My husband Guy and another air traffic controller rode their motorcycles to Duluth, Minnesota. He returned to Iowa with plans to make sure I got to experience the Duluth area.
Our visit there in 2014 turned out to be a favorite outing, in spite of my diminished energy (fibromyalgia).
Located at the western tip of Lake Superior, Duluth is a shipping town–grain and iron ore, and tourism. We visited before the weather warmed much so missed swarms to visitors.
That bridge. An Aerial Lift bridge, built from 1901-1905 and now on the National Register of Historic Places, is the gateway to the harbor. A focal point visually and with its loud opening and closing bellow.
I loved watching the big ships. Every day we picked up Duluth Shipping News, which listed the name of a ship, what time it was due, what it was hauling, and little history, including what country’s flag it flew.
The Aerial Lift Bridge area has a fine visitors’ center, where you can even watch a video about the loss of the Great Lakes freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald, made famous by a song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot.
We took a two hour boat ride, which started out on Lake Superior, but came back through the Lift Bridge and all around the area along the St. Louis River where the ships we’d watched come in to unload taconite, coal, or whatever.
I was really hooked when I learned that one of the big haulers, the SS Lee A. Tregurtha, had been awarded two battle stars during World War II. Battle stars! The Tregurtha was originally laid down in 1942 as the tanker USS Chiwawa (AO-68).
Back in Iowa I discovered the corner of the internet with information on the Great Lakes ship. You can even keep track of individual ships on the internet.
Here’s a story about a man whose job was operating the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge.
The Canal Park near the bridge has all kinds of people-powered wheeled things you can rent to ride on around the area. Several generations of families enjoyed those and the museum and places to eat.
Bored? When you get home, you can even watch a Bridge Cam.