)

State Animal:  White Tailed Deer

State Tree:  Sugar Maple (1949)

State Gem:  --

State Song:  “On Wisconsin”

03 Day 21 - 29, July 30 - August 7 ~ NORTH DAKOTA and MINNESOTA

DAY 21 & 22:  JULY 30 & 31  ~ NORTH DAKOTA

Called the Upper Mid-West, North Dakota is in the center of the country.  We have reached the half point of our trek across the country.  We also entered the Central Time Zone and moved ahead an hour, losing another hour.  We are now 2 hours ahead of home time. 

Colorful fields of wheat, barley, oats and sunflowers line the highways.  It was very level for our drive across the state.  No hills or mountains to climb, no twists and turns.  We made it to our destination almost two hours less than it took us to drive the same number of miles in the other states. 

North Dakota fascinated Lewis & Clark.  They spent more time exploring this region than any other (1804 – 1806).  The Missouri River acted as their guide.
In 1999, North Dakota becomes the first state to legalize industrial, non-psychoactive hemp to be grown for its fiber content.

THEODORE RO0SEVELT NATIONAL PARK:

Our first stop as we entered North Dakota was at the visitor center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 

In the badlands of North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt National Park pays tribute to the 26^th president’s contributions towards the conservation of the nation’s natural resources.  Teddy Roosevelt came to this area as a 24 year old to hunt buffalo, live off the land and learn how to be a ‘cowboy’.  We spent about an hour here viewing and taking pictures of the colorful formations that the Little Missouri helped carve.

See that small dot at 11:00 in the above picture?
It's a dragonfly

Just before we got into Bismarck, in New Salem, we sighted the World’s Largest Holstein Cow (called Salem Sue) way up on a hill.  We could have driven up the hill to get a closer look at it, but with dragging the trailer, it was not practical.  So I had to get a picture (as best as I could) from the roadside.  Salem sue was built in 1974.  She is 38 feet high, 50 feet long and made with 6 tons of reinforced fiberglass.  She had to be built in 3 sections in order to get her up the hill.

    

BISMARCK:

Bismarck with a population of 55,532 and elevation of 1,653 feet has been the capital of North Dakota  since statehood.  The city grew up around the site of Camp Hancock, an Army post founded in 1872 (known then as Camp Greeley) to help protect railroad crews.  Bismarck’s name was chosen in 1973 as a compliment to German’s “Iron Chancellor” and as an inducement for his countrymen to invest in the railroad.  We will be spending two nights in this city.

After 5 hours and 197 miles we arrived at Bismarck.

BISMARCK KOA:
This is a nice KOA.  The full-hookup sites are spacious and private with lots of trees and shade.  There is no cable TV, but you can get the local channels with your antenna.  The wireless internet is free.  The signal is so, so.  It is stronger if you are outside of your trailer.  The bathrooms are very old and run down. 

          

Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under NORTH DAKOTA to see a review and more pictures of this campground.        http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/

Bismark has a Cracker Barrel.  So after we settled in we drove nearby to the Cracker Barrel and had a late lunch. 

Crystal and Dave reading the Sunday paper.

We had one full day to spend in Bismarck.  We spent he morning visiting the Dakota Zoo and in the afternoon we went downtown to see the State Capital.  It was  Sunday and the downtown area was closed.  Not even a restaurant was open.  So we returned to Cracker Barrel, had lunch, and then returned to the State Capital.  We got there in time to do the last tour.

DAKOTA ZOO:

This is a very nice zoo.  It was founded in 1961 and is celebrating it’s 50^th anniversary.  It has grown from 15 acres to 90 acres and now houses 600 animals, birds, and reptiles representing 125 species.  It has tigers including a white Bengal tiger and a rare color tiger called called a “golden tabby tiger”, or “strawberry tiger”.  They are a variety of the Bengal tiger.  Records of the golden tabby tiger date back as far as the early 1900’s.  Records also indicate there are less than 30 of these tigers in the world.  This tiger is on loan from The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.).  This is another zoo that has no elephant, lions, zebras, or giraffes.

We timed our arrival at a good time.  This zoo had been closed for six weeks recovering from some major flooding.  They are still cleaning up from that flood and probably got some more water due to the storm that hit two days ago. This latest storm caused lots of flooding in some areas of the city.  As we got closer to the zoo we saw several homes surrounded by a wall of sandbags. 

            
                 
There were several paths in the zoo that were under water as well as a lot of water in some of the habitats.  In one area it was like a lake and there were some huge pumps, pumping the water out.  You can hear the pumps as you walked about the zoo. 

This was an interesting color tiger.  He was lying flat on top of another rock.  I could not get a good picture of him (or her).  But the picture in the sign is exactly what he looked like.  A very beautiful tiger.

