Duluth, MN      -     July 20, 2012    

When we first drove into town, we wondered if we would like Duluth because we came in over the bridge into the industrial area.  We quickly found the campground we had reserved online.  Well....  We have now learned to read all the fine print.  This is what the ad showed...   Spirit Lake Marina

Needless to say - this is a drawing and the print casually mentioned planned.  He said they were working on the street leading in and they were!  Completedly dug up and just rough dirt leading us down toward the shoreline.  First we saw a bunch of tanks and hardware things - not nice.

This is were we ended up camping next to the machine that lifts ships out of water....

We were fine there but not the spot we had planned on spending a relaxing week.  So we just spent the next couple of days touring the city, which was great, while we searched for another campground.

Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge (St. Louis County, Minnesota)

Opened as a transporter bridge in 1905; reconstructed as a vertical-lift bridge in 1930; rehabilitated 2000
Vertical-lift through truss bridge over the Duluth Ship Canal on Lake Avenue in Duluth. the first of just two such bridges ever constructed.  The bridge can be raised to its full height in about 3 minutes, and goes up 25 to 30 times daily during busy parts of the shipping season. The span is about 390 feet

Bridge is down and we drove across

Canal Park District

Bridge is going up as people look on.

Walking under bridge and looking up at bottoms of cars driving over.

Going UP!

Downtown Duluth