Destination: Duluth

Starting on Thursday, I've had a 4-day vacation.  You might not know my schedule...why would you.  I have a couple of days off each month.  Last month I tried to do a road trip to Hastings but that fell through because my parents came into town.  I'm getting restless just spending my time off at home.   I make plans to do stuff around the house but I just get unmotivated and it's either accomplished halfway or not at all. 

And the last thing I want to do on my vacation is work at my part-time job.  In the last 25 days of September, I have worked every day EXCEPT for only 5 days.  Besides this week's 4 day vacation (I'm working tonight for someone because I'm nice and really....there's no one else who's willing to help her out), two of these 5 days allowed me to go to the Little Falls Craft Show and to Wisconsin (if only for 14 hours).

Sorry...I'm getting off topic with my rampage.

Vacation...oh, yes....I wanted to set out of dodge.  Do something out of Julie's normalcy.  How about Duluth?  It's the end of September.  Fall began a couple of days ago.  The leaves are starting to change.  It's the perfect time to go.  So on Saturday morning, my sister and I gassed up the car, got cash out of the ATM and were on our way.

Side-note: The leaves weren't that great in Duluth.  However, the miles north and sound the Hinkley had the best reds and oranges.

Last year, I wanted to go to Duluth but wasn't able to make it work.  The major attraction that I wanted to do...Spirit Mountains Alpine Coaster. 

This is the entrance to the Timber Twister.

It's an easy cart to control with hand brake!  You control how fast OR slow you go.  Tip:  Faster is more fun but slower you can appreciate the scenery.

We're ready to rock-n-roll!

At the end, a conveyor belt brings you back to the top. 

My view as I head back to the top of the mountain.

This is what's behind me.  Beautiful!

They had a zip line too.  Sure, why not?

The view from standing in line.  Gorgeous.

Getting strapped in.

Oh, $h!+.

The zip line was scarier standing in line than actually doing it because you saw all the people go ahead of you.  Some screamed, some giggled.  It was a 50 second ride.  Twenty seconds down and 30 seconds back to the top.  Only one person/pair can go at a time since there's only one line and it's down and back up.  I'm glad to say I did it, but the coaster was more fun.

We were here for about and hour and then we headed into downtown Duluth's Canal Park.  We toured the USS William A. Irvin museum.  I've never been on a ship before and this was pretty cool.  You got to see the engine room, the galleys, the cargo hold, the living quarters for guests and crewman, and the captains deck.  I thought it was just grounded and the anchors in the ground were just for looks.  But it's actually floating in Lake Superior and chains and ropes are keeping it harbored.

Afterward, we had lunch and did some shopping on S Lake Ave and Canal Park Drive.  It was getting late in the afternoon, so it was either head back home or get a motel.  We decided to head back home and sleep in our own beds.

Looking back there's so much more that we could have done and you need more than a day to do it.  I will most definitely be making lodging accommodations next time.  But it was still a perfect way to spend a crisp fall Saturday.