Fog on the Twin Ports: My Time in Duluth & Superior

If you’re like me you probably haven’t heard of the town of Superior, WI. But at one point in time, is was billed as the next Chicago. That is until the people of Duluth, MN dug the canal. You see Duluth, MN and Superior, WI are separated by a harbor at the delta of the St Louis River, which is protected by a large natural sandbar. Back in the mid 1800s, the only nautical access point for this calm harbor was on the Superior/Wisconsin side of the bay. Fearing that Superior would boom as the harbor grew and that they, on the Minnesota side of the river, would become an afterthought, Duluth decided to build a canal through the sandbar to allow nautical access on their side of the harbor and thus steal some of the harbor traffic and profits from Superior. Superior caught wind of this plan, though, and lobbied the federal government to bar the building of a canal on the Duluth side. The federal government did in fact rule in Superior’s favor, ruling that no *new* canals could be built at the mouth of the St Louis River. However, it being the mid-1800s, this order took weeks to travel by horse from Washington to Duluth, so the people of Duluth, catching wind of a potential ban on a canal, ran down to the sandbar with their shovels and began digging. Thus as the construction on the canal had already begun, when the order preventing the construction of any *new* canals officially reached Duluth, it was already moot, for it did not ban the expansion of existing canals. In the years that followed, Duluth expanded the canal, competed with Superior, and became the more prominent and prosperous of the two cities (though neither has come remotely close to growing into the next Chicago). In time, they realized it was in their best interest to work together and have since taken a joint ownership approach to the harbor - together, they are colloquially referred to as the Twin Ports, because Minnesota has a proclivity for calling any pair of things in close proximity twins.  

Nowadays, a high bridge spans the harbor between Superior and Duluth that I rode across multiple times in my ~36 hours in the Twin Ports. On a clear day a few hours before sunset, the bridge somewhat reminded me of crossing the Mississippi to enter St Louis from the east. On a cool, foggy day, it reminded me more of Marquette, MI or driving into a whiteout in the mountains of Wyoming.  

In Duluth, I stayed with Jesse, a friend of my friend Maria (who you’ll meet when I get around to posting about my time in Minneapolis). Jesse is originally from the Twin Cities, but transferred to UMD as a lot of his high school friends were there and seemed to be enjoying their experience. He’s been in Duluth since. Jesse used to be an insurance adjuster, but decided it was time to try something new in March. He’s been looking for the right fit since and has considered roles as diverse as airplane manufacturing and city hall. Jesse is a big reader, particularly of British literature. Some of his favorites are Tolkien, CS Lewis, and Sherlock Holmes novels. Last year he went on a Lewis & Tolkien tour of England and said it was one of his favorite trips. Jesse’s also a big collector of comics and superhero figurines - from what I could tell, it looks like Daredevil is his favorite. Jesse is also who I first heard the story of the Duluth canal from.

Jesse found the Tardus on his visit to London

My First Taco Bell Breakfast (Duluth London Rd Location) 

For years, I’ve dreamed of trying Taco Bell breakfast. Over 10 years ago on my first day of college, I woke up extra early so that I could get breakfast at the Taco Bell on campus before my first 8 am class. Alas, the Taco Bell on campus did not serve breakfast and I went to class hungry and disappointed. Throughout the years I have made numerous other attempts, and always been stymied by non-breakfast locations or arriving after the early cut off time for breakfast. 

But not in Duluth. Realizing I needed breakfast but had some logistical hurdles to work through before heading out for the day, I placed my breakfast order on the Taco Bell app - another first for me.  

Taco Bell Duluth London Road has seen better days

Facilities: one of the dirtier, more beat up locations I’ve been to. There was a dead moth on the window sill by me.

Staff: Minimal interaction, but they helped me find my order. 

Atmosphere: There was one interesting wall graphic and some nice use of purple, but the ambiance was virtually nonexistent. Music of any kind would have helped. 

Food: I liked the ambition of the breakfast dishes, particularly the California Breakfast Crunchwrap, but there was some pop missing on the execution. This may have been due to the food being a bit cold, but admittedly that was probably my fault for showing up 30 minutes after the order was ready. Food was still good enough that I’m eager to try Taco Bell breakfast again.  

