Sunday, July 3. 2005, we awoke at the Embassy Suites Hotel Minneapolis-Airport in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis and St. Paul, peered through the drapes to see overcast skies and light rain. Not a good day for bridging pix.
At the garden atrium, we enjoyed our free Embassy Suites’ made-to-order breakfast, which is always good.

Left the hotel at about 9:00 a.m., got on Interstate I-35 North over the Mississippi River through Downtown St. Paul and drove 150 miles to Duluth, arriving around noon. The skies starting clearing, the sun poked out between heaps of cumulus clouds and the sky looked gorgeous. This would in fact be a great day for bridging pix.

We checked into our hotel, the Hampton Inn Duluth on the shores of Lake Superior and next to the Lakewalk in Canal Park, a completely redeveloped spit of land extending from Downtown Duluth, separating Lake Superior from the harbor. Canal Park is a beautiful tourist area with hotels, restaurants, shops, the Aerial Lift Bridge, the Minnesota Slip Bridge, Ore Boat and Coast Guard Cutter Tours, Aquarium, Convention Center, Omnimax Theatre, Maritime Museum, horse drawn carriage rides, and more.

Speaking of giant ore ships, one of the most famous ore boats was the Edmund Fitzgerald which sank on November 10, 1975 in the Gales of November, losing its crew of 29, and remembered in the song by Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

For Lunch, we tried Bellisio’s in Canal Park, authentic Italian cooking which had received “Best of Award of Excellence” from Wine Spectator for four years. They have 4000 bottles of wine on display, 500 selections and 125 wines served by the glass. It was fantastic! Great food and great service. Bridgepix rates this restaurant with five bridges (we award bridges instead of stars). Bellisio’s was so good, we would eat dinner here later that day.

After lunch, we walked a few blocks to the Aerial Lift Bridge. Its’ size is enormous. Its’ presence, guarding the entrance to the harbor, is awesome. Its’ history is inspiring. It started in 1905 as a European Transporter Type Bridge, with a suspended gondola that moved across the inlet. In 1930, it was reinforced and upgraded to become a colossal lift bridge, which still functions today. Click here to see our pix of the Aerial Lift Bridge.

Watching the bridge lift periodically is a treat. Sirens blast, bells clang, the flashing gate comes down to block traffic, and the bridge quietly, quickly, and eerily rises for large boats to glide by. As a bonus, there are three lighthouses immediately near the bridge to admire. After studying the bridge, we walked around the quaint shops in Canal Park.

At 3:00 p.m., we boarded the Vista Fleet Harbour Cruise Boat for a 1.5 hour narrated tour. The Cruise boat docks next to the Minnesota Slip Bridge, a beautiful pedestrian drawbridge. Click here to see our pix of the Minnesota Slip Bridge.

The Harbor Cruise sails under the Aerial Lift Bridge for a driveby tour of Downtown Duluth on Lake Superior. Then it re-enters the large harbor, sailing under the Aerial Lift Bridge once again, for a tour of the old industrial sites. We sailed under the Duluth-Superior High Bridge aka Blatnik Bridge and past the remains of the Interstate Bridge. Click here to see our pix of the Blatnik Bridge and click here to see our pix of the Interstate Bridge.

We sailed near the Bong Bridge for a close-up visit with the Duluth Ore Docks. What a surprise! These massive, old rusty ore docks (extensions of huge railroad trestles cutting across town) were gigantic. With a vantage point from the water and with the beautiful white cumulus clouds, surrounded by all that rust and steel, we felt like we were in Bridge Heaven. To see our pix of the Bong Bridge click here, and to see our pix of the Duluth Ore Docks click here.

The Vista Fleet Harbor Cruise is fantastic for a bridging enthusiast providing great vantage points for pictures of the Aerial Lift Bridge, the Minnesota Slip Bridge, the Duluth-Superior High Bridge, the Interstate Bridge, the Bong Bridge, and the Duluth Ore Docks with Railroad Trestles.

If you check out our bridge pix, you will see that we had a sensational day of weather in Duluth. It was warm, mostly sunny with periods of dark clouds and periods of gorgeous, brillant-white cumulus clouds.

As previously mentioned, we had dinner at Bellisio’s and it was as great as lunch.

After dinner, we shopped, buying a 100th anniversary T-shirt of the Aerial Lift Bridge, and then re-visited the bridge for some great pix at dusk, around 9:00 p.m.

Duluth was fantastic. You have to visit this beautiful city. We only concentrated on its bridges, but it appears to have much more to offer. For more information on Duluth, go to visitduluth.com.

On Day 3 of our Fourth of July weekend, we travel back to the Twin Cities along the St. Croix River visiting bridges in Stillwater and St. Paul, which we will describe in a future post.