Written by Kim
The drive today took us west from the Upper Peninsula on part of Highway 2 into Wisconsin on our way to Duluth. We drove about 5 hours through areas of very spotty cell service which meant we also didn’t have Sirius radio. We learned that we have to restrict our fluid intake because you can go miles in this area without a restroom. We read in one of our Facebook groups there was a sign at the intersection of B & FF and we’re determined to find it to take the below photo. Luckily it wasn’t too far off our planned route.
I got to my first 2 new states which were new for Alex too – Wisconsin & Minnesota.
We’ve traveled through 12 states already (noted in Orange on the below map). We expect to hit all the white ones, which neither of us have visited, and blue ones which Alex has seen but I haven’t. Alex has now seen all the states I previously saw before we started our trip. Green we both saw prior to this trip (as well as some that are now orange).
Our drive was very quiet through state highways mostly. We saw lots of birch and evergreen trees as well as lots of hay bales in the fields. The leaves were starting to change color
We stopped at the Wisconsin point along the way. Wisconsin Point is a peninsula off the shore of Lake Superior. The point is the world’s largest freshwater bay mouth sand bar. We had a picnic lunch on the beach.
About 30 minutes drive from Wisconsin Point we reached Duluth. Duluth is on the north shore of Lake Superior at the westernmost point of the Great Lakes. It forms the metropolitan area with Superior, WI called the Twin Ports. It is the second-largest city, and the largest U.S. city on the lake. Duluth is accessible to the Atlantic Ocean, 2,300 miles away, via the Great Lakes Waterway St Lawrence Seaway. we enter Duluth by crossing a bridge over the St a Louis Bay. Our hotel, Park Pointe Marina Inn, was across the aerial bridge which is a big attraction in Duluth. It wasn’t a big deal for us because we have these types of bridges in NJ and we live right by a swing bridge but evidently they are not common here. The aerial bridge takes 7 minutes (just like our swing bridge) to open and close.
We originally planned to do a self guided walking tour in Duluth but Alex is coming down with a cold so we just rested a bit at the hotel before heading out to dinner. We had a beer at Canal Park Brewery before dinner and even saw a cowboy in chaps carrying a lasso. We’re not in SC anymore!
We had dinner at Cloud 9, and Asian Bistro. It was a nice change from sandwiches and salads
We finished the night with a walk on the boardwalk at Canal Park which is a very nice tourist / recreation area that is built from conversion of old warehouses. There are lots of hotels, restaurants and a nice walking path.
Our room was interesting – a suite with a queen bed and bunk beds. lol. Hotel prices were crazy expensive so this will do for one night. The hotel is very nice and clean.
Tomorrow we head to Fargo.
