We've spent the last two days here in Two Harbors, MN on the western shore of Lake Superior. It is a beautiful place. The sky and trees and water all look like they are made of glass...glistening in the sunshine, crystal clear near and in the distance. Lake Superior is IMMENSE. Far in the distance we can see vague outlines of Wisconsin. This lake has the largest surface area of any lake in the world...and is third largest in volume. It's amazing!!
Minnesota is rich in taconite, an iron ore. There are huge processing plants scattered all along the coast, consisting of a train line into the facility, huge piles of ore, processing facilities, and gigantic lifts to load the freighters, which can pull up alongside in the lake.
 |
| Taconite processing facility |
 |
| Picturesque tug boat |
 |
| Taconite loading dock |
After arriving in the early afternoon yesterday we went to tour the Split Rock Light House. It was built in 1905 (?) after 30 (yes, THIRTY!!) ships were lost in a single November storm. It is beautifully classic in design, and the tour was very interesting. We climbed up to the top of the lighthouse, through the keeper's cottage, into the "fog signal" house.
 |
| Split Rock Light House |
We also hiked through Gooseberry State Park. This entire shoreline is strewn with rivers, creeks and streams, most tumbling down rocky paths to the lake. Minnesota has spent a lot of time and attention to making these areas accessible.
 |
| Gooseberry Falls |
Today we drove a couple of hours further north along the shore to Grand Marais, a quaint and lovely harbor way up near the Canadian border.
 |
| Yes, that is a Northern Pike crashing through that shop (fishing tackle, of course). |
 |
| Grand Marais |
 |
| Grand Marais |
Neither of us had any idea of what to expect of this area...but it is beautiful. Beautiful!!!
Tomorrow we are going to explore Duluth. We'll let you know what we find!!
No comments:
Post a Comment