Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

As this is being written in mid-June, we just returned from an afternoon in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, about an hour’s drive from our home in Fargo. I’d learned that on June 10, a permanent exhibition of Thomas Dambo’s trolls opened. I’ve been experimenting and learning how to operate a new camera. Knowing that Nikon would soon be releasing upgraded versions of the Z6 II and Z7 II, I opted to buy a Z7 II and a Nikkor 24-120 mm S lens. Why didn’t I wait for the Z7 III? A major reduction in price on the Z7 II provided the incentive for me to go mirrorless, even if it isn’t the “latest and greatest.” But I digress from this story about Dambo’s Trolls.

I learned about Thomas Dambo and his recycled art on the Internet. Thomas Dambo is a Danish artist with a unique twist on trolls. He creates giant, whimsical sculptures of trolls out of recycled materials. These aren’t your typical scary trolls under the bridge! Dambo’s trolls are playful and meant to inspire people to think about sustainability by giving new life to “trash.”

Dambo’s sculptures are found worldwide, and now Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, is home to the most extensive collection of troll sculptures Thomas Dambo has ever created in the United States. This whimsical art collection features six troll sculptures and three “portals” to help visitors find the troll’s treasure.

The trolls are made of recycled materials, staying true to Dambo’s signature style and message of sustainability. There’s even a treasure hunt element to the trolls. Each troll has a clue, and by following them all, you can find the hidden golden rabbit.

The puzzle begins at Detroit Lakes Washington Park, near the beaches of Big Detroit Lake. A book carved of recycled wood tells the story of Alexa, her portals, and clues to finding the golden rabbit. The six sculptures and three portals are not all in Detroit Lakes, so you can expect to visit communities as far away as Fargo, North Dakota, to view the portals and sculptures.

At Detroit Lakes City Park, Alexa is whipping up a potion with her spoon and a large pot nearby as she reaches into her portal for ingredients. Dambo’s troll creations, from Denmark and Europe to Asia, Australia, and the United States, can be found worldwide. He’s even had a project featuring six giant trolls placed around the Pacific Northwest called “Northwest Trolls: Way of the Bird King.”

If you plan to hunt for trolls, you should not expect to find them as easily and quickly as Alexa. The Project 412 website here tells us that Barefoot Frida is near the city’s east edge. You can learn more about the project and see photos of some other trolls on the website. We discovered it’s about a 1/3 mile (550 m) hike from the parking area on Randolph Road to see Frida. This was an excellent opportunity to capture some landscape photos with the Z7 II.

I prefer to bracket exposures and often use Lightroom Classic to create HDR images from the bracketed shots. That’s what I did with most of the photos in this post. I use aperture priority to keep my desired f/stop consistent, and I let the camera determine ISO and shutter speed.

After converting the 3-image brackets to HDR, I realized that the images from the Nikkor lens have the widest dynamic range of any camera I’ve ever used. In fact, some of the photos in this set were not converted from a bracket. I just chose the best image from the set and processed it. That, no doubt, is a result of the Z7 II’s 45-megapixel full-frame sensor.

The trailhead to Barefoot Frida is at the junction of Randolph Road and Highway 54. Until the parking area is built later in 2024, limited parking is allowed on the east side of Randolph Road. As I commented earlier, the hike is short but has several small climbs and descents. The trail first parallels a farmstead and meanders into the forest behind the farm. As we left a clearing, we followed the trail into a thicker section of forest. From here, we kept a sharp eye out for Frida.

We planned to have dinner in Detroit Lakes, and we had to take that short hike back to our car. The 93 bracketed images gave me 31 images for this post. From the processing I completed, I realized that with the sensor’s wide dynamic range, I won’t need to blend the exposures into HDR in the future. I picked the best eleven images to share and also posted them to my Flickr site here for you to pixel-peep.

As we returned to our car, I snapped another image of Frida and one of the many volunteer workers who helped Thomas Dambo create this attraction. He was just finishing a handrail to make it easier for us oldsters to make it down the steep incline to the troll’s base.

