Duluth, Minnesota

We left Grand Forks and drove straight across Minnesota.  Probably missed many wonderful places, but we have a deadline.  We'll discuss that on another entry. 

We stayed at a campground about 13 miles from Duluth.  There wasn't many campground options for us.  We came to see some property we have that is out in the middle of no where.  Absolutely no where.  Even people from Minnesota have never heard of it.  Anyway, it's some land with lots of trees on a dirt county road.  We've never been to Minnesota, so it was nice to see the property after waiting all these years.  It's been in the family for over 100 years, so we'll pass it along to Bill I imagine.   It's land my lumberjack great grandfather had.  I have a feeling he bought this land for the lumber and he never got around to, or needed the lumber off it. 
So when that was done, I (Chris) ran around Duluth looking up information about relatives for my sister who is the real genealogist in the family.  The problem is that I ran out of time just as I was getting hot on the trail of some of our ancestors.  It was fun.  We will have to come back and finish up.  Did get some copies of birth and death certificates for my sister, which I hope will reveal a lead for her to discover something wonderful about the O'Brien and Connelly family, other than that they came from Ireland. 

Duluth is fascinating.  It has a lot of natural resources such as lumber, iron and THE LAKE.  The Lake is Lake Superior of course and it is central to everything that is Duluth.  It's not a destination city, that's for sure, but if you are in the area, you might be surprised at the things you will find here. 

We did take a day and drive up the coast of THE LAKE.  It's charming.  It didn't hurt that we happen to hit it on one of the best weather days they've had in over a year.  It was relaxing.  We stopped at a typical shoreline restaurant.  We sat outside on the porch so Pilot was able to sit next to us and watch the people go by.  There were some barky dogs that he ignored as much as possible.  Great day.   Just a few pictures below.

These pics were taken of the Duluth shoreline from Canal Park.  There's a picture of the famous Aerial Bridge and some lighthouses, one with a Tall Ship in the background.  We like Duluth, especially in the summer.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/Duluth?authkey=Gv1sRgCIybnamJtcHIfg#