Retirement……LOVE IT!

This draw bridge is unusual because it does not split in the middle with each side raising upwards for ships to go through. Instead, the whole bottom portion is raised with a system of pulleys and motors.  It has an interesting history (you can Google it), and it’s fascinating to watch.

View of downtown Duluth from out on Lake Superior.

Another view of downtown Duluth. Duluth is built on a steep hill on the north shore of Lake Superior. Because of the hill, Duluth is approximately one mile wide, but is about 26 miles in length!

Leif Erickson Park along the shores of Duluth.

Looking back towards the harbor and the draw bridge from out on Lake Superior.

The dome structure is the Northland Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Duluth Lakewalk & Boardwalk.

Another photo of downtown Duluth. Notice the two streets going straight up the steep hillside. We learned that the streets in downtown Duluth are heated with steam during the winters. With that steep hillside running the full length of the downtown area, I would say that is a necessity!

There were so many ships in the harbor. Our tour guide told us about the history, age, and purpose of many of them. Unfortunately, since I did not write the information down, I don’t remember which tidbits of information went with each ship.

This ship was being loaded with grain. It was almost full and scheduled to leave the harbor  later that evening. Before they started loading the grain, you could see a second orange stripe below the name of the ship. The weight of the grain made that stripe go below the water.

This a picture of the bridge supports of the newest bridge over the harbor between Duluth, MN, and Superior, WI. Those large brown circle structures were put in around each support to protect the bridge in case one of the large ships accidentally veered off course. The ship would hit the brown structures before ever hitting the bridge supports. Pretty smart idea!!

The harbor channels are drudged every year to keep the sediments from building up. I wish I could remember the depth the channel must be – I THINK it’s around 26-28 feet deep.

There are 3 U.S. Coast Guard boats in this picture. The largest (obvious one in the foreground) is the size of a seaworthy coast guard ship. The other two are the MUCH smaller two boats behind the large ship.

Another Duluth park (can’t remember the name, though) from the harbor.

Look at those houses atop the hillside behind the buildings in downtown Duluth! Can you imagine the beautiful view they have of the harbor and Lake Superior?

This is the Great Lakes Aquarium right along the harbor shore. It contains many samples of life in

There are many ship berths and grain bins in the harbor on both the Duluth side and the Superior side.

I really wish I could remember the name of this particular ship and what the tour guide said about It. I think it dates back to the late 1800s. Sorry … 😞

The three small green boats are Duluth’s tugboats. Superior has their own tugboats and they look totally different. Tugboats are kind of expensive (the ships pay the tugboat fee), however, they play a very important role in the safety and smooth running of the harbor.

The bridge in the foreground is the older bridge which was replaced by the larger bridge in the background.

This is a gas station for the large ships. They can pump fuel into two of the large thousand-foot ships at the same time.

A small section of the harbor separated by a breakwater is for personal and pleasure boats owned by individuals.

This picture (and the next one) is of another one of the iron ore loading docks where the iron ore “balls” are loaded in the chutes from the rail cars and then “dropped” in the storage areas of a ship.