Delightful Duluth

Sometimes getting away with your family in a different setting for a couple short days can be a bonding, refreshing experience…just what the soul needs. We just got back from visiting Big Boy up in college in Bemidji, MN and then made a quick decision to visit Duluth on our (long) way home. I’m so glad we did, because my beauty tank got filled up!

Kind of ironic that this Spring Break week, most of my kids’ friends are enjoying the warm sands of Florida, Arizona and Mexico, while we’re appreciating a just-thawed Lake Superior on a 50 degree day with no clouds in the sky!

We headed North when everyone else headed south! It’s more about being together as a family, and enjoying the sun in the cloudless sky and being in a different setting than we’re used to. And Duluth always satisfies with offering beautiful sights, both nature-made and man-made.

We stayed in Canal Park so we could embrace the shipping hub of the lake, centered on the famous Lift Bridge. Regular boat travel hadn’t really begun yet, because usually the ice is still on the lake, but we enjoyed the bridge and the pier and the lakeside nonetheless.

The evening we arrived, the setting sunlight was perfect for me to capture the beauty of this special place with my new camera, while Mr. Freckles climbed on the snow covered giant rocks. Ice chunks were still floating  randomly in the water around.

The lake water reflecting the perfectly clear blue sky was amazing, and the sunlight was casting the perfect light to capture reflections in the water…

A jet plane flew over leaving a perfect white line in the sky. Man’s creations set against God’s beauty was amazing to behold.

Standing under the bridge on the walkway while the cars drive overhead, or even better, when the bridge is raising and lowering is quite the experience. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any boats come through. But seeing the sun setting over the harbor filled with huge chunks of floating ice and the industrial lifts and cranes as a backdrop, our eyes and senses were refreshed from the hum drum of normal life. We, of course, also needed to refresh ourselves with some onion rings from the famous Grandma’s Bar and Grill.

We explored more the next morning, driving across the bridge and continuing all the way to Diamond Point Park.

The sandy beach is in stark contrast to the huge rocks that line the shore of Canal Park. The water, of course, was as cold as melted ice. But it was fun to search the rocks for agates along the shore. If you couldn’t see the snow chunks still holding on to the sand, it almost seemed like this stretch of dunes and grasses was a Florida beach…

And looking across Lake Superior was almost like looking at the ocean, but without the beautiful sound of crashing waves.

It’s just so nice to get away a day or two, drop the usual agenda and spend quality time with family in a place that’s different from daily life. Hope some of you are getting to do the same!

And as a gift to inspire you today…and because I am having so much fun with my newly acquired PicMonkey graphics…

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