Yesterday wasn't one to make a blog post out of. We spent the entire day trying to find the parts necessary for Jim to repair the water heater which had fried its thermostat, possibly because of a power surge. We got a new thermostat without any trouble at an RV dealer about 8 miles away but then spent hours (and another 36 miles) going nine places trying to find a wire connector which would work. We finally went back to the RV dealer and got a thermostat kit (which we didn't know they had on our first visit) which included the L-shaped connectors for an additional $16. Paying so much for wire connectors which come ten to a bag for $.99 made Jim so mad he jerry-rigged what he had and made it work. The kit went back to the dealer today for a refund, at which time we found out it was supposed to have both electric and propane thermostats in it which justified the extra price. The gas thermostat was missing so we would never have figured it out. We were very happy to end up with hot water but all the running around ate up the whole day so nothing else got done.
The only thing worth taking a picture of yesterday was the storm which hit us in the evening. Heard on the news tonight that it had 70 mph wind gusts and did some damage around the area. We had a lot of wind and heavy rain but nothing as high as 70. We saw it coming and got the awning rolled up and the outside stuff put away just in time.
Today Jim finally got to fish out of his boat for a few hours. He did catch a few things but got more grass than fish. He's decided not to go back out on this little lake because it's so shallow the entire bottom is covered in plants and constantly de-grassing his lure isn't much fun.
The weather today improved tremendously so we headed down to Canal Park this afternoon to see the waterfront and a departing ore carrier. The shipping schedule is online so everyone can find out when ships are coming and going. Watching them go under the lift bridge is a big tourist draw and is billed as something you HAVE to do when in Duluth.
Going down the hill to the harbor gives a great view of the docks and numerous bulk storage facilities. These are built to fit the ships....or the ships are built to fit the storage buildings.....not sure which, but they fit together perfectly. Loading and unloading ships is a fine art which has been mastered by inventors and builders. We don't know what the building in the picture stores but it could be any one of the many products produced in the mid-west and transported by these ships - taconite pellets (iron ore) going to the steel mills, bentonite clay, coal, limestone, wheat and more. Lots of other things get shipped out of here but aren't in the bulk storage buildings. One of the things I read about was wind-turbine bases (support poles) being shipped in from Spain with wind-turbine blades being sent back to Spain from the U.S.
Aerial Lift Bridge from street level
Aerial Lift Bridge halfway up to let sailboat and tourist cruise boat through
Mesabi Minor, 1004' laker, going under the lift bridge which was fully raised (135')
Mesabi Minor entering Lake Superior from the canal
It was quite a coincidence that the one ship we were able to see going under the lift bridge was the same one I got so many pictures of as it was going south by our campground in the Soo on July 7th. Once again, it's carrying iron ore pellets.
View of Duluth from Canal Park
Canal Park is a wonderful place with all sorts of activities and restaurants. Being Saturday afternoon it was packed with people and vehicles. There are lots of surface parking lots with pay-by-credit-card machines so it was fairly easy to deal with. We were lucky to find an open handicapped space near the Lake Superior Maritime Museum where we looked at the exhibits for an hour while waiting for the Mesabi Minor to make her appearance.
Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin, are called the Twin Ports. Ships can go in one end and come out the other, or use only one. It depends on where they're unloading and re-loading. There are docks and bulk storage and railroads from one end to the other.
Duluth's business waterfront
Here's the view of the waterfront business district from where we were stuck in traffic leaving Canal Park. This is a very attractive city. Its population is around 87,000 so it's not too big. Average temperatures are below freezing for Jan-Feb-March with January's average high being 19 and average low 2. Summer weather is great, though, with average highs being in the mid-70's in July and August. They pay for it in the winter.
Tomorrow is our last day here. Barring any more catastrophes with the water heater (or something else), we're going back down to the waterfront area to visit the Great Lakes Aquarium.
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