An amazing sight we noticed while walking around the zoo was the swarms of dragonflies.  They were everywhere.  We've noticed these swarms all over town.  I tried getting a picture of a swarm or even one but it was impossible.  I did get a short video of them.



STATE CAPITAL:

After lunch we returned downtown to visit the State Capital that was open despite it being a Sunday. The first capital building was built in 1883, near the present-day site.  Fire destroyed the building on Dec 28, 1930.  Spontaneous combustion of oily rags in a janitor’s closet was blamed.  Construction of the new building was completed in 1934 and was occupied in Jan 1935.  The 19-story Capital Building is the focal point of the 130 acre complex.  And it is the tallest Capital in the United States. 

First we visited the Dakota Heritage Center on the Capital grounds.  This is a museum of exhibits depicting the history of North Dakota from its geologic beginnings to the present.  Exhibits also feature the varied American Indian, military and agricultural history of North Dakota. 

This buffalo is at the entrance to the Heritage Center
Zoom in and check out the detail in the iron work

At the Capital building we got there in time for the last tour.  We were the only ones on this tour so we had a personal guide.  The interior walls were covered with several different kinds of stone such as Yellowstone travertine marble, Minnesota granite, Wisconsin black granite, etc; and several kinds of wood, such as walnut, chestnut, California oak, and many more names that I can’t remember.  It was all very beautiful,  The ground floor lobby was the Hall of Fame (Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider’s Award) with portraits of famous North Dakotans who received this award; such as Lawrence Welk, Angie Dickinson, Warren Christopher (Clinton’s Secretary of State),  Peggy Lee and many more.

 

The 1st picture is looking down onto the grounds in front of the Capital building.  It was taken from the observation deck on the 19th floor.  The 2nd picture was when a world's record was set on February 28, 2008.  8,962 people made SNOW ANGELS in one place, at the same time.  Since then many other states and last year, Nova Scoia, Canada has tried to break this record.  So farm North Dakota holds the record. 

We had some excitement that night.  Around 10:00pm a severe thunderstorm rolled in bringing some intense rain and wind with lots of thunder and lightning.  A “tornado watch” flashed across the TV screen which put us in a state of panic.  We brought out the pet carriers and packed the laptop and waited.  By midnight everything had passed without incident.  We started breathing again and went to bed.

On day 23 we leave North Dakota and continue east into the state of Minnesota for 11 days.

MINNESOTA  FACTS: 

Settled in 1805

Entered the Union on May 11, 1858

MINNESOTA has a population of around 4,919,479 and 84,068 square miles. 

State Capital:  St. Paul

State Nickname:  Land of 10,000 Lakes

State Motto:  “The North Star”

State Motto (funny):  “10,000 Lakes And 10,000,000,000,000 Mosquitoes”

State Flower:  Lady Slipper (1902)

State Bird:  Common Loon (1961)

State Animal:  --

State Tree:  Red Pine (1953

State Gem:  Lake Superior Agate (1969)

State Song:  “Hail Minnesota” (1945

DAY 23 - 29:  AUG 1 - 7  ~ MINNESOTA

Is Minnesota really “the Land of a 10,000 Lakes” as its license plates claim?  The answer is NO:  the number is actually more than 15,000.    The name Minnesota is roughly translated as ‘sky-tinted water,” which explains the state nickname “the Land of sky-Blue Waters.”  Minnesota is home to the largest mall in the United States; “Mall of America.”  This is a 78 acre mall that opened in 1992 in Bloomington (near Minneapolis).

We passed through Fargo ND. and Detroit Lakes is about 40 miles east of Fargo.  We started to see corn fields, along with the wheat, barley and oat fields.  After 5 hours and 244 miles, we arrived at Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

DAY 23 – 25, AUG 1 – 3 ~ DETROIT LAKES:
Detroit Lakes is a resort town that is right on the lake. This city has a population of 7,348 and an elevation of 1,353 feet and is home to the WE Fest. Every year on the first weekend of August, country western lovers all over the country come into this small town to watch big star and little star western singers perform out in a country arena and campground. 50,000 people show up for this Western Entertainment Festival.

We had no idea this event was happening this weekend.  However, we will miss it by one day.   We are here for three nights from Mon thru Wednesday night.  The Fest starts on Thursday.  So we will miss the masses of people, but we will be here when the crowds start to arrive. The first night was quiet, but the next 3 nights was loud.  Hard rock banks were playing all over the area and they sounded really bad to us.  The played until around 2am on the 2^nd and 3^rd night.

COUNTRY CAMPGROUND:

So far this is the best campground we’ve stayed at. The sites are very spacious. The owners live on site and they are very friendly. They greet all the guests and spending time talking to them. They were really enjoying themselves meeting new people. All the guests staying here were very friendly as well. We were out in the country with open fields all around. Unfortunately for this weekend these fields were full of campers and loud people here for the WE Fest.

       

Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under MINNESOTA to see a review and more pictures of this campground. http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/

FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA:

We passed through Fargo on our way into Minnesota. Fargo is about 55 miles west of Detroit Lakes. We made a trip back into Fargo to visit the city. We had a very nice lunch at an Italian place on Broadway Street (their main street) and found some fiberglass buffalo. It was from an art event in 2005 called “Herd About the Prairie – A Virtual Art Stampede”.

   

    

We found another buffalo when we visited the RED RIVER ZOO.  The Red River Zoo is fairly new, having it’s grand opening in the spring of 1999 and is operated solely through earned revenue, memberships and donations.  Over three hundred animals of seventy-five species reside at this Zoo.

 

There is a 1928 Carrousel with wood and aluminum animals at this zoo.  It’s a portable carrousel that can be taken apart and moved to different locations.

The wolf habitate is almost new.  The zoo aquired 7 wolf pups in 2008 (two were later sent to other zoos).  These pups were born at a wildlife santuary in Ontario, Canada.  We got to see 2 of these pups. 

The viewing area of the wolf habitate looked like a log cabin. In front of the log cabin was a creek with river rocks lining the creek and lying about. The rocks had donor’s names carved into the rock. A cool idea.



Pollas Cat - one of my favorite animals at zoos



ITASCA STATE PARK; MISSISSIPPI HEADWATERS:

On our last day in Detroit Lakes, we drove north, about 45 miles to Itasca State Park. 

 

Headwaters Caretaker Woman 

This is where the Mississippi Headwaters are; where the Mississippi starts.   It is the only place where you can “walk” across the Mississippi.  The area  where Itasca Lake flows into the Mississippi River is about 50 feet wide and less than a foot deep.  You can just wade across, or you can use the stepping stones that are laid out across the river, but you still get your feet wet.  Or you can walk across a log that lays across the river a few feet above the water.  We didn’t want to get our feet wet, so we walked across the log (very carefully).  It was quite crowded here, but we waited our turn, took lots of pictures and enjoyed the scenery. 

Itasca State Park is a large park; (32,000 acres) with 157 lakes and tons of hiking trails and lots of scenic roads.  A lot of time and care has been  put into this park.  There are several campgrounds, a couple of lodges and lots of cabins. 

DAY 26 – 29, AUG 4 – 7 ~ DULUTH:

Duluth was named after French explorer Sieur de Lhute, who landed here in 1679.  Iron was found here in 1865 and by 1869 lumber mills throughout the entire Lake Superior district had added to the town’s economy.  With the help of railroad shipping, the population had climbed into the thousands.  Today Duluth is one of the largest inland seaports in the world and an important grain center.

We will have three days to explore this area.  Duluth has a zoo and an aquarium to visit.  We plan to drive along the North Shore (in Western Lake Superior) and visit some lighthouses and check out Gooseberry Falls in Gooseberry State Park.

After 5 hours and 189 miles we arrive in the Duluth area.

CLOQUET /DULUTH KOA:

This KOA is different from the other KOA.  Gone is the A-Frame main building that is KOA’s signature.  Instead there is a building that looks like a log cabin.  It is a nice RV park and campground that is out in the country with open fields, grassy sites and trees surrounding the park giving it some privacy.  It is nice and clean and there are no permanent residents.  The only drawback to this place is the railroad tracks that are next the park and the train that rolls by a few times a day and also throughout the night.  The train blasts its horn as it rolls by.  Ever hear a train horn at 2am in the morning.  We will not be staying at this place ever again.

 

Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under MINNESOTA to see a review and more pictures of this campground.        http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/

LAKE SUPERIOR ZOO:

Lake Superior Zoo dates back to 1923 when a West Duluth businessman, Bert Onsgard, received permission from the City to construct a pen for Billy, his pet deer.  Bert shared this vision for a zoo and the community embraced it. 

Mr. Magoo was the most-famous zoo resident of all times.  Early in 1962, Mr. Magoo, an Indian mongoose was smuggled into the Duluth port by a merchant seaman. The mongoose had been a pet on a ship that sailed from Madras, India to the United States through the Great Lakes to the port of Duluth.  the mongoose had created much havoc on the ship and the seaman needed to find a new home for Mr. Magoo, so he donated him to the Duluth Zoo.  Unfortunately, because it was not legal to have a mongoose in the United States, the U.S. government ordered that Mr. Magoo be euthanized. The local public outcry about the pending fate of Mr. Magoo sped across the country to the highest levels of our government. President John F. Kennedy granted the Presidential pardon that spared his life. This national celebrity lived at the zoo until his death in 1968.

Today the zoo is under some major improvements and has a lot of new habitats.  The Lake Superior Zoo is not a large zoo.  There are no longer any elephants, although the original elephant house is still there.  There are no giraffes, zebras, hippos or rhinos.  It houses mostly animals that thrive in the Northern climates.

