Our Leg 3 adventure, northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, had a little bit of everything: national parks, beautiful scenery, boat rides, card games, old friends, new friends—and just enough minor misadventures to keep the trip from becoming too polished!
There was, for example, the speeding ticket. Apparently, even on a leisurely retirement road trip, one can become a little too enthusiastic about reaching the next scenic overlook. We will consider it a contribution to the local economy.
Then there was my fall on Isle Royale. I landed hard on my forearms, but fortunately escaped without any significant injuries. My arms survived nicely; my ego required a bit more recovery time. Isle Royale is rugged wilderness, after all, and I apparently felt the need to experience it at very close range.
Thankfully, this leg was defined far more by fun and friendship than by bruises or traffic violations. We traveled with longtime friends and made new ones along the way, sharing plenty of laughter, good conversation, and spirited card games in the evenings. Nothing brings people together quite like beautiful daytime scenery and questionable card-playing decisions at night!
Water was the great theme of this leg of the journey. We took several boat rides through parks largely made up of lakes and islands, and still another just to reach an island national park. At times, it seemed that northern Minnesota and Wisconsin had been designed with the assumption that roads were optional. Whether we were crossing open water, winding among islands, or looking out over a quiet shoreline, the beauty of both land and water was constant.
Duluth also gave us a lovely moment of nostalgia. We returned to a spot we had visited ten years earlier and found ourselves taking another photograph in the very same place. The scenery had changed very little. We, of course, had not aged a day…although the photographs may suggest otherwise.
Lake Superior was Awesome!
We had the feeling of “How can this possibly be a lake?”
The sheer size of Lake Superior was almost impossible for us to comprehend. We knew the statistics—about 350 miles long and 160 miles across at its widest point—but standing on its shore made those numbers suddenly feel real. Earlier in the trip, we had been marveling at how enormous Maine seemed; then we realized Lake Superior is roughly 90 percent the size of that entire state!
It is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and holds about 10 percent of the planet’s surface freshwater. It is even larger than countries such as Austria or Ireland. Calling it a “lake” almost seems inadequate. Looking across that vast expanse of water, with no opposite shore anywhere in sight, it felt much more like standing beside an inland sea.
And Lake Superior can behave like one, too. Storms can whip up waves 20 to 30 feet high, and ships traveling the Great Lakes can spend long stretches completely out of sight of land. We found ourselves staring out over the water and thinking the same thing: This is a lake? Lake Superior gives an entirely new understanding of just how enormous a lake can be!
More than anything, this leg of the trip left us grateful. Grateful for the friendships, the laughter, the ability to keep exploring in retirement, and the chance to experience places of such extraordinary beauty. We are also deeply appreciative that generations before us had the wisdom to set aside and preserve these lands and waters as public parks.
The trip may have included one speeding ticket, one fall, several boats, countless card games, and a few bruises to the ego, but it also gave us memories, friendship, laughter, and a renewed appreciation for how fortunate we are to still be out there having these adventures. AND… we are not wearing down after 36 days on the road!! How cool is that!!!!
Pete summarized Leg 3 in this great little video: