ISLE ROYALE trip
Aug. 27-30 2015
PART 2
We cross the I-535 bridge to Duluth - hometown of Bob Dylan.
A view of Duluth from the I-535 span.
Here you can see the Aerial Lift Bridge - built in 1905 and reconstructed in 1929-30. The bridge carries Lake Avenue across the Duluth Ship Canal.
I-535 approaches its end at parent I-35.
A Minnesota welcome on I-535.
We start heading north on I-35 in Duluth.
I-35 in Duluth is among the more interesting Interstates in a mid-sized city. This photo has some vague resemblances to something you'd see in a larger city like Cincinnati.
I-35 continues, with the Aerial Lift Bridge in the background.
I-35 at downtown Duluth.
It appears here as if they're building an enclosed walkway from the central business district to the waterfront, which - in a familiar story - are separated by the freeway.
I-35 has this tunnel under a long stretch of green space.
Another such tunnel.
Three! Three wonderful, amazing tunnels, ha ha ha ha!
FOUR!!! Four wonderful, amazing tunnels, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Inside the fourth I-35 tunnel.
We're still in Duluth, and I-35 will end soon. Sad.
I-35 will end. But it needs your help. In all, I-35 runs all the way from Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border.
I-35 becomes MN 61 and narrows into a surface road. It was US 61 until 1991. Here, MN 61 crosses the Lester River. Lake Superior is in the background.
The Canadian border is actually a control point on mileage signs on MN 61! Indeedity-doodledy, MN 61 continues in Ontario as ON 61.
MN 61 at SEC 11 in Two Harbors, Minn. This is right in front of a Holiday gas station, part of a regional chain whose logo looks strikingly similar to the red and blue stylized N used by NBC in the late 1970s when it was the lowest-ranked network. NBC spent millions developing that logo only to be sued by a Nebraska public TV network that in turn had an almost identical logo.
MN 61 picks up 7th Avenue in Two Harbors, and here we go under a rail bridge.
This mileage sign on MN 61 has all the upcoming cities and towns named for bays - most notably Thunder Bay. Yes, I'm talking Canada.
You don't expect to see this in Minnesota, but it's a land of surprises! This is a tunnel on MN 61 at Silver Cliff. In the background at center right - to the right of the small Pizza Hut-shaped building - you can actually see a brief portion of the old US 61.
Inside the tunnel.
Another tunnel! All for me! This is the tunnel at Lafayette Bluff. Again, you can see a small part of old US 61 at center right.