North Shore of Lake Superior

On Tuesday, August 26, we decided to drive along the north shore of Lake Superior. It was a glorious day! Clear blue skies and crisp cool air, temperature about 68*. From downtown Duluth it is a 151 miles along the shore to the Canadian border. We were not sure how far we would get in our travels so we took our passports along with us. We found a wonderful publication, "North Shore Scenic Drive". It gives a mile marker description of points of interest along the drive.

First some facts about Lake Superior:

Length: 350 miles
Width: 160 miles
Depth, average: 483 feet
Surface Area: 31,700 miles
Shoreline length: 1,826
Shoreline with islands: 2,726 miles
Shoreline in Minnesota 206 miles
Elevation, above sea level: 600 feet
Lake Superior is called the Greatest of the Great Lakes.
Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake, by surface. Its 3 quadrillion ( that's 3,000,000,000,000,000) gallons of water could flood North and South America with one foot of water.

The average depth within 3 miles along the north shore is about 700 feet (about the height of a 70-story building). The deepest spot, located near the south shore, is 1,333 feet (about 1/4 mile).
Lake Superior is so large and cool that it modifies the local climate. On average, it's 5* to 20*F warmer in winter and 5* to 20*F cooler in summer. And . . . the water is downright frigid! The surface water averages about 40*F. During winter, the lake can become 40 to 90% covered with ice - rarely does it freeze over completely.
During most of summer, the lake can be so calm that it appears to be covered by glass. However, during a storm, waves can reach 10 to 20 feet in height! Over 350 shipwrecks have occurred on Lake Superior during stormy weather.


Along our way we stipped at Two Harbors and found the tug boat "Edna G". She was a brightly colored tug as you can see from the photo. We also found the Two Harbors Lighthouse. It was constructed in 1892, and is the oldest operating Minnesota Lighthouse on the North Shore.

Further along our journey, we spotted the lighthouse at Split Rock (botton photo). The Minnesota Historical Society operates Split Rock Lighthouse as a state historic site. Split Rock Light House Station was built atop a 130-foot cliff in 1910 by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The Lighthouse was retired in 1969 after 59 years of service.

There are seven state parks along the route and we stopped at several of them... more on them below....

That is all for now.

Candy and Johnny

State Parks along Lake Superior

As I said, there are seven State Parks located along the north shore route, along with many rivers and streams that flow into Lake Superior. Here are a few of the places that we stopped along the way.

The top photo was taken at Gooseberry Falls State Park. The upper and lower Falls views have barrier-free accessibility. The photo at the left is of the lower falls area.

Our next stop was at Tettegouche State Park. The Baptism River flows rapidly through the park having the highest waterfalls within the state. We had to hike about 3/4 of a mile to the High Falls. It was a beautiful sight! This falls drops 170 feet on its journey to Lake Superior.

Our third falls that we encountered was at Temperance River State Park. The Temperance River drops 162 feet in a half mile in a series of cascades, the last of which (pictured here) occurs about 100 feet from its mouth at Lake Superior. Surrounding the spectacular rocky gorge is a thick coniferous forest. Large potholes and cauldrons occur in the gorge, some of these are still being carved by the river today. the name of the river was derived from the absence of a "bar" at its mouth.
Our last stop was at Grand Portage State Park. This park is located just before the Canadian Border. The border line between the United States and Canada runs right down the middle of the Pigeon River that runs through the park. The Pigeon River drops 120 feet at the impressive High Falls. Once again we had to hike to the falls but it was well worth the trip.

It was a long day but a beautiful day and a beautiful drive. I was only sorry that we could not continue all the way around the lake. We plan to head back to Duluth and spend a few more days and then continue along the south side of the lake through Wisconsin and Michigan. More later.....

Candy and Johnny

Map of our adventure

This is an interactive map. If you click on the balloons this will give you a brief tour of where we have been and what we have been doing.... candy

View Larger Map

August 25, 2008 Minnesota

Hi All, We have left Minneapolis for Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior.

The time spent in Minneapolis was great! I had two wonderful weeks taking care of Abby and Michael. We had a great time although they did wear me out!! We went to Como Zoo in St. Paul. I remember going to this zoo when I was a child. Angela took a day off of work and we also went to the Minnesota Zoo. It is much bigger with so much more to see and do than the Como Zoo. Almost everyday we walked up to the local park and the kids had a wonderful time playing with the other children and on the slides, swings and climbing bars.
While I was with the kids John was back at the coach washing and waxing and general chores. He is not much to be with children all day, but I loved it.

The weather was great we only had one day of rain. Warm days and cool nights.

