Side Trip To Duluth Minnesota With The Family – Part 1

The kids and I have never been to Duluth before, but my honeys went once when he was a teenager.  It’s one of the top ranked cities in Minnesota and now I can appreciate why.  It was absolutely gorgeous with buildings dating back to the 1800s and unending views of Lake Superior. I learned that Lake Superior is the largest fresh water lake in the world and if it was drained, it would flood all of North America putting the entire continent three feet under water.   We drove three hours and made it into town mid-afternoon.  We checked into Fitger’s Inn and unloaded our bags before heading out to walk around town.  The building was originally a brewery and in operation from 1857 to 1972. We were given real, metal keys to unlock our room (as opposed to the normal electronic credit card time keys to slide into a slot) and walked in to find one wall was made of stone. I was reminded of rooms Todd and I stayed in on our honeymoon when we went to London for a week and stayed in old bed and breakfasts.

 We walked along the boardwalk. The kids found rocks they wanted to stand on for photographs. Can you tell who likes to take charge of a situation and who is used to tuning it out?

 We stopped at the Duluth Veterans Memorial and watched the kids explore the large windows.

 We kept walking and passed a few musicians. I love live, acoustic music. Accompanied by a good voice.  This man fit the bill.

 I had heard that Duluth is typically much colder, but our temps were around 90 degrees.  And even though we had one quick shower, the sky was magnificent. The beach was filled with agate rocks that made for fabulous skipping stones on the water.

 We went for a horse drawn carriage ride, which was a first for the kids. Our horse was named Libby and she had new shoes that sounded loudly when we went through quiet stretches.

 Inside the carriage…hello my little photobomber.

 I liked that this was a dog friendly town. We saw many dogs on the beach and being walked along the boardwalk. Only the pets were wished a dog gone good day at the water fountain.

 I love the relationship these two have together. They share in a love for sports and goofing around like no one else I have met.

 After we had dinner, we went out on the boardwalk and walked in the opposite direction from earlier in the day.

 The sun was going down and the hour getting late, but the kids were having a blast playing tag. Shoes come off when you’re really serious.

 Our phones had died and we could only see the path home by the street lights placed along the boardwalk.

 And then my girl child spotted this fox on the side of our path. I had just taken the above photograph seconds before she squealed and pointed him out. I changed a few settings on my camera to let in more light to photograph the fox. We can see him much more clearly in the photos I took than we could standing just a few feet from him at the time.

 Duluth Harbor was beautiful at night. I loved the waxing half moon over the water. 

Click here to see Part 2.

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