June 7, 2014 Duluth and onward

 Saturday, June 7

Raining and chilly this morning. 51 degrees at 7:30 AM. 

We decide to do the Duluth Skyline Drive,  between Lake Superior and a low range of mountains which we are driving across.  The view would be fantastic if it weren’t for the fog!  We hear later that Duluth is fogged in about 52 days of the year – and this is one of them!

We start in the west at Stewart Creek Bridge, an old toothy looking stone bridge from the 1920s. There are many picturesque streams along the rough road.  Winters take a toll on roads here!

Down the road a bit is a ski resort -  Spirit Mountain.  We take a few chair lift-in-the fog pictures and stop by the resort for a view. 

We ask a man working there if we can walk through to the “wedding deck” to take a few pictures and he says sure, then accompanies us and explains some of what we are seeing.   Several Islands are visible and he tells us the Indian story of Spirit Island where the son and daughter of the warring Chippewa and Sioux elope to, leading to a truce between the tribes.  But all that is ever found of the young man and woman are their empty moccasins, facing each other.  Another island, Clough, is in Conservancy now after plans to make a golf course there were scuttled.  Of course, much of the view is obscured by fog.  There is a little bit of dirty snow still showing and he tells us that we just missed the ice in the lake by a week or two.

Next stop is Enger Park and Tower.  A lovely rock tower which surely has a great view on a clear day.  The park showed that Spring had just arrived here, with tulips and daffodils blooming.  There were people setting up for a wedding – sure hope it clears up fast for them as it is still raining a bit now.  There is a Japanese zen garden and O’hara Peace Bell.  Seems some military men from Duluth found a bell in OHara-Chiba in Japan after WWII and brought it home.  Years later it was returned to that city and they gave Duluth this replica in thanks.

view from the tower

We head downtown to stop at Duluth Trading, a store that we have done a small amount of catalog business with. Duluth is an old town with some brick streets, but seems pretty lively. Bob Dylan is from Duluth, so we walk on Bob Dylan Way.

 Pick up a few stocking stuffers, but their clothing is very pricey – they must be paying for this new store!  We walk down the street to Fitger’s,  an old brewery building which still has a small brewery but has turned the rest of the building into a mall-type facility.

We do a little browsing then head back to Wisconsin to visit the Richard Ira Bong Veteran’s Historical Center.   Scratch ‘n’ Sniff of the day is the spicey smell of the sample dips at a cute little shop at Fitgers.

Named for a local who was a pilot, Medal of Honor winner and Major at age 24.  After over 40 missions he was sent home for “safety”, volunteered to be a test pilot and was killed in a crash less than a year later.   We watched an interesting film on Pearl Harbor – interesting because it included Japanese footage.

Between 1936 and 1945 the US produced 30,000 aircraft and the P-38 Lightning was a popular one.  There is an entire plane here, though you can’t touch it.  Other interesting war items including uniforms, bombs, jeeps, motorcylces, weapons and more.  Some items from other wars, too, as this center is dedicated to all veterans.

We head to a nearby Laundromat to catch up on laundry.  They have huge machines, so it goes pretty quickly.  Arby’s for dinner and back to Walmart.  Note:  We have been in Pepsi Country throughout the Midwest – much more dominant.