Trip Down Memory Lane - Duluth & Minnetonka, MN

Friday, June 12th

We get up and get moving as quickly as possible. Since this was a back in site without a sewer hook up, we've got a few extra things to do this morning - hook on the tow dolly, dump at the dump station and hook up the car.  Check, check, check and we are on the road.  We give a final wave to Green Bay and Lambeau Stadium, which you can see from the highway 20 miles away.  It's a nice drive through the rolling hills of Wisconsin.

As we approach Duluth, we are both wowed by the view of the city from Wisconsin.  Neil visited here as a kid and remembers skiing Spirit Mountain and a round Radisson hotel.  Neil's parents recall some complaining from Neil walking from the train station to the hotel up hill lugging his luggage and ski gear.

Anne's not-so-successful attempt to capture the beautiful skyline and hills/mountains surrounding Duluth.

We are both excited for the unique RV site that Neil found for us to stay.  It's in a marina near Canal Park and Park Point.  It's another back in spot, but after our experience in Green Bay, Neil's confident in his Nascar-like pit speed that we can get the car off and the rig backed in in no time.  We drive through Canal Park and across the lift bridge to our site and it does not disappoint.  We are surrounded by boats and RV's with an amazing view of the lift bridge and city.  We have to do some maneuvering to get the RV close enough to the electric hook up, but we get parked and are set up within the hour.

Boats and lift bridge - not a bad view for the next 2 nights.

Basically just a parking spot... But a cool parking spot.

Bet it will be a great sunset!

Through the living room window...

The parking spot at night...

We've still got some daylight left, so we take a walk across the lift bridge and through Canal Park.  What a cool area, with lots of restaurants, breweries, and shops.  We hit the liquor store and pick up some local beers.  There are a lot of people out and about and not a lot of masks.  Seems like business as usual here.  We have a zoom call this evening with Anne's family, so we head back to the RV.  We enjoy a relaxing evening at the RV zooming with the Mahrt's and playing Dominion online with T.J., Anne's brother.

Anne's enjoyed trying out the local breweries at our stops. 

Saturday, June 13th

We've got a full day planned for our 1 day in Duluth.  To start our tour, Neil's found a frisbee golf course in town that has some great views.  It's a challenging course and the wind makes it even more challenging.  There were a lot of frisbees thrown into the woods, but luckily we were able to find them all.  Not our best scores but a fun course.

Check out that form!  And the view :)

Hamilton enjoying the view. 

Lots of beautiful flowers in bloom on the course.

See how far you can throw it!!!

The obligatory disc golf course map selfie - some are a little more well marked than others...

9 holes just wasn't enough for Neil, so he's found another 9 hole course in town that is a little less challenging.  There is a creek through the course and Neil manages to throw his frisbee in twice, but again we luckily don't lose any frisbees.  It's a nice course and our scores are much better!

Anne and Ham at course #2 of the day...

After 2 rounds of disc golf, Anne is getting thirsty. We happen to be near a brewery that her friend Kate had recommended, Bent Paddle, so we head over there and pick up a crowler to go.  We drive through downtown to Leif Erikson Park.  We bring our freshly poured crowler and find a park bench over looking Lake Superior and the lift bridge. But it's chilly!!  Today's high is only in the 50's.  After we finish our beer, we walk through the park to the rose garden.

Bent Paddle Classic crowler and a view. 

Neil's artistic shot...

Pretty cool view of the city from this park

No roses in bloom, but the gardens were beautiful.

View from the rose garden.

Lief Erikson "Discoverer of America 1000 AD"

Next, we get back in the car to drive the north shore of Lake Superior, which we've heard from multiple people that we need to check out.  We drive down Superior Street admiring the old mansions and then onto scenic drive.   The coast here is beautiful and we pass lots of cabins and some unique artsy shops.  We drive to Two Harbors (about 20 miles north of Duluth) and stop at the harbor to check out the lighthouse.  We walked the breakwater wall to the lighthouse. It was windy and COLD!!

A stop along the scenic highway to take in the scenery.  The water is a gorgeous blue!

Lighthouse at Two Harbors

Hamilton say cheese!

Two Harbors from the breakwater

Another pic from the breakwater

Hamilton trying to hurry along the breakwater wall to get out of the cold wind.  

We head back to the RV for some dinner and a little rest before we head back out.  We are staying on a thin peninsula that goes ~7 miles and separates Lake Superior and Superior Bay.  After dinner, we hop on our bikes.  It's a single road that goes out with houses lined up on each side, so basically every house on this peninsula has a water view.  We get to the Park Point park and the road ends at the airport.  There is a sandy trail that begins here that you can take all the way to the end.  We're tempted, but the sand makes it difficult to bike, so we decide we've gone far enough.  We cross the sand dunes on foot to check out the beach and it is beautiful!

Beautiful Lake Superior. 

Looking back towards Duluth - that's how far we are, it's hard to see the mainland.

Another view back towards Duluth. some serious waves!

It's beautiful, but freezing - Anne has 3 layers on!

A family of geese we saw on our ride out to Point Park... Tis the season for growing geese!

Sunday, June 14th

On Sunday morning, we sleep in a little and then do the drive from Duluth to Minneapolis. It is a nice day, but a bit windy... It's about a 3 hour drive, but we decide that today is a good day to hit Walmart and get stocked up again with supplies for the trip West. After Minneapolis, we really are going to cover some ground as we head towards South Dakota.

We arrive in Minneapolis area at about 5pm and set up camp. We are at a nice KOA about 25 minutes Southwest of Minneapolis. We have a quick dinner, and we have a couple of friends that we are hoping to visit. Neil grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, so he forces Anne to head out on a tour of his childhood haunts. We visit his old house, his old neighborhood, the schools he used to attend, and the baseball fields he played at. He hasn't been here for awhile, and he really enjoyed connecting with his past.

After we finish the trip down memory lane, we connect with our friends Scott (Zippy) and Cresta. We all sit outside for a couple of beers and some great conversation. They are honestly two of the absolute best people we know. Even though we probably could have stayed for another few hours, we decide to head back to the campsite to hit the sack...

The campsite at Jordan, MN

Monday, June 15th
As we get up in the morning, we have planned about a 3 hour trip to Sioux Falls, SD. We are headed to Badlands National Park, and this is a perfect stopping point. We are planning on boondocking at a Cracker Barrel, so we decide that we can hang around in Minnesota with a plan to hit the road around 4pm.

We remember that we have a TON of laundry to do, so that is the first order of business when we wake up. The one good thing about doing laundry on the road is that you can use multiple machines! So, laundry that would take us all day at the old house only takes the time of one load. Ah, the joys of the road...

We get a late checkout from the KOA, so we are set to stay until 4pm. Unfortunately, someone is coming into our site, so we have to move to another spot. It's kind of a pain, but we are able to do it pretty quickly. After lunch, Neil takes off to play a round of disc golf with his buddy Zippy, and Anne stays back at the camp and works on some stuff (including this blog!) to get us ready for departure.

We made it through all 18!!!

After Neil gets back, we hit the road for Sioux Falls, SD. It is quite windy. Neil comments that he can really tell that he is driving our house today. After a tiring 3-4 hours of driving, we make it to the Cracker Barrel. Since we get to stay here for free, we always try to eat one meal from them. We grab a very tasty chicken dinner to split, and we play a few games and hit the sack - another long day of driving tomorrow - about 4 hours to Wall, SD. Hope it's not as windy! Until next time...