Ely, MN

We are certainly now in the land of 10,000 lakes !

With our first really poor internet connection behind us – well, not really counting the complete lack on Isle Royale – we have farewelled Wisconsin and moved into the depths of Minnesota.

We woke to rain this morning so were expecting a rather soggy driving day. However we must have just been under a big bank of cloud as once we had got organised and started off, the skies ahead of us were clearing rapidly.

The drive between Bayfield and Superior on the Wisconsin border is mainly along the lake. It was very pleasant as the overnight rain followed by the blue skies made the early morning light crisp and clean. We stopped at one of the wayside stops along the lake when we caught a glimpse of what looked like a red lake ! Sure enough, there had been considerable erosion of the shoreline in this area so the near shore water was almost red in colour from the colour of the soil in the bank.

Our last stop in Wisconsin would be the Davidson Windmill in a location called Lakeside, near the town of Superior. It was built by a Finnish immigrant, Jacob Tapola, who arrived in Wisconsin in 1880. He changed his name to Davidson and commenced construction of the windmill in 1900. From 1905 it served local farmers milling flour and cracking cattle feed. It was constructed using local materials and its handmade gears are said to be an engineering marvel. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Arriving in Duluth, we had now returned to Minnesota. It had become very windy by this stage of the day also ! Duluth, essentially at one extreme end of Lake Superior, is accessible to oceangoing vessels from the Atlantic Ocean 2,300 miles (3,700 km) away via the Great Lakes Waterway and the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It forms a metropolitan area with neighboring Superior, Wisconsin and together they are called the Twin Ports. They are the Great Lakes’ largest port, transporting coal, iron ore, and grain.

The Lake Superior Marine Museum and Aerial Lift Bridge are a major attraction here. A canal allows shipping traffic into the main harbour and the lift bridge allows day to day car traffic across the harbour mouth until the bridge opens to ships as required. It opens as high as needed depending on the size of the boat/ship. Whilst we were there, a small fishing charter boat went through and it rose only a short distance then a little later a much larger ship arrived and it rose almost all the way up.

One of my gimmicks for each tour is to create a music list for each state which we listen to as we drive along – made up of anything with some association to the state – state song, serious or otherwise, classics or trash, well known or obscure, though I do try to have (mostly) things Adrienne will listen to.

Duluth is the birthplace and early childhood home of one music legend – Robert Allen Zimmerman, better know as Bob Dylan. We tracked down his childhood home (he moved to Hibbing at the age of 6 then to Minneapolis to attend college), stopped at Fitger’s Brewhouse which has a commemorative manhole cover out front – and happens to be on Bob Dylan Way – and left town on Highway 61.

Leaving Duluth, we drove the North Shore Scenic drive which parallels Highway 61 along the coast for a while. We stopped on the lake along the way to have our coffee and take a last look at Lake Superior before we started to head west.

Just north of Silver Bay, we turned west on Minnesota State Highway 1 to make our way to our stop for the next two nights – Ely. But suprisingly we first drove through Finland – wasn’t that last year’s tour ? This time it was just a town, not a country – Finland, Minnesota and the Finland State Forest. This area, the very north of the USA, has a very strong association through its early immigrants from countries like Finland, Sweden, Germany etc. We arrived in Ely around 3pm and checked into the Grand Ely Lodge Resort, overlooking Shagawa Lake.

We wandered around the resort a bit, down to the lake and across the road to an old iron ore mine. With better internet, I was able to get my blog up to date and then we went downstairs to the Antler’s Lounge where we had a few drinks and dinner and watched the Minnesota Vikings NFL game on the bar TV’s. When in Minnesota ……

Our “Day 2” in Ely started with a visit to the International Wolf Center. The center is a research and educational organization that “advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future. They have actually been involved in a study on Isle Royale for about 50 years monitoring the relationship between the moose population and the wolf population. The wolf population there had been down to only 2 and a program has started to re-introduce wolves however it may take 3 – 5 years to see how the results work out. It was very interesting and we saw 2 Arctic variations of the Grey wolf species which are part of their “ambassador” group of (currently) 4 wolves.

From here we went to the nearby Kawishiwi Falls and walked the short trail to the falls. There is a hydroelectric dam nearby which integrates with the nearby lakes and the falls. If you are keen, you can carry your canoe along the half kilometer trail to the lake – don’t know why you would bother when there are so many easy launching points around the lakes !

After the falls we drove back into town to wander the main street for a while and have a look through a few of the shops. As we didn’t really need a new canoe, or paddle, or category 4 weather proof clothing, we didn’t add to our shopping tally !

So we ventured to the North American Bear Center instead. In much the same vain as the Wolf center, it is the only black bear and wildlife educational facility of its kind. Dedicated to replacing old myths with facts, it lets people learn from the bears themselves about bear behavior, ecology, and their relations with humans.

The bears seem to be a little more temperamental than the wolves so have their own “pen” and need to be “matched” into the larger “general” area where they can roam more naturally. However these particular bears are ones which would otherwise have been put down due to their situations. Again a very interesting experience.

Heading back to our hotel, we wandered down to the lake again but due to the wind there was no activity on the water. So we walked back to the hotel and across to the old mine which happened to be manned by volunteers for a few hours this afternoon. When we arrived there was no one there other than the 3 volunteers, one – Seraphine Rolando (Ely’s “mad Jeep guy”) had a family history with the mine back almost to its beginnings, then John had worked in the mine before its closure in 1967 and finally Bob. When they asked where we were from, they were amazed at why we would be in a place like Ely.

We spent quite some time just chatting about their assocaiation with the place before even being shown around. While we were there a few more people showed up but Seraphine had taken a bit of a shine to us and we really had a private tour. His family was mixed Italian & Yugoslavian and his grandfather had arrived to work in the mine in the early 1900’s.

Just as we were finally leaving he said ” I’ll give you an experience to take back home”. When we arrived yesterday, I had seen this old WWII Jeep parked near the mine, complete with machine gun mounted on the back. Sure enough, it was his – when he retired he had basically built it from old parts and those that were missing he manufactured himself !

It now gets used for all sorts of occassions – weddings etc – and he said he also has a cannon he built he attaches to the back and on July 4th they load it up with powder, find an old car or tractor and blow it up ! Only in America 😂

We had a nice dinner in the restaurant and after a tasty bruschetta for starters, we both had fish quite particular to these parts and Canada – Walleye. Panfried, they were very tasty !!

We are off further north tomorrow and another new national park to explore …

Today’s Tour Trivia – Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined