It's day 3 in Minnesota, and we are going on an adventure! Matthew has the day off today, so we are driving north to Duluth to see Lake Superior. None of us have ever been to one of the great lakes, and we are excited about our little road trip. It takes about 2.5 hours to get to Duluth from St. Paul, so after a couple hours of driving, the kids were itching to get out and release some energy. We decided to do just that, and made a pit stop just before Duluth at Spirit Mountain Adventure park. Can you tell they were excited to be out of the car?!
Our main reason for stopping here was to ride the Alpine Coaster - a cross between the Alpine slides up on Mt. Hood, and a roller coaster - according to the website, there are only 4 Alpine coasters in the United States, and this is the only one in the Midwest. It's a 3,200 foot track, and you can control your own speed - up to 26 miles per hour! It takes about 6 minutes to complete the track, lots of hairpin turns and crazy drops really made it feel like you were on a roller coaster. The first time through, Rowan rode with me, and Killian and Matthew rode alone. Us girls took it kind of slow, while the guys raced down at full speed. The next time around, after getting a feel for the turns (and realizing that no matter how fast we went, the cart was NOT going to go flying off the track) we really let loose and zipped down at full speed like the boys. It was awesome!
We also rode on the zipline, which was a bit more disappointing. You sit in a chair, so maybe that's why it didn't feel very exhilarating, but the 700 foot ride was over in just seconds, and left us all feeling "Eh". So we went back and did the coaster a couple more times. :)
Our next stop was a little park in Duluth called Enger Tower, named for this cool tower standing at the top of the hill:
We climbed to the top and got our first views of the city of Duluth, and of Lake Superior!
It was amazing - it really looked like an ocean. It just went on and on forever! We found a trail and went for a little hike, and found more amazing views:
We had to pose for a few pictures too, of course. Just to prove we had been there!
Walking back through the park, we came across this Japenese peace bell. Although, the park didnt sound very peaceful once the kids started banging it! They had a great time though, and the bell made a lovely GONG sound that echoed through the park.
After the park, we finally made it to Duluth! We headed down to Canal Park first, an area along the water that has a bunch of little shops, galleries, restaurants, a casino, and cool fountains like this one:
We walked down to the water, and the kids were fasinated with the lift bridge. We watched it go up:
And watched it come back down:
Then we went for a walk out to the end of the pier:
And got a very stormy looking, upclose view of Lake Superior:
The kids and I on the shores of Lake Superior:
There were blue skies when we looked back in the direction of the bridge!
The kids made a pit stop to play on the shore:
On our way back to the car those ominous clouds made good on their promise of rain, and we got caught in the middle of it. When they have storms in the Midwest, they really have storms! It rained so hard that we had to duck into the doorway of a shop and wait it out, rather than getting completely drenched.
The rain here is very different than the constant drizzle we get back in Oregon. I actually prefer it here, because it doesn't last all day - just a quick downpour and we were back to sunny skies! I am starting to fall in love with Minnesota...and its only been 3 days!
Our main reason for stopping here was to ride the Alpine Coaster - a cross between the Alpine slides up on Mt. Hood, and a roller coaster - according to the website, there are only 4 Alpine coasters in the United States, and this is the only one in the Midwest. It's a 3,200 foot track, and you can control your own speed - up to 26 miles per hour! It takes about 6 minutes to complete the track, lots of hairpin turns and crazy drops really made it feel like you were on a roller coaster. The first time through, Rowan rode with me, and Killian and Matthew rode alone. Us girls took it kind of slow, while the guys raced down at full speed. The next time around, after getting a feel for the turns (and realizing that no matter how fast we went, the cart was NOT going to go flying off the track) we really let loose and zipped down at full speed like the boys. It was awesome!
We also rode on the zipline, which was a bit more disappointing. You sit in a chair, so maybe that's why it didn't feel very exhilarating, but the 700 foot ride was over in just seconds, and left us all feeling "Eh". So we went back and did the coaster a couple more times. :)
Our next stop was a little park in Duluth called Enger Tower, named for this cool tower standing at the top of the hill:
We climbed to the top and got our first views of the city of Duluth, and of Lake Superior!
It was amazing - it really looked like an ocean. It just went on and on forever! We found a trail and went for a little hike, and found more amazing views:
We had to pose for a few pictures too, of course. Just to prove we had been there!
Walking back through the park, we came across this Japenese peace bell. Although, the park didnt sound very peaceful once the kids started banging it! They had a great time though, and the bell made a lovely GONG sound that echoed through the park.
After the park, we finally made it to Duluth! We headed down to Canal Park first, an area along the water that has a bunch of little shops, galleries, restaurants, a casino, and cool fountains like this one:
We walked down to the water, and the kids were fasinated with the lift bridge. We watched it go up:
And watched it come back down:
Then we went for a walk out to the end of the pier:
And got a very stormy looking, upclose view of Lake Superior:
The kids and I on the shores of Lake Superior:
There were blue skies when we looked back in the direction of the bridge!
The kids made a pit stop to play on the shore:
On our way back to the car those ominous clouds made good on their promise of rain, and we got caught in the middle of it. When they have storms in the Midwest, they really have storms! It rained so hard that we had to duck into the doorway of a shop and wait it out, rather than getting completely drenched.
The rain here is very different than the constant drizzle we get back in Oregon. I actually prefer it here, because it doesn't last all day - just a quick downpour and we were back to sunny skies! I am starting to fall in love with Minnesota...and its only been 3 days!