By the shores of Gitchee Gumee, the shining big sea waters...Lake Superior

We are in heaven...Duluth, MN. We're parked in a marina with water and boats on all sides of us. Weather's perfect, biking is great, fabulous restaurants, lots of shops to explore, a live concert right across the bay from us that went on all evening. We're having trouble tearing ourselves away from this place!

Way Up North

I last updated this in Grand Marais, MN and can't resist adding a couple more pictures from this pretty little town on Lake Superior.

Then we headed further north where the highway caution signs changed...notice the red nose on the reindeer on the sign. (Click on the picture to enlarge it)

Mosquitoes grew bigger and a little thicker (though not too bad due to this very cool summer here). Here's how I like mosquitoes......smashed on the window.

This is the view we had from our campground in Grand Portage, just a few miles south of the Canadian border.

We climbed 175 of these steps to the top of Mount Rose to overlook Grand Portage Bay.

View from the top...

the building below is in the National Monument that depicts the life of the Voyageurs who hunted and trapped all over Canada to send furs to Europe. Grand Portage was the site of the 8 mile long portage used to get furs and supplies from Lake Superior into the mainland river system. That was necessary due to all the rivers here crashing into the lake from huge waterfalls.

John & Patti drove up from the Twin Cities to join us for 2 days in this area.

We all tried the beach chairs at the historic Naniboujou Lodge, once the playground of Babe Ruth and other notables.

But the really BIG attraction for all of us way up north was our day trip to Isle Royale National Park, one of the least visited national parks due to its remoteness. 3 hours each way on this boat to spend 2.5 hours on the island.

We braved clouds, mist, rain, cold and bugs and lived to tell our tale. It's a beautiful unspoiled place, lush like a rainforest, but I wouldn't want to live there! We took a hike of about 1.5 miles and were soaked through from the wet foliage along the 12 inch wide trails - not your typical national park! The bugs were so thick I hardly even stopped to take any pictures. We didn't see any of the many moose on the island but learned all about how they survive winters there with as many as 100,000 moose ticks on their bodies and their skin rubbed bare from the itching. Not a paradise here by any means!

Flower deep in the forest on Isle Royale. it was so shaded that flowers were few and ferns and leafy plants abundant.

Rock of Ages lighthouse at the western end of the immense Isle Royale. This is the largest island in Lake Superior which is the largest freshwater lake in the world.

Back to Grand Portage.

She politely waited for us to pass on a trail this morning before crossing to the other side... we are now in Duluth for a couple of days before we will head down through northern Wisconsin for the Door County area.

Grand Marais, MN

Just in case anyone may be wondering why we don't want to come home yet....

45 degrees here...

It's COLD up here in Northern Minnesota!
We have the flannel shirts, sweaters, jackets and socks out again.

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Meet our new best friend - Samantha. the Nuvi GPS. She's a great addition to my navigating tools. But what I really want you to notice is the number of lakes up here! More than 11,800 of them... Look at all the blue on the screen & that's only showing a small area.

Recognize this picture??? It is the Quintessential travel icon, on the cover of my Great American Road Trip book, the mascot of the American Road, on the National Register of Historic Places, 72 years old. I am so happy to have finally made it here! Bemidji, MN where the Mississippi River begins its long, long course dividing the US into east and west.

So many towns do something to get into the glossy travel information. Virginia, MN has an open pit iron mine overlook with this HUGE piece of mining equipment in the parking lot. Named "King of the Load". Fun for pictures...

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We liked this Black duck in, where else? ... Blackduck, MN.

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I loved the kayak/canoe display in Walker, MN. So colorful!! The entire side of their huge building was covered with watercraft.

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Today we made our way over to Northeastern MN - to Grand Marais. We are in a campground right on the beautiful Lake Superior, within walking distance of the harbor, the gift shops and restaurants of this tiny touristy town. Happy campers...now if it would just warm up a little!

Lake time...

Paul Bunyon and his ox, Babe, are everywhere up here in northern Minnesota. They say that the 10,000 lakes here were formed by their footsteps.

We biked 36 miles today, working off some of the calories of all the cook-outs and beers and margaritas over the last several days.

Gregg's brother Gary & sister-in-law Judy joined us up here for some time with their twin sons and kids, cousins and an aunt. We've been in Crosslake and near Longville at Woman Lake.

Here's a bunch of random pictures of the family & the lakefronts, our pontoon tour, a Little League game...everything it takes for a great place to visit.

Also, click here for a video of The Schindel Follies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tiYDEXojLw