From this outing, I realized I still have much to learn about the Nikon Z7 II, but I already love the quality of the images it produces. I considered changing brands, as the Z7 series doesn’t have an autofocus system as robust as Canon or Sony. However, I have some dollars invested in Nikon glass, and coupled with the fact that the autofocus shortcomings are primarily for sports and wildlife, I won’t miss the advanced features of the other brands. It looks like my D500 will become my backup camera.

John Steiner

Duluth, Minnesota.

The Vista ships have been sailing Lake Superior out of Duluth Minnesota since 1959. On our visit in September 2022, we cruised Lake Gitchigoomie (the Native American name for Superior) for the third time since our first trip there in 1970. On this visit, we joined the Vista Star for an afternoon cruise. As of this writing, the Star and the Queen are the two ships in the fleet.

The entrance to the harbor at Duluth is usually by a channel that is paralleled by two piers. That entrance is called Minnesota Point though the locals often call it Park Point. On two of our cruises, we exited and returned via that channel, however, there is another harbor entrance at the south end. We sailed that entrance outbound on one of our other cruises. Known as Wisconsin Point, the land mass at the south of that entrance is in Wisconsin. Except for the southernmost harbor area, the harbor is in Minnesota.

In 2022 I featured a story about the lift bridge and its history here, but for starters, the bridge opened in 1905 and was known as the United States’ first transporter bridge. In 1930, it was converted to a lift bridge. That’s enough history for now… check out the link above for more on this historic bridge.

Two lighthouses guide ships to the opening point. The lighthouses have standard navigation colors. The lighthouse on the left has a red light, and the one on the right has a green light. The navigation rule is “Red on right returning.” As a ship heads toward the channel entrance from Lake Superior, the red light is visible on the right. In the view above, we had just passed the two lighthouses on the way into the harbor, therefore the red light was on our left as we sailed into the channel past the lighthouses.

Given modern navigation equipment, in May 2021, the north light was determined to be navigationally unnecessary. In 2023, a nonprofit company took ownership and plans to have tours of the lighthouse beginning in the summer of 2024. The red light is still active but it blinks on and off rather than on in a steady state. You can see the operation of the lights in this YouTube video here.

The channel is flanked by two piers and unless the weather is particularly nasty, there will always be people lined up on either pier to watch the ships come and go from the harbor. In the background behind the north pier, the Tugboat Bayfield is on display for people to see. She was placed on display after she retired from service in 1995.

Most of our tour was inside the harbor. The narrator provided lots of information about what goes on inside the harbor daily. We sailed past a Coast Guard Cutter, the Spar. The ship is a seagoing buoy tender and maintains aids to navigation around the ports at Duluth Minnesota and Superior Wisconsin as well as other Great Lakes ports.

In the inner harbor, three tugs were lined up along a dock. They presented a nice composition of working ships for me to capture as we sailed the inner harbor area. Other than the generic job of assisting larger ships entering the harbor, I don’t have any further information about these tugs or their company affiliation.

Minnesota, being an agricultural state, ships products from the state throughout the country. There are many products shipped from the port and many ships call this harbor their home. Iron ore from the northern ports is shipped on Lake Superior.

Probably the most famous maritime tragedy on Lake Superior is the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald and her 29-man crew in 1975. Her job was carrying taconite from mines near Duluth to Detroit, Toledo, and other Great Lakes Ports. Near hurricane-force winds during a major November storm caused her to break into two pieces and sink. Gordon Lightfoot’s story song of the tragedy brought the attention of the world to the Great Lakes and the hazards of shipping.

You can find additional images on my Flickr site here and view the above images in 2K HD there as well. For those who are interested in the harbor at Duluth and the shipping there, YouTube hosts several vlogs featuring the freighters that come and go from the harbor. My favorite is Vibes with Mike’s site here. His post from December 26 shows Lake Superior in a nasty mood. Strong winds and a fierce storm batter the area.

There are several options for cruises from the Vista Fleet. If you’re considering a harbor cruise, you can find their website here. I’d recommend picking a nicer day than you will see if you pick Mike’s video link above. Of course, in weather like that, you can bet the cruise will be canceled. I hate to leave this post with a negative thought about the potential for bad weather. Lynn and I have been on three harbor cruises on the Vista Fleet of ships over the years and we’ve always had an enjoyable experience.