GREAT LAKES AQUARIUM:

It was a very humid day and visiting the zoo exhausted us, so we were very glad to get inside someplace cool while visiting the aquarium.  Previously known as Lake Superior Center, the Great Lakes Aquarium has been located on the Duluth Waterfront since 2000. A freshwater aquarium, GLA features animals and habitats found within the Great Lakes Basin. The Aquarium also houses animals from other freshwater ecosystems such as the Amazon River.  The Aquarium is more of a learning center with lots of educational exhibits. 

The waterfront boardwalk is in back of the Aquarium and you get a great view of the Aerial Lift Bridge in the Duluth Harbor Basin.   We were lucky enough to be outside taking in the view when the Aerial Lift Bridge lifted to let a very long lake freighter through.  The freighter was from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada.  It was fascinating to watch the span lift as an alarm was going off, the ship sailed through and then the span lowered. 

 

WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR:

It was cloudy the morning we explored Western Lake Superior. And it did rain.  This section of Lake Superior runs from Duluth to the Canadian border.  We got off of the highway and drove on North Shore Road which hugged the shores of Lake Superior.  We were passing a lot of antique and gift shops.  We would have liked to stop at some of them, but we had a lot to do today.  We passed a charming place that was a café called New Scenic Café.  Everyone driving in front of us was turning into this place.  It was noon and time for lunch so we pulled in too.  This is a small place and we had to wait a while as it was crowded, but it was worth the wait.  The food was excellent!  

We entered the town of Two Harbors and our first stop was TWO HARBORS LIGHTHOUSE.  This lighthouse is the oldest operating lighthouse in the state of Minnesota.  It has been running since 1892.  It overlooks Agate Bay in Lake Superior.  Two Harbors was the major shipping point for iron ore. The 49.6-foot tower is made of red brick and the head keeper's residence is attached, it towers 78 feet from the lake level to the top.  Today the head keeper’s residence is a Bed & Breakfast and the rest of the lighthouse and other buildings on the grounds are a museum.  The lighthouse is a working lighthouse with rotating electric light in the tower instead of the original mirrored prism that rotated around a fixed flame supplied by oil.

Further up the road is SPLIT ROCK LIGHTHOUSE and State Park.  This lighthouse had an impressive Visitor Center with a film and tours of the lighthouse and grounds.  Shipwrecks (29 ships) from a severe November 1905 storm with 30 foot waves and snow and strong winds prompted the construction of Split Rock Lighthouse.  The lighthouse was completed in 1910.  The lighthouse is perched on a high cliff.  In those days there was no access from the land to this perch so construction supplies had to be hoisted 110 feet up the cliff to the site. The station closed in 1969 when modern navigational equipment made it obsolete. Today this lighthouse has been restored to its original condition, including the light fixture.  It is operational and is only used for special events.

Our last stop was GOOSEBERRY FALLS STATE PARK.  We passed this area to get to Split Rock Lighthouse and then stopped at these falls when we headed south to return ‘home’.  The falls are huge and there are three sections of these falls; Upper, Middle, and Lower.  Right now the falls are not running at their full strength.  In fact, it is more like a trickle compared to the pictures when they are raging at full force.  But even at a trickle, the falls are very impressive.  We did a lot of hiking to get views of all of the levels.  It was crowded and people were right up there getting personal with the falls.  I was exhausted by the time we got back to the car.   

Our very last stop on North Shore Drive was at Betty’s Pies where we had a delicious piece of pie with ice cream and a cup of coffee. Betty's Pie started in 1956 when Betty's father Aleck built a fish shack by the Stewart River on Highway 61. Betty thought it would be a good idea to have some goodies for the fishermen when they stopped in, so she started making donuts and coffee for them to enjoy.  Then she started making pies.  Betty no longer owns or runs the place.  But she occasionally drops in.  We sat next to a window that had a humming bird feeder stuck on the outside of the window.  We sat there enjoying our pie and watching a humming bird hover at the feeder.  Got a great picture.  A nice ending to a wonderful day. 

THE DEPOT:
We spent our last afternoon in downtown Duluth.  We visited The Depot.  Built in 1892, the Union Depot is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Today The Depot is a place for visitors and residents to enjoy Arts, Culture and History.  Admission includes the galleries of the St. Louis County Historical Society and Duluth Art Institute, the Duluth Children’s Museum and the Lake Superior Railroad Museum.  The Depot also still functions as a train depot.  The North Shore Scenic Railroad trains depart from here daily.  The Duluth Playhouse is also at The Depot.  The Minnesota Ballet, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and Matinee Musical perform at the Playhouse. 

 

Our last stop in Minnesota will be the Twin Cities:  Minneapolis (the home of the Mall of America) and St. Paul (capital city of Minnesota).  See the next posting (Post 04) to follow that adventure.