Lucy's Big Campout

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by SilverCabin

We camped at Grand Marais in 2011 on our way home from Churchill, Manitoba. Great town and very convenient to be able to walk into town from the city campground. Try the "World's Best Donuts." They are pretty good. If you head back down the lakeshore to Duluth, be sure to make a stop at Betty's Pies. Best pies anywhere in the country. Parking is a problem there when you're hitched up, we've just stopped on the roadside and Pat made a pie run for us.

Randy


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Thanks for the tips, Randy. We are going to drive over to Grand Marais later today and will hit the donut shop. We had to get a campsite over in Grand Portage as the Annual Fisherman's Festival is on-going. The City CG in Grand Marais is slammed.

Brian

[Goal15]

Originally Posted by moosetags

Your post has reminded us how fortunate we are to be able to do this kind of exploratory travel. As we sit here in Lucy this morning, overlooking Lake Superior, drinking our coffee, we can't help but be thankful for our lot in life.

Brian

Good for you. Looking forward to retirement in a few years to do the same!


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[moosetags]

This morning we got a late start. We began the day by sleeping in. Then we hung around the campground until noon or so. We finally got going and made our way over to Grand Marais. This is the weekend of their annual Fisherman Festival. It was a really big deal and it seemed like everyone within 100 miles was there. Fred and Ethel had a little trouble finding a parking space big enough for them. We finally found a nice spot three blocks up the hill from downtown.

We spent the afternoon taking in the sights and sounds and enjoying the ambiance of the goings-on. We had donuts from the World's Best Donuts. They were actually excellent donuts. Is there such a thing as a bad donut? We enjoyed the music of the live band who was playing on the harbor. We had the world famous Grand Marais fish burgers served up by the local Lions Club. They were quite good although I don't know if we would describe them as burgers. They were a herring filet on a hot dog roll.

A good time was had by all, and we headed back to the campground around 6:00 PM. We spent some time tonight getting Lucy ready for departure. Tomorrow, it's on to Duluth.

Brian

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by SilverCabin

We camped at Grand Marais in 2011 on our way home from Churchill, Manitoba. Great town and very convenient to be able to walk into town from the city campground. Try the "World's Best Donuts." They are pretty good. If you head back down the lakeshore to Duluth, be sure to make a stop at Betty's Pies. Best pies anywhere in the country. Parking is a problem there when you're hitched up, we've just stopped on the roadside and Pat made a pie run for us.

Randy


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Thanks for the tips. We were at the World's Best Donuts today. We'll be heading for Duluth tomorrow. We'll try to hit Betty's Pies in Two Harbors tomorrow.

Brian

[Lily&Me]

Mmmm, Grand Marais.

What a beautiful and fun place to poke around.

The entire north shore is beautiful and interesting, IMO. Betty's Pies is worth a stop, also some antique shops along there as I recall.

If you have not been to Duluth, there is a decent campground on the harbor there that is kind of fun, Lakehead Boat Basin. It is unremarkable, but for being on the harbor.

It is on a little peninsula jutting into Lake Superior and within walking distance of Duluth Trading Co., some other shops and restaurants.


Maggie

[COUNTRYSONG]

I think I probably know the answer, buy gotta ask what kind of shoes does NEW Lucy have??? lol -- Countrysong

[moosetags]

We got Lucy up and going this morning before 8:00 AM this morning. That's a new record for us. We drove the entire 150 mile distance to Duluth on Minnesota State Road 61 which traces the coast of Lake Superior. We took in the sights along the way.

We arrived in Duluth in the early afternoon. We tried to get a campsite at a downtown campground on the harbor. No luck there. They were full. We were able to get a campsite in a nice campground about five miles west of downtown. We got Lucy settled in, and headed out in Fred and Ethel to look around downtown Duluth.

We toured around the Central Business District and the inner harbor area. We found a great hamburger for supper at a local pub on Lake Avenue.

We returned to Lucy well before dark to attend to some housekeeping items. We plan to stay over here for another night to do some further exploration of the area.

Brian

[xrvr]

These reports are great, please keep them coming. Jim

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by COUNTRYSONG

I think I probably know the answer, buy gotta ask what kind of shoes does NEW Lucy have??? lol -- Countrysong

New Lucy is still running her OEM 14" Good Year Marathons. I have a set of 15" wheels and Michelins all picked out. We have held off pulling the trigger on them until until we determine if New Lucy will be staying with us. SuEllyn is not sure if she likes our downsizing. This is or first epic journey with New Lucy, and it will tell the tale.

Brian

[Whizzo]

As with many forum members, we really enjoy your trip thread. We did the Great River Road along the Mississippi this summer, and enjoyed many of the same northern Midwest roads you did.

We just took delivery of same trailer as your Lucy, though with the much less imaginative name, "Shiny II." We did go up instead of down in size . She's out for her first test voyage to the Texas Gulf Coast this week.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Whizzo

As with many forum members, we really enjoy your trip thread. We did the Great River Road along the Mississippi this summer, and enjoyed many of the same northern Midwest roads you did.

