Sara's parents came to visit at the end of July/beginning of August. Since both of them had only been up here right after we moved, we wanted to give them the grand tour of the area.
First stop: Jay Cooke State Park and the kayak center at Thomson Dam. Apparently a kayak course is setup along the river this time of year.
We were able to see a couple kayakers brave the rapids.
Looks fun!
Next it was off to the river trail at Jay Cooke.
On the way back to the swinging bridge we headed to the waterfall overlook for a photo op. Hard to believe I am related to these two supermodels!
Mom was wondering where the heck all the roots came from on the trail. What an obstacle course!
Mountain goat mom climbed all over the slanting bedrock. She's hard to keep up with :-)
Next stop was an overlook of the river at Oldenburg Point.
Here, I'm trying to push Mom over the edge - she just didn't know it yet!
Then Dad had to try and push me over the edge after this shot.
Super hiker Dad poses at the top of the steps to the overlook.
King of the mountain!
The next day we started our walk to Canal Park at the rose garden at Lief Erickson Park in mid-town Duluth.
I would not have guessed this is a rose if it wasn't in the rose garden, but it's pretty.
Another rose. I must tend to gravitate towards the red and pink ones because I didn't end up taking any pictures of the white or yellow roses.
The North Shore Scenic Railroad runs along the Lake adjacent to the rose garden and Lakewalk.
A yellow flower along the Lakewalk on the way to Canal Park.
We finally made it to the range lights at the shipping channel in Canal Park.
Even thought it was bright, I thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine.
I couldn't let Pat sneak away without being in a photo!
Not sure how you can actually go 15 mph when driving, but I suppose you might as well go slow and enjoy the view from the lift bridge.
We have lived in Duluth for almost 4 years, and pathetically enough have never watched a ship go under the bridge. Lucky for us, we were able to fit in a little tour of the shipping museum before heading back outside to see a ship come in.
As you may or may not be able to read, this is the James R. Barker of the Interlake Steamship Company. She's a 1,000 foot long self-unloader that was built in Lorain, OH. James Barker was Interlake's first president.
Off to the docks......
We thought we would stop for a photo-op with the bridge in the background.
The next weekend we headed over to Bayfield, Wisconsin. The highway follows the lake for a little way along the trip. We stopped at the beach in Port Wing for a quick leg stretching.
Pat thought it would be funny to run up and spin me around.
The water looked inviting, but upon putting our hand in the lake swimming did not seem in the cards. Maybe next summer it will be warm enough to actually go swimming.
We went to Bayfield but don't have any photos since it pretty much rained the entire time. It made for a good excuse to do some shopping, though.
The next day we were lucky to have sunshine so we could head up the north shore to Split Rock.
Pretty nice looking group, if you ask me.
Pat caught me in this snapshot near the pumphouse at Split Rock.
The dragonfiles are apparently mini birds at Split Rock!
The Split Rock lighthouse has a 3rd Order 'clamshell' Fresnel lens. The French are good for something, I suppose ;-)
On the way back home, we stopped at Palisade Head, where some crazy climbers were braving the cliff.
I think the view is just fine here instead of from the side of the cliff.
Ok, Pat, enough photos.
I'm so glad my parents could visit. I might just invite them to come back again :-)
