Friend Time in Duluth!

Hi all -- Dianne here.  We first met Jim and Sue  in Mission, Texas this April when I saw them walking their two whippets around Retama Village and chased them down on my bicycle.  Lo and behold, they ended up liking Retama so much they purchased a home.  They spend their summers in Duluth to be near children and grandchildren, so we knew they were here.  Fast forward to this week....


Thursday evening, Jim and Sue graciously gave us an "insider's tour" of Duluth, including a delicious meal at Fitger's Brew Pub, and suggestions of sites to see while here. 

 On Friday morning we met with all four dogs for an off-leash romp on the Lake Superior beach.  Their whippets, Gabe and Click, are fine specimens, indeed!  Expertly trained, full of life and fun.  The photo above shows Bandido and Click playing tug-of-war with a stick they found in the sand.

Here is a photo of Jim and Sue's two whippets, Gabe and Click:


I took a movie clip of Click running circles around Bandido.  Bandido tried to catch her, but everyone but Bandido knew there was no chance!!  Here's a link to the very short video snippet:

One more whippet photo, this one an especially pretty photo of Chaplin on the beach:


After the beach romp, we took Chaplin home for a nap and the rest of us drove to the marina where Jim and Sue's boat is moored.  (Chaplin might have had a panic attack on the boat, so rather than risk it, we took him to the motor home for a little alone time away from Bandido.)

We loaded up three dogs, three dog beds, and four people and took a grand tour of the harbor on the "Lola B."

Sue fixed a delicious lunch while we cruised along.  The dogs were very laid back and spent their time basking in the sun patches on the floor, except when Gabe decided he'd like to pilot the boat.  (I won't apologize for all the whippet photos, because once you've loved a whippet, there's no going back!)

  Once again, I was sad that Jasper wasn't still with us.  He would have really loved spending the day on the beach and the boat.

We cruised out to the mouth of Lake Superior.  Roger took a photo of the lighthouse.


We also cruised into the harbor area where our motor home is parked at the Lakehead Boat Basin. What a unique RV park! 

 They park boats here in the winter, but in the summer it opens up to RVs for a great view of the marina, Duluth hills, and the large ships going under the Aerial Lift Bridge.  Above is a shot of our motor home taken from the boat, showing us surrounded by sailboat masts.  

On the way back to Superior marina we also cruised by some picturesque old tugboats.

After a thank-you and farewell to our friends, we headed back to the RV.  Bandido was ready for a nap, so we put him inside and Roger and I walked down to the Canal Park area.  While there, we picked up a free copy of the shipping schedule, so that we will know when to expect the large ships coming through.  

Here's our view from the motor home in the daytime, showing the Duluth hills in the background, and the 768-foot John G. Munson coming out from under the bridge, and then passing right in front of our motor home in the harbor.  What a view we have!  

What a unique spot this is.  Below is a shot of the same view at night, showing the lights on the Duluth hills.  

And another shot at sunset:

We owe a special thanks to another "friend" from the blogosphere, Laurie and Odel (See sidebar for a link to their blog, Semi-True Tales of our Life on the Road.)  Laurie and Odel posted several blogs from Duluth and this RV spot last summer.  If not for them, we never would have known to visit this very cool city and this very unique RV spot!


There are 12 full-hook-up sites overlooking the main front dockage area of the marina, but we chose a water/electric only site down on the end for a better view of the harbor (we are in site #30).

One more photo of our site, showing the view to the rear.


Our pet photo of the day shows Gabe, Click, and Bandido trying to "help" Sue in the galley of the Lola B, as she prepared our delicious lunch: