Quite a sight at night!

As I mentioned last week, I recently returned from a trip to Duluth, Minnesota! I had never been to that city before, so when I arrived I was instantly charmed!

One of the first things we saw upon getting to town was the Aerial Lift Bridge.

The bridge was built in 1904-1905.

According to the Duluth Library's website:

The Aerial Lift Bridge, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Minnesota, was constructed as the Aerial Ferry Bridge. Before that time, Park Point [the land that the bridge currently connects to Duluth] was only accessible by ferry boats and, during the winter months, a temporary suspension bridge. The original Aerial Ferry Bridge consisted of much of today's structure but, instead of the lift span, a suspended car, or gondola, ferried people and vehicles on a one-minute trip across the canal. The gondola could carry the equivalent of a loaded street car, two loaded wagons with teams, and 350 people. The gondola made twelve trips per hour between 5:00 a.m. and midnight and two trips per hour from midnight until morning. The lift span was added in 1929-1930 to handle increased traffic. At that time, the bridge operators moved from running the gondola to working in the control house in the center of the span. The bridge first lifted for a vessel on March 29, 1930. 

If you can believe it, the Aerial Bridge lifts an average of 5,500 times a year, and over forty times a day during the summer months. It is owned and operated by the City of Duluth.

Not only is it a necessary structure in the city, but it is also a significant (and beautiful) addition to the city's skyline.

As if the bridge isn't cool enough, it is also located next to a lighthouse!

The Duluth Harbor South Breakwater (Inner) was built in 1901, though the station was established in 1889.

The lighthouse is still functional, with a light that flashes white every 5 seconds. The tower stands 67 ft atop a steel skeletal tower with lantern, double gallery, and central cylinder.

The original 4th order Fresnel lens (1896), with its pedestal and rotating mechanism, is on display at the Lake Superior Marine Museum. The lighthouse is painted black, except for the watch room and lantern sides sides which are white.

In 2007 the lighthouse was offered for transfer, but when no preservation groups qualified to receive it, it was sold at auction to two residents of Duluth.

The light was sold for $31,000.00 in 2008- what a steal, right?

Of course, most of these photos were taken on my first night in town... which means I still have a lot to share! Feel free to stop by over the next few days to see more of Duluth!

Thanks for visiting- I hope you have a great day!

Minneapolis, MN

OK, here is the third and final installment of our trip to Minnesota. I'll warn you now- there are a ton of photos in this post!

On Saturday, we checked out the Midtown Global Market. It's an internationally themed public market. This is the front (though I can't take credit for THIS picture- I borrowed it from the Internet):
Inside there are tons of vendors, selling all sorts of goodies and yummy restaurants. We had lunch at A La Salsa. It was a Mexican restaurant in the market- we had fajitas, burritos, and SFS even got my mom to try his fish taco! (Ewww, right? Apparently they're really good... I guess I'll never know!)
Then we happened upon a Scandinavian themed booth... check out this viking!
Aww, there's me as St. Lucia! I like this because: a) I'm Swedish, and b) I found a novelty hat that fits over my gigantic head... yay for elastic!
SFS was particularly pleased to find a couple of his favorite things all under one roof: a Mexican chocolate sugar cookie, fresh Tilapia, and fried pork knuckles. OK- he was kidding about the pork knuckles, but he only told me that after he chased me around with the package as I gagged at the thought of him eating something so gross!
On Sunday, we headed to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Museum. I'd never had a chance to see Spoonbridge and Cherry up close... it was so cute!
There's my dad!
We had fun playing around.. .we took these through Ordovician Pore.
I'm pretty sure my Dad got a photo of us taking pictures of each other... we're such dorks!
We had a good time checking out all the pieces of 'art'. There were some really neat installations, including a work of wind chimes. An art website described it better than I can:

Pierre Huyghe’s group of 50 wind chimes inspired by a John Cage composition will be installed in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Using the very natural forces that Cage celebrated as a creative tool, the artist’s chimes deconstruct and constantly recompose one of Cage’s best-known works for piano in an endless performance.

All of the chimes were hanging from trees- and as you stood beneath them, the sound was just all around... very cool! There was also a memorial arbor at the far end of the park...
And this is Calder's The Spinner 1966. The whole top part moves!
After that, we headed over to the Mill City Museum. Even though I took the tour last year, I was so excited to see it again- especially since SFS had never been. As their website describes:

Mill City Museum chronicles the flour milling industry that dominated world flour production for roughly a half-century and fueled the growth of Minneapolis, recognized across the nation and around the world as “Mill City.” Built within the ruins of a National Historic Landmark — the Washburn A Mill — the museum provides a multi-sensory, interactive journey. The story of flour milling — and its impact on Minneapolis, the nation and the world — comes to life through the eight-story Flour Tower and other hands-on exhibits.

If you haven't been, I highly recommend it- plus once you get to the top of the tour, you get the BEST view of the Mississippi River and St. Anthony Falls!

Here's the Museum from the river.Here are some shots from inside the ruins.This is the outside wall that runs along the riverwalk.Here are SFS and I inside the ruins.

Here's my dad next to the Mississippi.

More ruins... can you tell I like this place? Not only can the space be rented out for parties and events, but there are also lofts on the floors not used by the museum... what if you looked out your window every morning and saw this? I would love it!After the museum, we headed to Mill Ruins Park. I'd never been down there before, but it's basically the remains of the REST of the flour mills that were such a large part of the city at the turn of the century. I thought it was so beautiful- plus, you get to walk under the Stone Arch Bridge... can you believe it was made in 1883?This is the tailrace canal, which used to supply water power to the turbines that powered a lot of the mills.Here are some ruins. Isn't it crazy how in the background you can see the Guthrie... old and new, all in one place. I think it's really neat how the city chose to maintain the ruins and make them an accessible attraction.More ruins...I think the Stone Arch Bridge is just amazing- it's even a National Historic Engineering Landmark.The city installed a little boardwalk through the ruins.And this is a shot of the grain silos from the ruins.Well folks, that's it for our trip to Minnesota. Thanks for sticking around through all these pictures. I don't know about everyone else, but I had a really fun weekend! I hope SBV has an awesome summer in MN, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!