John Steiner

Duluth, Minnesota.

Regular readers know of my affection for historic railroads. If you are traveling to Duluth and enjoy train travel and the history of the railroads, you should consider an excursion on the North Shore Scenic Railroad. Another must-see stop is the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. Ticket holders on a rail excursion get a discounted admission to the museum. Historic rail fans who don’t have time for the excursion should at least visit the museum. Most of the images in this post are views of museum exhibits.

The William Crooks featured in the opening photo is the first train engine to arrive in Minnesota. It belonged to the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. In 1862, the brand-new engine pulled its first load of passengers and it retired from service in 1897.

The Minnetonka was built in 1870 and was the first locomotive in operation on the Northern Pacific Railway. This workhorse started the Northern Pacific’s transcontinental railway construction and pulled the loads of rails and ties needed by the work crews to build the Northern Pacific. The engine is owned by Burlington Northern and is on loan to the museum.

The museum features some specialized rail equipment including this heavy-duty crane. As you walk through the museum, placards describe each of the exhibits. Some exhibits, like the U.S. Mail car in the background, allow guests to board and explore the interiors.

Inside the museum is a recreated Depot Square where you can step back in time over 110 years to 1910 where you can view storefronts that existed at the time. The recreated depot houses a model train exhibit.

The museum isn’t just about steam engines. After years of both railyard and passenger service, Engine 192 underwent a meticulous restoration, bringing it back into service as part of the North Shore Scenic Railroad. The diesel locomotive frequently pulls passenger cars along the scenic shores of Lake Superior, offering a glimpse into the more recent past. The rare design by General Motors was built in 1947 and is one of only 13 NW5 engines built by General Motors.

The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is located in the Duluth Union Depot which was built in 1892. You can find out more information about the museum here. In addition to the museum, the depot hosts other train-oriented venues including the Lake Shore Scenic Railroad depot.

The Duluth Zephyr Route was our excursion of choice, a 75-minute excursion through downtown Duluth, along the shoreline of Lake Superior, and through the historic Congdon Neighborhood wooded area. Excursions that go all the way to Two Harbors are also available. We opted to pay a little extra fare to ride in the dome car. Photographs I captured of the scenery didn’t turn out well, so if you want the best scenic photos, opt for a more open car so window reflections don’t get in your way.

A small snack and beverages are served in the dome car and longer routes have dinner service available. My lack of suitable photos notwithstanding, we really enjoyed the panoramic views and comfortable seating in the dome car. Halfway through our journey, the train is paused as the engine turns around for the return trip to Duluth.

The rail line operates summer excursions from May through Early October and offers a few special train rides in November and early December for the holiday season. As of this writing, the 2024 schedule hasn’t yet been published, but by the time this post is published, you will find their schedule on the North Shore Scenic Railroad website here.

The North Shore Scenic Railroad operates 28 miles (45 km) of the Lakefront Line, once part of the Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range Railroad. It’s a great way to experience the scenic beauty of the North Shore of Lake Superior and learn about the region’s railroad history.

John Steiner

Duluth, Minnesota.

In September 2022 we spent a month traveling by car and cruise ship exploring the northeastern half of the United States and the eastern provinces of Canada. We spent a couple of nights in Duluth, Minnesota, our first stop on our journey. Duluth is considered the beginning of the North Shore of Lake Superior and the city attracts around six million tourists each year. It is the fourth largest city in Minnesota and the largest port on Lake Superior.

Built on hilly terrain, the roads can be quite treacherous in winter’s icy conditions, but in the summer, the views from the upper levels of the city are spectacular. On one of the highest points in the city, a park beckons tourists to overlook the city. There you will find Enger Tower.

Enger Tower is an 80-foot (24 m), five-story stone observation tower atop Enger Hill. It was built in 1939 as a tribute to Norwegian immigrant and philanthropist Bert Enger, who donated the land for the park and the money to build the tower.

