Brenda, Sam and I came along the North Shore of Lake Superior from Duluth to Thunder Bay yesterday and as always we were awestruck by the beauty of this drive on Highway 61.
Frankly, I enjoy this drive through Minnesota even more than the longer drive around the big lake on the Ontario side, from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie. One reason is because Hwy 61 literally skirts the lake whereas Hwy. 17 on the north and eastern side is usually higher and farther back from the water.
The sky was blue but the temperature was actually right at the freezing point when we stopped along one of the many pebble beaches along Hwy. 61 on Thursday. We wanted Sam to have the chance to see a really, really big lake.
As usual we also saw a bunch of deer on the four-hour trip from Duluth to Thunder Bay.
There are two tunnels on this route and on another trip we even saw a bunch of deer perched above a tunnel entrance, munching on grass. They looked like mountain goats.
This route goes through numerous quaint little towns. The largest is Grand Marais, shown in the photo. This town is filled with unique arts and crafts shops, outdoor sports stores and great restaurants. My favorite is Sven and Ole's Pizza. There was a time when half of the cars from Thunder Bay, Ont., sported Sven and Ole's bumper stickers. The restaurant is filled with old-time cross-country ski memorabilia as well as other winter sports.
This reminds me of a story about something that happened right after 9/11.
It seems the pizza business hadn't been doing so well; so, Ole returned to the logging trade, this time near the border between Minnesota and Ontario at Grand Portage. He had been working in the bush all day and hadn't heard anything about the 9/11 events. He didn't know border security was at full alert, with jumpy armed guards given instructions to stop anyone traveling in the vicinity of the border and demand his name and reason for being there.
It was dark by the time Ole's truck came grinding out of the bush near the border crossing.
He was met by two border guards with their guns drawn.
"State your name and what you're doing here," they demanded.
"Ole. Been loggin'," he said.
So they shot him.
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1 comment:
HA!!! Good story, Dan. Remind me, during my visit to camp this summer, to tell you my Sven and Ollie story. It is hilarious...
Doug
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