Pub crawl Day 10: Grand Marais, MN to Nipigon, Ont -- Into Canada

Our overnight at Grand Marais (Grand Moray) was warm and noisy.  Seems their is no need for air conditioning in this coastal cool city... and they don't get too many 85 degree days.

We woke to a wonderful sunrise as viewed from our room.  We woke early because the sea gulls were making quite a racket.    And they made quite a sight of our cars too. 

Heading out for breakfast the main street was blocked off for an art show/fair which was closing when we arrived last night and wasn't going to open until after we headed north.

The city light poles were decorated with clothing items hung from the cross pipes, advertising the art show.

Turn 90 degrees left from the previous photo and you see this harbor.  What is it about sailboats, light houses and water that make it so appealing.

And we were amused with the Italian Pizza shop named after Sven and Ole'.  Lot's of Scandinavian heritage in these parts.

In all, Grand Marais is an interesting and lively community.  Their winters are extremely cold, but the skiers and outdoors people love it.  This summer has been unreasonably warm.  Nice town to visit in July I feel.

Our route today takes is along the western edge of Lake Superior, from Grand Marais to the border between Canada and the US.  Then up to Thunder Bay, what was once a large port and commerce center for Ontario.  Then on to Nipigon, Ont.  More about that in a minute.

Just before the border was a scenic view point in Grand Portage, MN.  We gawked at the wonderfulness of it all.

I was intrigued with the texture of the trees in the valley by the edge of the lake. 

And we saw another moose...

More spectacular views along the roadway.

The Canadian border crossing was uneventful thanks to having passports in hand when we approached the stern looking guard.  But he was smiling at the cars and us as we left. 

Thunder Bay did not live up to its billing.  This large metropolitan area is quite depressed with the interior of the city almost vacant, and the outer ring struggling with some malls and shopping.  A local told us the mills shut down a few years ago and many people moved out.   Their Marina was quite nice though, and these unusual sculptures are a magnet for children to play on and around.

The Kampschafers, Patsy and Art, our Texas tourers took a side trip to Kakabeka Falls, about 20 miles west of Thunder Bay for this spectacular view of the 128 foot wide falls. 

We hit a grocery store to buy food and snacks for a late lunch.  Char was going to wait in the car, but the heat got too much and she joined us in the Safeway.  They accepted American money and gave us change in Canadian, saving us the user fee for exchanging dollars.

We looked for the Amethyst mine, but only found a 7 mile dirt road to get to it.  Our little cars don't like dirt roads... it chips the paint and clogs the air filters.  We returned to the main highway.

Up to Nipigon and our lodging for the night.  Not the Ritz by any means, but clean and very unique.   Nipigon is the most northern point of our trip and the most northern point of the Great Lakes, and about half way in total distance of our planned tour having now traveled about 1400 miles. 

Downtown Nipigon has an extremely well done city park dedicated to the story of "Paddle To The Sea", a children's book that tells the tale of a small toy canoe a child put in the Nipigon River and ended up in France, I believe.  People who found the canoe would write the date and location on the bottom, then place it back into the water. 

The sculpture depicts the toy canoe of the story.

At the park were two musicians practicing the song about Paddle to the Sea.
Here's part of the story if you have 7 minutes. 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUk_B1QwfF8

This is day 10, so it is time to do laundry... Not near as nice as the laundromat at Mackinac, but it got the job done.

With clean laundry, back to the hotel and car cleaning for some.

And social time for others.

Another nice day, but this heat is taking it's toll.  Hopefully cooler weather tomorrow when we continue on to Marathon, Ontario and more fun. 

PS:  Thanks for the comments so far about our trip and the blog.  I eceived several yesterday.   Feel free to make observations at mogpls8@gmail.com.  Seems the "comments" portion of the blog page doesn't work very well.