From the windows you pass on your way to the top, your camera cries out for panoramic views… er, ah, at least mine does. On a clear day, you can see for miles in every direction. From the top of the tower, you can see the Aerial Lift Bridge, the Duluth Ship Canal, the Duluth skyline, and the endless expanse of Lake Superior. The five-story climb (138 steps) isn’t too challenging if you take your time, and from there small plaques embedded in the stone indicate the area of the city visible from that point. The panorama above features a view of the port area.

This bridge’s history will be featured in one of my featured bridge posts, but for now, the bridge is a popular tourist attraction. In the image above, captured with my crop-sensor zoom set to 70 mm, you can see at the base of the bridge that the roadway is down.

When a ship needs to enter or leave the port, the road across the opening is blocked and the bridge’s road surface is lifted to allow a ship to pass through the channel. Smaller vessels don’t require the bridge to go all the way to the top, but large cargo ships, many over 700 feet (213 m) long, require the bridge to rise to its maximum of 135 feet (40 m) above the channel.

I enjoy watching a YouTube channel that is run by a Duluth resident who visits the bridge area to capture the arrivals and departures of these magnificent Great Lakes ships. Here’s a sample.

There are six major bridges in the city, though the aerial lift bridge gets most of the attention. Here is a collection of bridges visible from the Enger Tower viewpoint.

Not all the views from Enger Tower feature bridges. From there you can see the long breakwater and port area.

The port mainly hosts the transport of grain, iron ore, and coal. About 900 vessels a year visit the port, about 90% of them known as Lakers, ships designed to transit the Great Lakes. The largest lakers are over 1,000 feet (300 m) in length.

Enger Tower is popular with tourists and locals alike, and it is open to the public with free admission from May to October. In future Travel Tuesday posts, I will feature more sights from our visit to Duluth and our trip along the North Shore into Canada and on to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

John Steiner

Grand Portage, Minnesota.

On our journey via the North Shore Scenic Byway near Grand Portage, Minnesota, we saw a sign that directed us toward the Grand Portage Heritage Center. Taking the detour, we pulled into the parking lot of a relatively new structure and found our way inside.

Inside the center, several exhibits tell the story of the relationship between the Ojibwe and the fur traders of the British North West Company. We spent some time looking at the exhibits not realizing the best part of this National Monument is across the highway hidden somewhat behind some large trees.

“Travel into the past to discover the present. Explore the partnership of the Grand Portage Ojibwe and the North West Company during the North American fur trade and the NPS today. Follow pathways into a distant time. Experience the sights and smells of a bustling depot reconstructed in its exact location. Hear the beat of the drum echo over Gichigami – Lake Superior.” – From the Grand Portage National Monument website.

The Heritage Center opened in 2007. The building houses exhibit galleries about Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) culture and the fur trade, America’s National Parks bookstore, and multi-media programs. a complete schedule of hours and seasons is available here. With some exceptions, they are open daily all year and you can even borrow snow shoes for a winter walk. Be sure to check the schedule for special hours and closings. For example, they are closed on Sundays from November through February. Specific dates are listed on the site.

Sensing there was something more than just this visitor center, I wandered outside and followed a sidewalk around the corner of the building to find a completely reconstructed trading center. There isn’t even a fee to explore the site originally known as Fort George.

The best time to visit the park is the second weekend in August when Grand Portage invites Re-enactors from across the U.S. and Canada. We missed the festivities by about two weeks, as we visited on September 2. There were, however, some docents on-site in a few locations that provided descriptions of the buildings where they happened to be located.

Inside the stockade fence, visitors can walk through the buildings of the historic depot including the Great Hall, Kitchen, Canoe Warehouse, and Gatehouse. The images below depict views of some of these attractions inside the reconstructed trading center. As I noted above, there is no fee to view the attraction.

The site is considered a National Monument rather than a National Park. I learned the difference between the two types of parks on their website. I had not seen this description before when visiting other National Park Service sites. “The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorized the President to declare by public proclamation landmarks, structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest situated on lands owned or controlled by the government to be national monuments. A national monument is intended to preserve at least one nationally significant resource. It is usually smaller than a national park and lacks its diversity of attractions.“

Grand Portage got its name from the necessity to traverse the Pigeon River between Lake Superior and the Ojibwe hunting areas. Rapids and shallow waters were not navigable along the route. For probably 2,000 years, native Americans traveled the path that parallels the river carrying their goods and canoes with them.