Canal Park 

At the bottom of the hill that is Duluth, is Canal Park, which is the heart of the city as far as I was able to tell. The dense fog made it tough to be certain about anything though.

The draw bridge over the Duluth Canal - visibility was limited to state the obvious

Per Jesse’s recommendation, my first stop was the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor’s Center. Now I’m not normally a huge museum guy, but this place checked all the boxes for me: 

    - Free 

    - About boats 

    - Full of interactive exhibits 

Some highlights were the Edmund Fitzgerald exhibit, the interactive visuals on Great Lakes shipping over time, and the step by step instructions on how to build an authentic birch canoe. 

Part of the Aforementioned Edmund Fitzgerald Exhibit

An old tug boat drive shaft

An underwater construction/maintenance suit - these have changed very little since they were created and are still used today

After learning more than I ever expected to know about taconite production and Great Lakes shipwrecks, I headed to Northern Waters Smokehaus for lunch, per my friend Maria’s suggestion. 

Northern Waters was hopping - I waited about 20 minutes in line just to place my order! While it wasn't Express Deli, it was still certainly worth the wait. Here's the bison pastrami sandwich I got.

After lunch, I walked off the sandwich by exploring more of Canal Park. 

The Duluth Harbor

Every self respecting city has one of these signs

An out of commission Great Lakes ship

The fog was so dense that at times I could not even see the hill of Duluth

Superior 

Cold from the chilly fog and looking to warm up, I rode over to the Anchor Bar in Superior. Why did I head all the way back to Wisconsin for a beer you ask? Well, Maria told me the Anchor Bar was a fantastic dive, and Maria also is a huge fan of The Backer in South Bend, so I knew any bar recs she gave would be trustworthy. And the Anchor Bar did not disappoint: $4 Spotted Cow pints, $8 burgers, cash only, eclectic and cozy decor - just what the doctor ordered on a foggy day. 

I definitely intentionally took this angled blurry photo to create a spinning bar effect and not because it was hard to take a photo without arousing suspicion

Don't be fooled, I'm smiling on the inside

Before heading back to Duluth, I stopped for gas and a lady named Dana asked me for a ride over the bridge. I warned her that she was probably gonna freeze in her flip flops and jean jacket, but she insisted that she had ridden on the back of her brother’s bike and would be fine. She did get quite cold while we were on the bridge, but she was good conversation even if a lot of what she said didn’t make much sense. It sounded like she had hit some hard times recently, so hopefully the Duluth side of the harbor is a better to her than the Superior side was. 

That Fr Mike 

After dropping off Dana, I headed to the cathedral, which doubles as the Newman church for University of Minnesota Duluth, for Sunday mass. Fr Mike Schmitz was celebrating mass (for my non-Catholic readers, he’s potentially the most famous priest in America, particularly well known for his Bible in a Year podcast) so the place was packed to the gills.

Post mass photo - during mass there was not an empty seat in this place

Fr Mike had everyone introduce themselves to their neighbors before mass by sharing where they were in life and what their most used emoji/gif was. Through this ice breaker I met a lady who is about to retire from the VA (said she plans to spend more time with grandkids in retirement) and one of her grandsons who just started electrician school.

During the homily, Fr Mike gave a powerful reflection on the crucifixion. He described the crucifixion as the most shameful moment in human history - God became a man to reveal himself to us and offer us hope, love, life, and humanity responded by killing him in the most humiliating way possible. Yet God turned our most shameful moment into our greatest victory through the resurrection. The cross - meant by the Romans to be a symbol of shame becomes the symbol of Christian hope. Fr Mike talked about other times in the Bible God turned symbols of shame into symbols of salvation - like the bronze serpent in Exodus. His homily got me thinking about how we often try to bury or hide our sources of shame from others, from God, even from ourselves, but if we are willing to let God into our regrets and the parts of ourselves we are ashamed of, maybe he can use them for good and turn them into sources of hope as well.

After mass I shook Fr Mike’s hand in the greeting line, but there were too many people to have a full conversation with him, and I didn’t want to be that guy who asked to take a picture with him. There’s enough pictures of him on the internet already, so you can just google him if you don’t know what he looks like. 

The view from the cathedral parking lot - the fog was starting to lift

Clear skies ahead, 

Kevaroo