The Mrs. and I are going stir crazy with the kids so we are going to celebrate the beginning of freedom and take a road trip up to Duluth, MN. I've never seen Lake Superior and any change of scenery is good. Most museums and indoor things are closed there for another month, so we'll be doing alot of hiking, maybe look for some superior agates, etc. We'll just be there a couple days, might run over into Wisconsin or the Upper Peninsula. Restaurants seem to be carry out only still, any suggestions?

Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse to name a few...

Lakewalk is good for walking/biking/rollerblading. Some of the best restaurants aren’t open for carry out, which is too bad...but if Bellisio’s opens, that’s a pretty good Italian restaurant.

Walking the beach on Park Point is low-key relaxation...it’ll be *way* too cold for swimming!

Taking a drive up highway 61 (Scenic North Shore Drive) is relaxing. You can stop at Brighton Beach just past Lester River and walk the beach. I don’t know about where to hunt agates, though.

Hanabi restaurant downtown is a reasonable Japanese restaurant, and is open for takeout.

It’s cool to be in or around the ship canal when a laker or saltie is coming through...up close and personal; always try to catch an opportunity to see the Aerial Lift bridge raise for shipping traffic.

The Anchor bar/restaurant in Superior, WI is a good dive place to eat; grouchy staff but good food; won’t be open until the 27th, though, I heard today.

I’ll try and think of more; these are off the top of my head.

There’s “OK” diving on some wrecks, but I don’t know if any dive operators are running tours, or even open! My diving of late has been warm water only, not the 38° water of Lake Superior!

I can try and answer specific questions.

Lake Superior is one of my favorites. I would travel over to Bayfield, Wisconsin and then tour the Apostle Islands if the tour boats are running. Spend a night there. Beautiful friendly small town. Duluth and Superior are somewhat industrial IMHO. My wife and I spent a week there in October during the Apple Festival. Hope this helps.

FYI, WI is mostly ‘open’, better every day. Not sure how MN is.

^^^^
It has always been that WAY. I remember how much hassle it was to buy full strength beer in Minnesota. Wisconsin should be called the Tavern State.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
^^^^
It has always been that WAY. I remember how much hassle it was to buy full strength beer in Minnesota. Wisconsin should be called the Tavern State.

Yup, I think we are 5:1 on taverns to churches!

I know that there are a few waterfalls on some of the rivers (Black River?) in the Michigan UP going into Superior. It’s been years since I’ve been up there, but wanting to get back up there.

MN = shovel snow

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
MN = shovel snow

That’s only fall, winter and spring. In summer, it’s “swat!”

How are the mosquitoes in Northern MN right now? Fly swatter, Off, or 12ga needed? We are staying in a hotel but I'm watching "The Great Outdoors" as a primer right now, never noticed the Lodge owner is wearing a "I've been to Duluth" shirt in the intro.

Minimal mosquitoes...so far...but it’s been a relatively dry spring; all it will take is one good rainfall and they will begin to flourish. Bring the off.

Also, this time of year is notorious for east winds off Lake Superior; it can be 80° 2 miles from the Lake (“over the hill”) and 46° downtown Duluth...so bring warm gear, and be ready to doff and don.

I was trout fishing in the U.P. of MI a week ago, conditions were close to ideal. A few ticks were around, the bugs barely starting.

With this warm weather mosquitos will be ramping up any day. Around town or on a breezy beach, not much of an issue. Trying to walk on a hiking trail or fish a trout stream, almost impossible.

Even back when my tolerance was at it’s peak, I’ve been driven off the trout stream in early June.

I always enjoyed seeing the freighters come in or leave and watching the bridge go up. You are very close. Your kids would like that.

Go to Enger Park for a good lake view and climb the “tower”. Go to Lester Park to hike the trails, go further up the north shore to the city of Two Harbors if you want real small town and good agate hunting on the beach. Park Point is going to be more of a sandy beach, the other beaches more rocky. The Lakewalk connects you from Park Point(Sandy) to Brighton beach(Rocky), I believe. Lots of restaurants doing takeout.
Bayfield, WI is also a fav of mine, but I do not know if the ferries are running To the Apostles - except to Madeline island (Population of people live there), and I don’t know if they are welcoming visitors right now. That’s another 1.5 hours on the clock if you take the scenic route.

The Congdon mansion, if not closed by the virus.

Even if the house is closed, the interesting grounds are probably accessible.

A glorious old place, built by a tycoon on the shore of Lake Superior. Mrs. Congdon was murdered by her step son in 1977 – an attempt to get quicker access to the family fortune.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...heen_Historic_Estate

We stayed a week at the OLD RITTENHOUSE Inn shortly after it opened as the first B and B in Wisconsin. More of a place to stay without kids.

Seven Bridges Rd. On the east end of Duluth is a nice scenic hiking/park area. It connects to Hawk Ridge which gives a beautiful overlook of Lake Superior and is also where people go to watch the hawk migrations. The city is very political liberal so I don’t know if these areas are open or not.

I live about 20 minutes south of Duluth and avoid going there as much as possible and make a concerted effort not to spend any money there. The city tax rates are ridiculous and I don’t want to fund their idiotic liberal ideas like plastic bag banning wet houses and building low income housing so all the drug dealing thugs from Chicago and Milwaukee have a nice place to stay.

Thanks everyone for your input. Between me only getting 3 hrs of sleep last night and our 2 yr old screaming this morning, we cancelled the trip. Maybe we'll try Labor Day weekend when more stuff is opened up and the mosquitoes are eatin' size. I looked up on some of the crime comments, I had no idea Duluth's crime rate was so high. I figured being one of the few tourists there with out of state plates wouldn't be spectacular either.

As an update, we ended up going there over the 4th of July weekend. Arrived Friday night, ate dinner at a restaurant in tourist trap town/Canal Park. The kids watched a ship come in and had too much ice cream. Saturday we did Gooseberry Falls, ate at a place in Two Harbors and then went over to the beach at Wisconsin Point and the kids played in the lake. Sunday morning did Ender Park and tower and tried to do SS Meteor but didn't have a reservation so ended up heading home, but went through Wisconsin and stopped at the birthlace of Laura Ingalls Wilder in Pepin, WI, it was underwhelming considering the extra 2 hours it added to the trip.

Along North Shore in Minnesota is beautiful. The temps in Duluth and along the lake were great, mid to upper 70s instead of mid 90s.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
The Congdon mansion, if not closed by the virus.

Even if the house is closed, the interesting grounds are probably accessible.

A glorious old place, built by a tycoon on the shore of Lake Superior. Mrs. Congdon was murdered by her step son in 1977 – an attempt to get quicker access to the family fortune.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...heen_Historic_Estate

https://glensheen.org/

Says it's open....