By the early 1700s, the French began arriving in the area. After 1763, the British used the centuries-old pathways to reach the fur-trapping regions of Minnesota and Canada. Today hikers can travel the Grand Portage from Fort George on Lake Superior to Fort Charlotte on the Pigeon River. Details on the hike and videos of sections of the Grand Portage can be found here. The entire hike is about 8.5 miles (13.6 km) and is rated Easy on the site, however the NPS site notes otherwise. The NPS site describes the hike like this: “The Grand Portage is a nearly nine-mile portage/trail that connects Lake Superior to the Pigeon River over land. The hilly, rocky, rutty route challenges even experienced hikers.” Check the hike information underneath the Camping information on the NPS page here.

Camping is not available around the site or at the trailhead, however, the Grand Portage Lodge does offer a small camping area. There are two backcountry campsites in the area. These spots are easily filled, so you should reserve well in advance, especially around the time of the August celebrations. There are plenty of hotels in the area both in the United States and across the nearby Canadian border.

From the fort, a small island is visible in Grand Portage Bay. The NPS website describes the island. “During the time of the French and English traders, it was called Isle au Mouton (sheep island); before roads came to Grand Portage it was Pete’s Island, named for commercial fisherman Pete Gagnon; today, it is simply known as Grand Portage Island. The island helps block damaging waves from coming into Grand Portage Bay, helping make it one of the best natural bays on Lake Superior.“

A visit to the Heritage Center and Grand Portage National Monument is worth a couple of hours for a self-guided tour. The price is certainly not an issue, and it’s only a short detour from the main route of the North Shore Scenic Drive. You can view this entire gallery on my Flickr site here.

Our next stop on our journey concluded the North Shore Scenic Drive at the Canadian border. We continued on our journey eastward through southern Canada, our next overnight stay would be at Thunder Bay, Ontario.

John Steiner

Grand Marais, Minnesota.

The Native Americans called the big lake Gitche Gumee, but these days, it’s known as Lake Superior. One of Minnesota’s most scenic drives follows the lake’s shoreline from Duluth to Grand Portage. It’s a must-do if you are spending any time in the area. The scenery is shown off with eight state parks, spectacular views of Lake Superior, and the many restaurants along the way offer some of the best Lake Superior fish dinners. The 110-mile (177 km) drive can easily be done in one day with a few stops along the way, but you may want to spend more time on your journey and check out one or more of the state parks.

There are many lighthouses along the north shore and Two Harbors has an original lighthouse, now a museum, and it is still a working automated lighthouse. At the end of a long breakwater that protects Agate Bay and the Ore Docks from an angry Lake Superior, there is another automated station that marks the end of the breakwater and entrance to the harbor. If you’d like to feel the part of a lighthouse keeper, you can stay at the Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast run by the local historical society. Plan ahead and reserve in advance, though, as they are pretty busy during the summer tourist season.

Constructed in 1892, the original light station is still operational and it is one of the oldest operating light stations in Minnesota. You can do a self-guided tour of the tower, the Assistant Keeper’s house, a pilot house, and the fog signal building.

There were only a few visitors besides us at Two Harbors that morning. It was cool and windy with rain showers in the area. Even so, we weren’t the only ones to take a walk along the breakwater.

OK, truth be told, we didn’t walk all the way to the light station at the end of the breakwater. That’s the advantage of a zoom lens on your camera, you can save a walk on a cool, windy day. The breakwater itself was completed in 1902 and after modifications over the years, this 1906 lighthouse remains in service today.

About 25 minutes north of Two Harbors, the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park and the most photographed lighthouse in Minnesota was our next stop. As I noted in a recent Cellpic Sunday post, the Split Rock Lighthouse protected ships from the rocky Lake Superior shoreline for 50 years or so. Iron ore became a staple of Lake Superior shipping in the late 19th century and iron ore was transported in large quantities. After a massive storm wrecked 29 ships in November 1905, Minnesota shipping company executives traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for a light station and fog horn.