We just took delivery of same trailer as your Lucy, though with the much less imaginative name, "Shiny II." We did go up instead of down in size . She's out for her first test voyage to the Texas Gulf Coast this week.

Have a really spectacular maiden voyage.

Brian

[Wabbiteer]

Thanks for lending us this great armchair exploration!

Skeeters are the State Bird, hummingbirds provide snacks for them.

Moosetags - be on the lookout for Walleye if they can say its really fresh, a lot of smaller ones get imported from Canada frozen, talk a fisherman out of part of his catch even... done just right we've had them that bested lobster if'n you can believe it.

Last year at our Minnesota State Fair I studied the ice house hitches, this image has been waiting on my phone for just this occasion...

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

Thanks for lending us this great armchair exploration!

Skeeters are the State Bird, hummingbirds provide snacks for them.

Moosetags - be on the lookout for Walleye if they can say its really fresh, a lot of smaller ones get imported from Canada frozen, talk a fisherman out of part of his catch even... done just right we've had them that bested lobster if'n you can believe it.

Last year at our Minnesota State Fair I studied the ice house hitches, this image has been waiting on my phone for just this occasion...

That's a great picture of that ice house hitch. I don't know how one would utilize any sort of weight distribution or sway control.

Thanks for the tip on the Walleye. I'll pass it on to SuEllyn. I spent my teenage years working on a fishing party boat out of Miami. Part of my job was to gut the big game fish. Accordingly, I have never been much on fish, even after almost fifty years.

Brian

[moosetags]

We have remained in Duluth for another day to take in the sights. We went across the bay to Superior, Wisconsin. We shipped some Moose Tags at the Superior Post Office. We then found our way to the local Wal-Mart Super Center. We had lunch there and re-supplied Lucy and Ethel with goodies and other essentials. We looked around Superior before heading back over to Duluth.

We got back to Lucy around 6:00 PM. We met a couple next to us at the campground from Colorado who were originally from Jacksonville. We spent the rest of the evening visiting with them. Accordingly, we didn't get much done toward packing up Lucy for tomorrow's departure. Oh well, we're retired and can do as we please.

Brian

[moosetags]

We packed up the crew this morning and headed out of Duluth. We had made camp for the last two nights at Indian Point Campground. It was OK, but kind of pricey ($39) for what you got. It was about five miles west of Downtown Duluth.

It was a nice day for a drive in the country. We headed west mostly on state highways. We made our way through the Minnesota countryside, stopping for lunch along a lake in Hill City, Minnesota.

We continues westward and this afternoon we entered North Dakota at Fargo. There we jumped on I-94 and started our journey through North Dakota We had planned to stop for the night at Valley City, North Dakota. Unfortunately, the campground there was full, so we had to continue on. We found a camp with an available campsite in Jamestown, North Dakota.

We are hunkered -in for the night. All is right with the world.

Brian

[SilverCabin]

The campgrounds in North Dakota are all packed with oil workers. We had a hard time finding a place to stay in Minot in 2012. My advice to you is to keep heading west and bypass the state.

Randy


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[moosetags]

Originally Posted by SilverCabin

The campgrounds in North Dakota are all packed with oil workers. We had a hard time finding a place to stay in Minot in 2012. My advice to you is to keep heading west and bypass the state.

Randy


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Thanks, Randy. We have found the campgrounds here busier than usual. We have managed to get campsites.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy broke camp in Jamestown, North Dakota, and we headed west along I-94. As we got further west the landscape changed, and we started seeing some hilly terrain. We hit some pretty serious rain as we approached Bismarck, the Capital of North Dakota. We had lunch in Bismarck at the Club, Sam's Club that is. We did some reprovisioning at Sam's and the Wal-Mart next door. We drove across town to see the State Capitol Building and the historic Governor's Mansion. Stocked up with goodies, we continued west toward our next destination, Regent, North Dakota.

Where is Regent, North Dakota you say? Regent is a small town in southwestern North Dakota. It is located about 30 miles south of I-94 and is the epicenter of the Enchanted Highway. The Enchanted Highway is a series of large metal sculptures along the highway leading from I-94 to the town of Regent. Gary Griff, a Regent resident, is responsible for these sculptures. We stopped to take a quick look at a couple of the sculptures on the way into town even though it was still raining.

We arrived at the campground in Regent in time to partake of a Lion's Club hamburger cookout in the park on Main Street. We are going to spend a couple of nights here.

We will have more on the Enchanted Highway tomorrow.

Brian

[GettinAway]

I've learned something new today! I didn't think there was much out in western North Dakota. Regent looks cool, I'm stopping there the next time through.
Thanks again for posting.

[Lily&Me]

When I hear North Dakota I think "prairie" and "Little House".

We have driven through ND and western MN several times, and it is endless expanses of waving grasses, as I recall.

Kind of neat to see, just to experience that part of the country, and to imagine wagons going west through that.

The little local museums are very interesting, if you come across them, and there are some rebuilt pioneer towns here and there.....original buildings and cabins nestled together to be viewed for a small fee. (I was a pioneer in another life, ya know.)

Travel safe,


Maggie