[Singh09]

I was going through my old pics from my past road trips back in US. So thought of putting up a travelogue and share it with you guys. I made this trip back in September 2012 with one of my friend when I was living in Minneapolis, MN. Both of us worked for Target Corp. as Senior Business Analyst and loved driving, road trips and CARS.

DULUTH located on Lake Superior (Third largest lake of the world, will talk about it later) and is a great tourist destination full of Fall colors and lake view’s. And it is only 150 miles (240 Kms) from Canadian border. So you can imagine how cold it can get in winters. The temperature can fall upto -38 to -50 degree Celsius.

Trip Details:

Car: 06 Honda Civic
Total Distance: 420 miles (672 kms) – 210 miles each way.
Total Driving Time: 5 hours
Avg. Speed: 77-80 mph (118 kmph)
Top Speed: 104 mph (166 Kmph)
Route: Route Map attached below.


We left Minneapolis around 11:00 AM, not much traffic while leaving the city but we got traffic on the interstate highway that we took, I-35. But again the good part was that the traffic was moving following the speed limit which was 70 mph, except at some places where some slow moving cars were occupying the fast lane. After driving for about 30-45 minutes the view started getting better and better. The tree line by the road and far from the highway as well was just amazing. Green, yellow, bronze, red were the colors we could see which made the view ULTIMATE.

We reached Duluth by 1:30 PM covering almost 150 miles (240 kms) in 2 and a half hours straight. We didn’t stop anywhere on our way to Duluth. The drive till Duluth was just beautiful and scenic due to the fall colors. Trust me guys it was totally a bliss to drive there. You can see the pics below and then imagine that all around you.

So after reaching Duluth we had our lunch at Subway and then left for our first destination North Shore (Lake Superior). It’s a drive by the shore line and is again beautiful and nature at its best. So the places that we decided to visit were:
- North Shore (Lake Superior)
- Gooseberry Falls State Park
- Split Rock Light House
- Rose Garden.

[Singh09]

Lake Superior: So here are a few details about the Lake Superior and trust me some of them are just amazing to know. It is the third largest lake in the world and the largest freshwater lake by surface area. It’s surface area covers 31,700 square miles (82,170 kms), “I know that is damm big area”.

Now talking about the volume of water that this lake contains, well the lake has Three Quadrillion gallons (11.4 quadrillion Liters) of water. Which is enough to cover north and south America with a foot of water.Also this lake holds 10% of earth’s fresh surface water.. And due to it’s vast size and position within the continent LakeSuperior affects climate, habitats, landscapes and human activity far beyond its water and shoreline.

Following pictures are from the North Shore







Water was crystal clear and you could see through it.













My Ride



Pictures from Gooseberry Falls State Park which was around 25-30 miles (roughly 45-50kms) drive from North Shore.

[Singh09]

Pictures taken at Split Rock Light House which was another 12.5 miles (approx 20 km) from the State Park.












Attachment 1378903
Some history about this place.



Remaining pictures are from the Rose Garden. Couldn't take more pictures as my digi cam went dead and it started getting cold. It's basically a typical English style garden and has more than 3000 rose bushes. This garden is also used for wedding ceremonies.

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved from Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing.

[KaandBaaz]

Originally Posted by Singh09

DULUTH l

@Singh09 you brought back memories for me. Was in Duluth in 2009 for a year. But I was staying at Grand Portage. Its an Indian Reservation about 145 Km from Duluth. Amazing place on the banks of Lake Superior. And yes it gets freezing cold in the winter. I have personally experienced temperatures of -20 to -40 degree celsius.

[2500cc]

Originally Posted by Singh09

I made this trip back in September 2012 with one of my friend when I was living in Minneapolis, MN. Both of us worked for Target Corp. as Senior Business Analyst and loved driving, road trips and CARS.

Still with Target Bro ?

[Singh09]

Originally Posted by KaandBaaz

@Singh09 you brought back memories for me. Was in Duluth in 2009 for a year. But I was staying at Grand Portage. Its an Indian Reservation about 145 Km from Duluth. Amazing place on the banks of Lake Superior. And yes it gets freezing cold in the winter. I have personally experienced temperatures of -20 to -40 degree celsius.

Ahh. Good to hear from another MN guy. So did you visit Minneapolis as well?

Originally Posted by 2500cc

Still with Target Bro ?

No buddy I am not working for Target anymore. I came back in Feb 13 for good and now settled in Gurgaon. Do you work at Target?

[Tushar]

Fantastic images and a nice and crisp travelogue. I love how these places intersperse urban accessibility with natural beauty without the prior leaving its ugly imprint on the latter. Thanks for the share! Do you still have the Civic?

[2500cc]

Originally Posted by Singh09

Do you work at Target?

Yes I do, been here since 2012, couple of trips to MPLS as well.

[amitoj]

Arrrgh. Travelogues like these make it so painful to sit inside an office and resist the urge to go on a long trip!
Nice travelogue! Duluth is on my list now.

[Singh09]

Originally Posted by Tushar

Fantastic images and a nice and crisp travelogue. I love how these places intersperse urban accessibility with natural beauty without the prior leaving its ugly imprint on the latter. Thanks for the share! Do you still have the Civic?

Thanks buddy. No I don't have the civic anymore as I moved back to India 3 years back. That Civic has almost 1,80,000 km on it.

Originally Posted by 2500cc

Yes I do, been here since 2012, couple of trips to MPLS as well.

Nice. When was the last time you visited MPLS?

Originally Posted by amitoj

Arrrgh. Travelogues like these make it so painful to sit inside an office and resist the urge to go on a long trip!
Nice travelogue! Duluth is on my list now.

Thank you for your kind words mate. You should definitely visit it once, nice place.

[locusjag]

Thanks for sharing this travelogue. I felt like I'd taken a dip in menthol flavored water after reading the post

Funnily, I saw pictures of a few shipwrecks visible from aircraft, lying beneath Lake Superior. I think it was a link on weather.com as one of those "news articles" that weather sites like to share.

As for fresh water, I think I heard my prof say years back that Antarctica has 90% of the world's fresh water, Canada has 9% and the rest of the world has 1%. Are you sure of the numbers for Lake Superior?

[Singh09]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Thanks for sharing this travelogue. I felt like I'd taken a dip in menthol flavored water after reading the post

Thanks buddy. And regarding your question on the number of fresh water percentage held by Lake Superior, you may be right but then this lake share its boundary with Canada's Ontario and MN in United States. So as you said Canada has 9% of total world's fresh water. I bet it's including Lake Superior.