Built high on a bluff overlooking the lake, this lighthouse and foghorn protected ships from colliding with the rocky shore on dark, moonless nights and foggy days. This part of Minnesota had no roads at the time of the lighthouse construction in 1910. The light was first illuminated on July 31 of that year.

Continuing our journey north that would end for us that evening in Thunder Bay, Ontario, we stopped at Grand Marais. There are two lighthouses that mark the entrance to the harbor, one at each side of the harbor entrance. In addition to a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Station, there is a Coast Guard station. Research for this post taught me that the station will be consolidated into the station at Duluth and this facility will close, though no date of closure was mentioned in the article.

Visitors to the area can walk along a concrete breakwater all the way to the lighthouse which was built in 1885. Sections of rocky shoreline are incorporated into the breakwater. The opening photo in this post is taken near the area known as Artists Point.

Artists Point is a must-see stop at Grand Marais. There is a trail that leads to this point so you can take in more views of the town and the lake, or you can drive to the nearby parking lot and it’s only a short distance to the breakwater and the beautiful views from the point.

Our last stop on this journey before crossing into Canada is at Grand Portage. A large sign beckoned us to stop at the center that was completed in 2007. What we didn’t realize until we stopped at the center is that there is a reconstructed fort and trading post just a short walk across the highway. There was so much to see there that I will reserve my collection of images for an upcoming post about the park and visitor center.

I went bonkers with photographs on this journey. I captured over a hundred images, all told. I put together a gallery of my favorite 21 images on my Flickr site for you to view in 2K HD. You can find that album here.

John Steiner

Two Harbors, Minnesota.

Our September road trip and Canadian cruise brought us lots of opportunities to photograph light stations. Probably the most photographed lighthouse in Minnesota is a worthy stop along the North Shore Scenic Drive. U.S. Highway 81 hugs the shore of Lake Superior from Duluth to Grand Portage. But I digress, as I’ll save the North Shore Scenic Drive for a Travel Tuesday post soon.

For this Cellpic Sunday, I picked one stop along the way and captured an image of an icon that protected ships from the rocky Lake Superior shoreline for 50 years or so. Iron ore became a staple of Lake Superior shipping in the late 19th century and iron ore was transported in large quantities. After a massive storm wrecked 29 ships in November 1905, Minnesota shipping company executives traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for a light station and fog horn.

In 1910, the Split Rock Lighthouse first cast its rotating beacon across the waters of Lake Superior. With advances in navigation technology, the station was decommissioned in 1969. First LORAN (Long Range Navigation Radar), then GPS systems provided the navigational aids to keep ships from getting too close to the rocky shores of the lake. One tidbit of information I learned on the Split Rock Lighthouse website is that in the United States, only five light stations remain in service with personnel staffed through the Coast Guard. All other light stations are either automated or decommissioned. You can read more about the history of the lighthouse and its transfer to the Minnesota Historical Society here.

About the photo: This close-up view of the lighthouse was captured while I stood on a walkway between the lighthouse and the building that houses the large fog horn that protected ships when the visibility was too low to see that piercing beam of light. The snapshot I captured from my Samsung S20U was downloaded into Adobe Lightroom, then into Luminar Neo for the basic tweaks needed to enhance the image. For a view in 2K on my Flickr site, just click on the photo.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Duluth, Minnesota.

It’s been about 15 years since we last visited the port city of Duluth on Lake Superior. It’s time we went back. With my continuing series on bridges in mind, I decided to reprocess a couple of images from our visit a decade and a half ago.

Hampered by the low pixel count of my Fuji FinePix 3800 I had at the time, I am limited in resolution for these photos, but they didn’t turn out all that bad considering the age of the camera, an early digital model.

But I digress from the subject of the bridge itself. Construction of the bridge started in 1901 and was completed in 1905. The span connects Duluth with a five-mile (8 km) sandbar called Park Point, which is also known as Minnesota Point. Originally a cable car traversed the bridge truss at the top carrying passengers, wagons, and automobiles, but in 1929 it was rebuilt providing a flat deck for vehicles to drive across the bridge. The unique design of the bridge is similar to only one other in the world, located in France.

