Duluth: Take Two. You may not want to swim there quite yet!

Little girl wades in Lake Superior

I have much more to say about Duluth.  You can’t return to stories of outdoor experiences in the Upper Peninsula quite yet.  (Except, quickly, I’ll share about today after work.  Lazed around on the deck reading.  Walked to the mailbox.  Picked spinach and lettuce.  That was Day # 205 of the commitment.)

Back-tracking to the port city of Duluth, maybe two hundred twenty miles to the west, let’s look at some more photos of our weekend get-away.  First, what do you think about that little girl wading in Lake Superior?  Haven’t seen too many brave souls putting their footsies into our icy-cold lake.  The average temperature mid-lake during the summer months hovers around 40 degrees, at least according to Wikipedia.  At the end of June, the lake temps near Duluth soared into the 50′s, but on July 2nd plummeted down to 38 degrees.  See this article.  She was the only one we witnessed in Duluth actually courageous enough to wade almost up to her knees.  Way to go, little girl! (Interjection!  Editor husband says I must point out that the surface water temps in the bay do reach the 60′s to around 70 depending on the wind.)

Skipping rocks into Lake Superior

Since there were hundreds of people milling along the harbor at Duluth, what were they all doing if they weren’t swimming?  Skipping rocks.  There were dozens of rock-skippers.  They knew better than to dive in themselves, so they sent the flat rocks jumping across the top of the water.  Look at the enthusiasm in this fellow!  He skipped a winner for his friends to admire.

What a face...

Then there was the fact that Duluth (said in a loud whisper) was “going to the dogs”.  Seriously.  As Barry just wrote in his column for our local newspaper:  “And then there were the dogs.  Fancy dogs, fluffed dogs, jeweled and dressed dogs, flat-faced pugs, big dogs, little dogs.”  He wrote a lot more but I’ll take over from here.  The Duluth Convention Center hosted a dog show during the weekend.  Wherever we went, dogs abounded. 

Their owners scurried after them with little doggie bags, picking up doggie doo.  That brought back memories of another trip to Fort Myers Beach a couple years back.  My parents were dog-sitting their grand-dog.  (Not sure if that’s the proper relationship.)  Anyway, I had to take turns with the dog-walking and poop-scooping adventures.  Was that an experience! 

Seagull on lamp post

Both Friday and Saturday nights the downtown Duluth streets were cordoned off and hopping with street dancers.  Music blared for blocks around.  The second night we wandered down to listen to the blues.  It was a lovely July evening.  You can almost…almost…not quite…forget the months and months of cold. 

Street dance on Superior Avenue

It’s fun to watch the dancers and their different styles.  One dead-pan jerky-movement guy entranced the crowd as he moved.  His dance partner kept cracking up.  The light in her eyes and the laughter on her face made her a perfect partner. 

We wandered back to the Raddison Hotel, hand in hand.

Unfortunately guess who woke up at 4:30 a.m.?  Barry tried hard to be quiet and not wake me up, but I couldn’t drift back to sleep.  So we headed off to explore the early dawn down by the harbor front.  And to wait until 7 a.m. when we could eat breakfast at Amazing Grace cafe.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of the trip.  More than the actual photo, it brings back the quiet ambiance of that last morning.  (Was it only yesterday?) 

Ahhh, the stillness of early Sunday morning before the city awakens

We’ll return again, yes, we will.  And you should visit, if you ever find yourself in the Midwest.

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