Time Again For Sailing Ships ~

This past weekend provided another opportunity to view,

closer this time,

those beautiful sailing ships from times past.

Duluth hosted once more a Tall Ships Festival.

Nine amazing tall masted ships sailed into Minnesota's Duluth harbor, 

attracting attention wherever their masts could be seen.

The first to arrive were the Pride of Baltimore II, a 157' two masted schooner, 

the Norwegian white SS Sorlandet, a fully rigged 210' three masted ship built in 1927,

and the Privateer Lynx, a 122' two masted schooner.

~ SS Sorlandet ~

This ship is the oldest fully rigged ship in the world still in operation.

Built as a training vessel, she helped represent Norway at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago.

During World War II the ship became damaged, but was restored and read to sail again in 1948.

Her first engine was installed in 1958. 

~ U.S. Brig Niagara ~

198' two masted brig.

This ship is a reconstruction of the brig used by

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to win victory in the

1813 Battle of Lake Erie. 

~ The two masted 79' Schooner Hindu shares the water with boats and ships from a more modern era. ~

Trying to capture images of sailing ships only was not easy in the Duluth harbor

busy with ore ships, cruise ships, and various boats large and small.

~~~~~

It Rained And It Rained And It Rained

A storm system stalled over us...

and it rained...

and it rained...

and it rained...

a record breaking rain like we have never seen!

Never have we had floods like this.

Really we rarely have floods at all!

Cars now in water up to roof tops,

vehicles dropping into sink holes,

mudslides,

raging waters over a dam,

an entire city being evacuated,

railroads hanging in the air where the ground washed out from beneath it,

the zoo flooded and lost much loved animals,

docks disappearing under swollen lakes,

large sections of roads under water or completely washed out,

stranding many including some of my family.

~ Sideroad leading to Duluth's major shopping area. That is not a lake at the bottom of the hill. It should be lawns, road, and parking lots only. ~

~ Duluth, Minnesota car dealership with flooded vehicles. Parking lots and road should be where water is seen. ~

~ What normally is a well traveled section of road between some of Duluth's major shopping stores and restaurants. Where you see water should only be road and parking lots. ~

~ A frontage road leading to Duluth's major shopping mall. ~

~ Kayakers heading to the flooded parking lot of Duluth's Target store. ~

~ Kayakers paddling to the mall. ~

~ Many sections of road had large bodies of water on them such as the one above... ~

~ ...and this country road outside of Duluth heading towards our home. ~

~ This country driveway was completely under water, leading to a home on the edge of a dangerously high and flooding Cloquet River. ~

It is going to take many days for this amount of water to recede.

Thankfully our home is high enough so we have seen only slight water damage from the amazing amount of water that has fallen from the sky. Some of my gardens however have seen too much water, and rescuing of plants may be needed!



Ships from the Past

~ Sails in the Harbor ~

~ HMS Bounty ~

~ Barque Europa ~

Like many others, I am in love with sailing ships of the past!

The above ships, along with 5 others, entered the Duluth harbor this past Thursday, and departed again 6 days later. In honor of their arrival, a great celebration was planned with days full of music, delicious food, plays, an amazing collection of treasure recovered from around the world to view, touch, and (purchase!), a treasure hunt, merchants of all kinds, and of course...pirates and Jack Sparrow flying the skull and cross bones everywhere.

I, along with a large part of my family and friends, spent 4 full days participating in celebration dressed as sea faring folk, some of us pirates, greeting and entertaining visitors, were captured in photos, and revelled in amazing sea shanties from Michael Beans  and more, plus treasure hunting tales from the fantastic Captains Carl Fismer and Scott Mitchen  .

With such an event, it is hard to pick one best moment, but for me there was something that stood out as very special. A crew of garbed pirates were chosen to board a beautiful refurbished solid wood yacht to greet the tall ships before they entered the harbor and to wave hello to the thousands who thronged the waters edge to view the masted vessels. I was thrilled when I was chosen as one of the crew, having not been on the great lake since late childhood, and had longed for it many times as an adult. I failed to grab the camera in my excited haste to board ship, and later so wished I had, because what a site I viewed as we approached the tall masted beauties in full sail far out on the lake, all 9 of them.  Amazing...absolutley amazing... they took my breath away!

 ~ Even now without a photo, I know I will have a memory of them together that will last a lifetime. ~

Minnesota Sunset

~ Bayfront Sunset ~

Some of the most beautiful sunsets appear after a storm. I was able to capture this image at the waterfront in Duluth.

The Grand Gitche Gumee

 Lake Superior Moon

Sunset Over Duluth

Duluth Lift Bridge

In anticipation of watching the largest and brightest full moon for 2010 rise with its companion Mars over one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, my husband and I took a 45 minute drive to the shore yesterday afternoon. We missed the moon as it crested Lake Superior, but were still greeted by a beautiful sight as its golden glow reflected off the slowly forming ice and rippling dark water. Our gaze was then directed to the beautiful sunset silhouetting the city of Duluth in Minnesota, and Superior in Wisconsin.

~ What a beautiful end to the day. ~