The opening image features a view of the descending lift as I captured it just after it was raised for the boat we were riding on. When fully extended, the bridge provides a clearance of 180 feet (55 m) to allow taller ships to pass below into the harbor area.

The bridge deck, when lowered provides a roadway some 386 feet (118 m) across. The entire span at the base of the bridge is 502 feet (153 m). According to an article here published by goduluthmn.com, the bridge operates 24 hours a day with skilled operators raising and lowering the bridge an average of 26 times a day in the busy summer season. At one time, pedestrians were allowed to ride on the bridge as it went up and down until a tragic accident that killed a pedestrian in the 1980s.

Over the years, the bridge was reworked five times. In addition to the 1929 rebuild that added the roadway, it was modified for various alterations and repairs in 1986, 1999, 2007, and 2009. The unusual bridge is on the National Historic Registry and it is located near the Lake Superior Marine Museum.

Click on either image to view it on my Flickr site. You can also click here to visit the album.

John Steiner

Austin, Minnesota.

In 1891, a 31-year old entrepreneur founded Geo. A. Hormel & Company in his hometown of Austin, Minnesota. From its origins as the Provision Market, he grew the company into an international product line that made him one of the world’s wealthiest men in his lifetime.

In 1991, to honor the centennial of the company’s origin, the Hormel Foods First Century Museum was opened in the Oak Park Mall. It was renamed the Spam Museum in honor of one of Hormel’s most popular products.

In 2014, the museum began the move to a downtown location. Given more space for larger exhibits, the reopening in 2016 includes a gift shop where people can buy all sorts of Spammy accessories. Indeed, my wife and I bought a couple of souvenirs and a cardboard tray full of several varieties of Spam.

George Hormel’s company developed and sold the first canned hams, and the corporation is now a conglomerate of food product companies, but it is for Spam that the company is world renown. While you can look on the Internet to see several definitions of where the term Spam is derived, a museum placard notes that the origin of the term is lost in the company’s history. The image above features one of the seven sections, the core with pillars of canned Spam of many varieties.

Though it isn’t my very favorite canned meat (like I have a lot of favorites in this category), my wife used to make a casserole, or as true North Dakotans might say, a “hot dish”, consisting of diced Spam, elbow macaroni, and a couple of “secret ingredients”. I will share her recipe for your kitchen if you’d like to give it a try.

Overhead in the high ceilinged museum, there is a long conveyer belt that continuously runs through the museum carrying several thousand cans of Spam. In the background, you can see a poster for Monty Python’s Spamalot musical. You can see it better if you click on the photo above to view the image in Flickr. From there, you can click on the Flickr image to scroll around and see more details in 2K HD.

There is a video loop playing of the Spam sketch from Monty Python’s Family Circus along with a description of how Spam came to be the name given to unwanted email “blasts.” In looking for a YouTube video of the Spam sketch to share, I found this program that provides both clips from the sketch and the history of the term Spam as it relates to emails.

One section of the museum focuses on the earlier years and transition from George A. Hormel to his son, Jay C. Hormel. The company went public in 1928. Another entire section focuses on Hormel during World War II.

Spam is known worldwide and has been a staple in Hormel’s product line since 1937. The recipe for the canned mix of pork shoulder and ham has been modified in many ways for worldwide tastes. If you wish to try some of the unique flavors, they can be purchased locally or online. A guide to finding the varieties of Spam can be found here.

Feel free to bring the kids. A large section of the museum is a play area. At this time of covid, all guests must wear facemasks and, as you can see in the image above, hand sanitizer stations are located throughout the museum.

We spent a couple of hours in the museum, and then headed to Kenny’s Oak Grill where Spam is a feature on several menu items. I chose the grilled cheese and Spam sandwich.

One more comment on finding the place. My car has a built-in GPS that I don’t always trust so on road trips, I often use a Garmin unit with lifetime map updates. If the two GPS units don’t agree, I use Google Maps on my phone to confirm which one is the more accurate.

