Visit to Duluth and day out in Minnesota

Saturday,
Tom and Judy and I went on a trip to the city of Duluth which is situated 150 miles north of Minneapolis/St Paul. A beautiful phenomenon occurs across the country at this time of the year when the many different species of trees shed their summer foliage and adorn themselves with the beautiful colours of Fall or Autumn as we in Ireland know it. Each species of tree, having its own distinctive colouring makes for a lovely kaleidoscope of colours when the leaves begin to change.

On the road to Duluth

Duluth, with its many different variety of trees is a place where this occurrence can be observed at its best.

Most of the nice colouring we saw was on the road to Duluth.  This is a picture of a house surrounded by the trees in their Autumn colouring

If we didn't get to see the Autumn colours at Duluth, we certainly got to see some nice foliage along the way



More trees in their Autumn plumage

We were disappointed however, because time and tide and the changing of the leaves wait for no man (or even Judy) and we didn’t get to see the magnificent event, not because we were late for it, but we happened to be a couple of weeks too early. We did however get to see the greatest of the Great Lakes, Superior, on which Duluth is a major shipping port.

To say we were disappointed is not strictly correct; in fact it is not correct in any sense. This was one of the most enjoyable days I have ever experienced. On the way to Duluth, we stopped off at one of Minnesota’s state parks of which it has many. This one was named Fr. Hennepin State Park.

Fr. Hennepin State Park is a beautifully laid out park that verges onto one of Minnesota’s ten thousand lakes, known as Lake Milacs. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was most enjoyable to explore the nature trails and walkways of this nice park.

Later we had lunch at a diner, in the nearest town, that was straight out of the 1950’s. I expected to see Marty McFly of Back to The Future fame, come through the door at any moment. However, the food was great and the service equally so.

Next stop was Duluth and there we had some nice time along the shore of Lake Superior before driving on to another state park. This one was called Gooseberry Falls and as the name implies, it is the scene of the famous Gooseberry Falls. These consist of the Middle and Lower Falls of the Gooseberry River, as it plummets through a rocky gorge.

Judy beats us to the top as usual.  On the way up to Gooseberry Falls



Tom and Judy at Gooseberry Falls