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| Raydiance "in da moonlight" at Grand Marais harbor |
Saturday, July 20, we left the Apostle Islands and crossed to the north shore of Lake Superior. The wind and waves were coming NE and we were traveling north, so a bit bumpy, but not bad. On the way the chart plotter registered 7,777 miles to date for our journey. Also check out the depth! The deepest Lake Superior gets is 1300 feet. Near Silver Bay we were showing 900 feet about four miles off shore.
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| Click on picture to enlarge |
As we came close to Silver Bay, dozens of fishing boats started appearing. We later learned that a big time two day fishing tournament for coho salmon, king salmon and lake trout was being held. At the time we left Sunday morning, the winning lake trout was 19+ pounds.
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| Fishing tournament in progress |
A 700 foot freighter from Duluth was coming into the harbor next door as we were entering the marina. We watched as it backed into the loading dock to pick up a cargo of iron pellets. The Northshore Mining Company in Silver Bay employs over 50% of the people in town. The operation extracts 93% pure iron from taconite and forms it into round pellets. Almost 6 million gross tons was shipped from this port in 2012.
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Freighter getting in position
to pick up a load of iron pellets |
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Northshore Mining
Silver Lake had a new marina (14 years old) with floating docks, laundry facilities and a great price on their diesel. On top of that, we had use of a car. At Sault Ste. Marie, we had met a couple who kept their boat here. They gave us the code to their car and told us to use it to get groceries and go out to eat. Since town was a couple of miles away, we took advantage of their offer. We have met truly generous people on this journey! We hope to pass it on.
Two miles east of Silver Bay we passed by high cliffs that make Bonnie Dahl (whose book The Superior Way has been our guide book for this lake) refer to this area as the rugged forlorn Minnesota shoreline. This is Sawtooth Mountain country.
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What a view these houses must have!
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Palisade Head
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Shovel Point at Tettegouche State Park
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The marina at our next stop, Grand Marais, Minnesota, is connected with an RV park. The nature-made rock harbor here is supplemented by a man-made breakwater. There is much Scandinavian influence in the area. We ate at Sven and Ole's and ordered an uffda pizza. All you good Norwegians know "uffda". I believe it was my mother's alternative to cussing! Anyway, the pizza was quite good. I kept an eye out "for the big Svede" and "the snooty Mrs. Utie", but neither showed up.
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| Love the northern humor |
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It's good, ya!
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Bear cub sculpture in downtown Grand Marais
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