Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Rain.

Rain.

Rain.

This is getting ridiculous. 

A quick review of weather over the last two months revealed that on average, we’ve had a severe weather alert every three days and more than a half inch of rain every five days. Our last night in Two Rivers brought just over two inches of rain in three hours. It’s predicted to rain another two to five inches in the next two days in our current location. Enough, already!

A hundred and sixty eight miles southeast of Duluth lies Chippewa Falls. We’re tucked into site thirteen at the Northern Wisconsin Fairgrounds Campground. 

This is a working stop for us. We’ve been a bit lazy with trailer maintenance and necessary shopping and cleaning, so it’s time to catch up. There are several interesting things to do in Chippewa Falls, so we’ll try to squeeze in a bit of site seeing in between chores.

On a shopping expedition we caught a glimpse of the falls as we went by. There’s a nice park nearby, but no parking that we could see, so we kept going. A trip to the grocery store, a stop at Sashas favorite store, Petsmart, and a couple of hours in the local laundromat just about filled a day. And it rained.

A thorough top to bottom cleaning of the trailer was required, so we spent the better part of a midday doing that, and as we finished and got ready to go downtown and maybe figure out how to get to the falls…it started raining.

So, our site seeing in Chippewa Falls has been limited to a view of the cooling towers at the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, which is about 50 yards away from our camp!

And it’s raining.

Chippewa Falls is an old city of about 15,000 residents, and has a history in the timber industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the timber ran out, other industries filled the gap, a shoe factory, a glove manufacturing facility, railroading and in the 20th century, a center of computing as Cray Research , founded by Seymour Cray, developer of the fastest supercomputer of its day. Cray Research has been absorbed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Chippewa Falls is a lesser neighbor to Eau Claire, and contents itself with “Leine” beer and Mason Shoes. 

Late in the afternoon the rain stopped and we decided to try for the falls and a walk through Riverfront Park. The Chippewa River is running at near capacity and is putting on quite a show.

The trees along the riverbank tell a tale of too much rain!

It’s been a quiet, and damp stay at the fairgrounds, but enjoyable and necessary. We’ve on the road again tomorrow!

Gitchee Gumee

 Sadly, our visit with family in Stillwater, Minnesota, has come to an end and we find ourselves just north of Duluth, on the North Shore of Lake Superior. With apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Gordon Lightfoot, the lake they call Gitchee Gumee is a wonder. Often referred to as an inland sea, the immense lake provides a livelihood for tens of thousands of people and hundreds of businesses. Fishing boats ply the endless waters, huge ore carrying ships pick up Taconite, and pleasure boats sail the currents with happy passengers.

We are situated in the Penmaraliter Campground, in Two Harbors, Minnesota, about 20 miles north of Duluth along the North Shore, in site 10. This park is older, and a bit rustic, a little hard to navigate, but the owners are very accommodating and the setting is in a beautiful wooded area near the rocky shore of Lake Superior.

Just after we set up camp we cruised into the town of Two Harbors. This small town is aptly named, having two adjacent protected anchorages that were at one time both busy shipping ports. Now, only the largest docking area is used, and huge metal structures are used to transfer taconite ore to large ships for transport to steel mills around the Great Lakes like the huge facilities in Gary, Indiana.

Two Harbors has one of the light houses that dot the shores of the Great Lakes, but it is now a museum and Bed and Breakfast.

Lake Superior was relatively calm on the day we visited.

Minnesota Highway 61 runs from Duluth to the Canadian border, but for several miles just north of Duluth, the “Old Road”, now known as Scenic 61, provides a slower, and more interesting way to enjoy the Northwoods.

Highwy 61 merges with Interstate 35 in Duluth, where, a few miles south US highway 2 heads east into Wisconsin. Moccasin Mike road bails off of what is then US 53 and leads to The Superior Entry.

This 500 foot wide, 35 foot deep channel leads to the western terminus of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and is the only natural opening through the longest freshwater sand bar in the world which protects Duluth Harbor and the docks at Superior, Wisconsin.

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The entry handles cargoes of iron ore, coal, petroleum and grain, destined for ports all over the world.

This day, a brave little sailboat made the passage.

On the north end of this seemingly endless sandbar, another entrance to Duluth Harbor has been created. We had to see it, so we drove into the Canal Park district and found a parking spot near the Duluth Shipping Pier. As luck would have it, a “Laker” was about to enter the harbor, so the lift bridge was raised.

A walk to the end of the pier led us to a close look at Duluth.

Our nephew-in-law recommended a great place to have lunch, so we made our way to the Northern Waters Smokehouse. Specializing in smoked meats of all kinds, but particularly in fish, their reputation for excellence bought us two fish baskets. Donna had traditionally smoked Atlantic Salmon, and I ordered black pepper encrusted smoked salmon. Each box included a half pound of fish, crackers, a portion of wasabi cream cheese and a knife and fork! Complete lunch in a box!

Ice cream at Loves down the street finished our outing, one cup of dark chocolate and lemon chiffon, and another of vanilla lavender!

Our next outing was on a rainy, foggy day, with predictions of heavy storms and possible tornadoes. We elected to drive a bit north to Split Rock Lighthouse Historical Site. This lighthouse was built in 1910, encouraged by US Steel, who had a fleet of 112 ships on the lakes, and needed navigation aids to prevent shipwrecks along the Northern Shore. In November, 1905, a winter storm damaged 29 ships, a third of them uninsured property of US Steel.

This most photographed lighthouse on the Northern Shore has been restored to its 1920’s condition, and is open to the public.

A climb to the top revealed the clockwork mechanism that is hand wound every two and a half hours, and still operates as smoothly as it did when new! 

The large green disc is the base of the Fresnel Lens structure and rides on a cushioned layer of mercury to combat friction.

A look out of the lighthouse window was unproductive due to the fog, so a short walk to the Visitors Center gave us a look at the Keepers houses.

Three keepers shared duties during shipping season, but left when the lake froze over.

A good wind picked up and the fog rolled in. The temp was 45 deg F.

In spite of the cold weather, and the rain, thunderstorms, and hail that persisted all night, this beautiful coastline holds hope for a better tomorrow.

Here’s to a better tomorrow!