The address of the museum is 101 3rd Ave NE, Austin, MN. For some reason, my Garmin couldn’t find the address, so I trusted the internal GPS in my car. It directed me to a residential area and told me it found the place. I loaded the address in Google Maps and used my phone for directions and it took us the right to the downtown location.

I promised you a recipe for “Spam Hot Dish.” This was a favorite of our whole family when the kids were still at home. Here goes:

Ingredients:

1 can Spam diced into cubes

1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni

1 can vegetable (or vegetable beef) soup

1 can tomato soup

Instructions:

Brown the diced spam in a skillet. When the meat is browned, add the cans of soup (without adding any additional water.)

While the soups are heating in the skillet, prepare the macaroni as directed on the box. Drain and rinse.

Add the macaroni and mix thoroughly warming until all ingredients are heated through.

If you’d like to see the gallery of images in 2K HD, click on any of the photos above to scroll through the album (or click here.)

John Steiner

Fargo, North Dakota.

The Red River of the North is the boundary between North Dakota and Minnesota. Over the years, several bridges have been built that spans the river at Fargo to connect with Moorhead, Minnesota on the east side of the river. Though it is still referred to as the Main Avenue Bridge like the ones it replaced, this bridge has special meaning to local veterans. But first, here are the construction details:
The steel stringer bridge was built in 2003 replacing a bridge of similar design that was built in 1937. That bridge replaced the original through-truss swing span constructed in 1890. The current bridge has a length of 807 feet (246 m). A wide sidewalk on the south side of the bridge accommodates pedestrian traffic and a “bump-out” supports the pillars, each dedicated to a branch of service or to a veterans service organization.

Looking in my archives, I discovered an aerial view of three of the bridges that cross the Red River in downtown Fargo and Moorhead. The bridge on the left is the Veterans Memorial Bridge. The center bridge is the downtown BNSF railroad bridge, and the bridge on the north crosses the river at Fargo’s NP Avenue. Noticeable on the Veterans Bridge is the bump-out for the pillars. There is no sidewalk on the north side to accommodate four lanes of traffic, two in each direction. The image was captured in March 2010 while the Red River was at a high flood stage.

On a sunny and warm July day, we walked across the bridge from the Minnesota side. Though we have driven across many times since its construction, this day was our first day to walk across with a goal of looking at the memorial pillars and the other treats that await a visitor.

Historical placards and discs inlaid in the sidewalk tell the history of the Red River and of its importance to the communities that share the river’s banks. In Fargo’s early settlement days, the river was an important transportation route from early American settlements into Canada. The river’s origin is at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and the Ottertail Rivers near what is now the border between North and South Dakota.

One of the few rivers in the United States to flow north, the Red River flows into Canada near the cities of Pembina, North Dakota, and Emerson, Manitoba, then ambles through Winnipeg, Manitoba where it joins the Assiniboine River at a point known as The Forks, a popular tourist area near downtown Winnipeg. Continuing northward, the Red River ends its journey at Lake Winnipeg, Canada’s sixth-largest freshwater lake.

One of the discs inlaid in the sidewalk features a map of the river as it crosses the border into Canada. Fur traders and others also traveled near the river in the 19th century, their goods carried by oxcart between Winnipeg and points south. This contributed to the growth of commerce in the Red River Valley.

Other discs along the walk provide more information about the river. Though this image is hard to read, its message is, “The Red River drops an average of five inches per mile from its source to Lake Winnipeg.”

The history of the river is but a side point to the real purpose of the memorial on the bridge. The ten columns feature emblems representing the four branches of the military and six major veterans organizations. On a warm day in 2003, the bridge was dedicated to the veterans of our country in a celebration of honor held on Flag Day, June 14. The ceremonies even featured a fly-over by two World War II P-51 fighter planes.

The then Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker in his remarks noted, “This is their bridge. This is our bridge. We need to be reminded every day: The reason we have the freedom today is because of them.”

There is even a replica Statue of Liberty at the site. I did not get a photo of the statue as it was stolen in 2019. A replacement statue was completed and reinstalled shortly after our visit to the bridge in the summer of 2020. I conclude this post with my usual comment that if your browser supports the function, you may click on an image to get a better view.

John Steiner