Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Duluth: The Great Lakes Port City

We arranged for stays in Duluth (Minnesota) for a night each at the beginning and end of our trip to see Apostle Islands National Lakeshore for logistical and convenience reasons, but were surprised at how much Duluth has to offer for the visiting tourist.

Arguably the most famous landmark in Duluth is the Aerial Lift Bridge at Canal Park.

Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge is particularly beautiful when illuminated at night.

The Aerial Lift Bridge spans the Duluth Ship Canal and opens to allow ships in and out.

The Aerial Lift Bridge is a major contributor to Duluth's success as the "largest metropolitan area" on the largest of the Great Lakes (Lake Superior) and the "world's farthest inland port accessible to oceangoing ships."

There is a wide and flat walkway on each side of the canal that can each be easily walked to the end to see the Aerial Lift Bridge from further back and to be further into Lake Superior.

We ate dinner on our first night in Duluth at Grandma's Saloon & Grill, which is very close to the Aerial Lift Bridge.

Grandma's Saloon & Grill has lots of seating and there was plenty of room to be seated. We enjoyed the food and the service was excellent.

There are museums and other restaurants and shopping in the Canal Park area.

We mostly enjoyed the outdoor park area and walking along the canal.

Because we visited in October, many of the museums and other attractions were not open (open for summer season only) or had such limited hours that we could not visit during our brief time in Duluth on each end of the trip.

We would have been able to see some of these attractions in the Canal Park area with limited hours if we had stayed a full day or two in Duluth (especially on a weekend day) rather than only spending a quick night and morning there.

The view of the Aerial Life Bridge from above is particularly impressive and I leave coverage of our visit to Enger Park and Tower and surrounding area (where we took this photograph) to a separate post.

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