Duluth is built on a steep hill going north from the lake and there's a great view as one goes down to the harbor. I didn't turn the camera on until right as I needed it and then found the memory card had got locked accidentally when I put it back in yesterday. Couldn't get it unlocked in time so the view went unrecorded. Rats.
We made it to the aquarium and discovered a much better view of the lift bridge than what we had yesterday at Canal Park. I know I posted pictures of it yesterday but these are better so here are two more.
Lift bridge half up for one of the many Vista Harbor Cruise boats
Lift bridge at street level for vehicles and pedestrians with two-story buildings to the right to give an idea of the size of the bridge.
Inside the aquarium there were lots of tanks and more displays than we could absorb. We didn't miss a live display but there was no way to get through all the written ones.
A few of the highlights....
Living coral tank.....at least they didn't move around so the picture wasn't blurry like the ones I took of the fish.
Beautiful moon jellies.....no bones, no brains, no hearts.
Placoderm fossil - armored fish
The placoderm is worth noting. It lived between 416 and 359 million years ago. This is a life-size cast of the actual fossil which was found in Ohio. To put it in perspective, the full size of this fish was about 30 to 40 feet long. The information board next to it has an outline of the fish next to a human which can be seen in the picture. The teeth are actually sharpened sections of jawbone. It truly deserves the designation of sea-monster.
There was a lot of fascinating information about lakes, both the Great Lakes and those found all over the world, as well as the world's water situation, however, none of it lends itself to blog-posting. I'll just say that the aquarium was very interesting and I'm definitely glad we were able to see it.
One final picture of the Duluth business district and skyline to the north
It's hard to tell from pictures how high and steep the hillside is to the north of downtown. The main business district is at the bottom where there's a bit of flat land but it, too, is creeping up the hill. The hillside beyond is covered with houses from one end of the city to the other. At the top it levels out; the hillside isn't a mountain with slopes on each side. The city has spread north for several miles along the relatively flat area beyond. We're staying about 15 miles north in Saginaw (Minnesota, not Michigan).
I really like Duluth and would love to spend more time here, but tomorrow we're moving 155 miles west to LaSalle Lake State Recreation Area which is about 20 miles southwest of Bemidji. The GPS refused to locate it until I got the coordinates off google maps. Good thing we've got a variety of electronic devices at our disposal (as well as a good old paper map). One can never have too many maps, especially when hauling something as hard to turn around as a 38' fifth wheel.
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