We also had time to spend with old friends. We went to Buffalo, MN and watched the old cars race. The vintage was about 1915 and earlier. We spent the day with an old retired NWA pilot friend, John Scholl. I have known John since I was first a stewardess....
I was also able to go to lunch with a former F/A friend Diane Fitch Tveit and John and I had dinner with Bee Evans another F/A friend. It was so much fun to talk over the good old days. John and I also had lunch with Carol and Jay Westrup. Carol and I went to high school together at Our Lady of Peace High School.

John and I also found time to go to the "Great Minnesota Get Together" the Minnesota State Fair. (Top photo) We went early in the day when it was cooler, by noon it was rather warm and as you can see rather crowded. They have food everywhere, everything on a stick...or fried!!!! We managed to get by on just a small tasting. Thank goodness, I have to say, the people watching was wonderful, better than it was at airports.

We had a family gathering at my sister's new condo. All of my brothers and sisters along with my mother were able to attend. I was amiss and did not get a photo of all of us.... Candy, Chris, Claudia, Chip, Mike and Kathleen and mother Phyllis. It had been a while since we all have been together....



Angela and Abby

Nana Candy and Michael












Mother and Daughter




Today, Monday August 25, John and I left Minneapolis and drove up to Duluth, MN via Mille Lacs Lake. We took a short drive into the city and got some information about the North Shore drive around Lake Superior. Tomorrow we plan on heading north around the lake...more information later.

Hope all is well with everyone. To our friends in Florida I hope that you have finally dried out from all the rain.

Love to all,

Candy and Johnny

Grandkids!!!

We are here in Minnesota. We are at the KOA Campground in Maple Grove. It is not far from Angela, Jeff and the kids or Keeth and Kristy's. Arrived here on Sunday, August 3. I had to get up at 5:30am as John wanted to get an early start... it was supposed to rain but we made it here and no rain.

Angela's daycare lady went on vacation so I am taking care of the kids for two weeks. I love it but it is a lot of work, I am not use to picking up kids all day and playing with them.. We go to the park and play games and color and read books. A two year old and a three year old are full of energy.

Abby just turned two in May and Michael will turn four in September. So they do keep me busy. Tomorrow we are going to have lunch with my 84 year old mother. She does not get to see the kids very often,so she loves to see them. John will join us for lunch, however he does not go with me during the day, just not a child person. Oh well, I am having fun.... we will be here until the 25th of August.

Hope all the photos come through....Love to all,

Candy and Johnny

Sioux Falls, South Dakota August 1, 2008

We drove to Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Friday, August 1, 2008. We called our friends Fred and Mary Raiche. John and I flew with Fred and Mary over the years and we had a great time sharing old memories and the fun times we used to have flying. It was a most enjoyable evening. A little wine, a little beer and lots of laughs!!!! We all agreed that we had the best of the flying in the 60' 70's and 80's....before it became a JOB!!!

On Saturday John and I did some sight seeing here in Sioux Falls. We began down at Falls Park. This 121-acre park is home to the namesake of the city, the Falls of the Big Sioux River. The very first town of Sioux Falls was laid out on this site before its abandonment in 1862. Falls Park features many informational displays throughout the park that tells of the history and geology of the falls and other fascinating facts. They have a free

trolley to see the downtown area. Designed int the style of the Streetcars that operated in Sioux Falls in the early 1900's. There is a narrative of the down town area. We begin by passing by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Passenger Depot. the depot continued to serve passenger trains until 1965 when "The Arrow" became the last passenger train to leave Sioux Falls. We continue past the Old Court House Museum, the Old Minnehaha County Jail, Orpheum Theater and the Raven/Aerostar Industries ( they manufacture nearly half of all the hot air balloons produced in the United States. They have also produced most of the famous balloons displayed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade).
The round trip takes about 30 minutes and is a narrated ride.

From the Falls Park we went to the South Dakota Battleship Memorial. The South Dakota was the most decorated battleship of WW II. When the South Dakota was decommissioned they could not bring the entire battleship to South Dakota so they built an outline of the ship and did manage to obtain two of the three 16-inch turrets, a 16-inch gun barrel ( length - 63 feet and weight - 94 tons). This gun barrel was brought to this site in one piece. It took a great deal of money and effort to bring the barrel in one piece. The propeller is on display, it weights 18 tons and is 17 1/2 feet in diameter. The anchor cast at the navy yard in Norfolk weights 13 tons along with the anchor chain. The outline of the battleship is 680 feet in length and the beam is 108 feet. The deck of the battleship was used at the ceiling in the museum building.

The battleship was in Tokyo Bay at anchor while the final surrender negotiations were going on aboard the neighboring U.S.S. Missouri on September 2, 1945. Remember that the President of the United States at that time was Harry S. Truman....he was from Missouri.

We left South Dakota on Sunday, August 3, and drove to Minnesota. We are at a campground in Maple Grove...near the grand children.
More on that later.... that is all for now.. hope all is well with everyone....

Candy and Johnny