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Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66167 05/02/00 01:05 AM
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LamarB Offline OP
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My darling wife Kim, the Cinderella of my life, and I are planning on attending a convention in Minneapolis very late June and early July. We don't plan to have a rental car for very much of the time. Does anyone know of any Lake Superior lighthouse motor coach tours (Two Harbors, Split Rock, etc.) from greater Minneapolis?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.


[This message has been edited by LamarB (edited 07-06-2000).]

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66168 05/04/00 02:53 AM
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Lamar,
A car isn't that expensive if you are that close to Split Rock. See if Budget still has the Ranger pickup special for $20/day. You MUSTgo and visit it. (Two Harbors is just a few blocks off the road). The Split Rock setting is one of the most stunning you will ever see, and it is such a unique light. They have done a great job preserving the light station and have interpreters in costume to give you a feel for the people who lived there. The inside of the tower is, if I remember, the only one there is with a tiled wall.

Have a great trip.

Dave
btw, did I mention that you must go see Split Rock?



[This message has been edited by Dave H (edited 05-04-2000).]

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66169 05/04/00 11:17 AM
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Split Rock is the number one lighthouse on the Paul L Brady long list of favorite lighthouses. It was the single lighthouse that I most wanted to visit after seeing photographs and reading about the history of the lighthouse. After we visited Split Rock it not only became the number one lighthouse that the Bradys have been to visit, it still is Number One. From what I have seen the historical society there is probably one of if not the best in the country. They have produced a videotape, which is a must on the history of Split Rock. When the earth was formed that spot at the top of the rock was made for the lighthouse. While it is the most beautiful setting for a lighthouse, there is also a ruggedness and foreboding air about the place also. The lighthouse was built solid to withstand anything nature has in store for it and you feel that strength when you look at it.

I would recommend that you do what ever it takes to get to the lighthouse. It should be your number one priority. Walk, run, thumb, lease, bus, cab or buy a way there, just get there!

While there are other sites with more pictures etc, I am providing this link to the Minnesota Historical Society you should contact them to answer your questions about transportation and the lighthouse.

Minnesota Historical Society

BTW like Dave said, "did I mention that you must go see Split Rock?"

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Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66170 05/05/00 12:54 AM
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I'm sure you will enjoy Minneapolis also if you have never been there Lamar. Lots to see and do. I was there for a few days probaby 8 or 9 years ago and enjoyed it a lot. Went to a baseball game, took tour boat ride on the river, saw a play, went to the sculpture garden (neat) but did not go to the Mall of America!

Of course I wasn't into lighthouses then so didn't see Split Rock.

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66171 05/05/00 02:27 AM
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You might want to check the train routes. The train goes along the North Shore of Minnesota. I have taken the train to Minneapolis, but didn't try traveling north of there. I can't remember if I saw anything about passenger trains or tourist trips, but it might be a place to look. I will try to find my Minnesota brochures and let you know if I see anything. Otherwise, rent a car. You must see Split Rock and when you are there make sure that you take the walk down the hill for the wonderful view of the lighthouse on the rock. Two Harbors is also very nice. I was glad I decided to look for it. If you like waterfalls, Gooseberry Falls is a beautiful area. There are numerous waterfalls along the north shore.


Suzanne Murphy
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Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66172 05/05/00 10:09 PM
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I found the information I was thinking about. During the summer, the North Shore Scenic Railroad offers 52 mile round trip excursions between Duluth and Two Harbors. They also offer shorter 14 mile rides between the Depot in downtown Duluth and the Lester River area of Duluth. The daily historic rail service provides 32 mile, two hour dinner and pizza trains from Duluth to Knife River and back. Charters are also available. Unfortunately this doesn't help you much from Minneapolis. I don't know if there is train service to Duluth from Minneapolis. Also, the train depot in Two Harbors is very close to the Two Harbors lighthouse, but Split Rock is about 15 or so miles further north.

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Murphy (edited 05-05-2000).]


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Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66173 05/10/00 03:06 PM
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LamarB Offline OP
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Thank you all very much for your input.

Thanks St. Paul for the hyperlink. If it's #1 on the Paul L. Brady list then God willing, I will go. I've rearranged our activity schedule and rental car arrangements and I'll drive.

[This message has been edited by LamarB (edited 05-10-2000).]

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66174 05/13/00 03:32 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by Dave H:
btw, did I mention that you must go see Split Rock?


GO SEE SPLIT ROCK! It's my favorite light, and the setting is STUNNING!It was by far the best preserved light and best lighthouse museum that we have ever been to! Also, Duluth is always fun if you can make it. William A. Irvin is FANTASTIC (best museum ship on the Great Lakes, I'm sure).

Jakers


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Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66175 05/13/00 11:48 AM
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WackoPaul Offline
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You won't regret your decision Lamar. After all 3 Hoosiers can't be wrong!!

Dave H…
Quote:
You MUST go and visit it.


Jakers…..
Quote:
GO SEE SPLIT ROCK! It's my favorite light,


Me………
Quote:
After we visited Split Rock it not only became the number one lighthouse that the Bradys have been to visit, it still is Number One.


It just doesn’t get any better than Split Rock!
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Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66176 07/06/00 03:06 PM
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Well, we're back home safe and sound, or as sound as this HL Wacko ever gets.

To Paul Brady, Dave H., Jakers and Suzanne Murphy, all who recommended Split Rock, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. I’m still in awe of the beauty of its Lake Superior locale, the quality of the restoration and maintenance, and the accomplishment of the site interpreters. It was an experience I’ll remember for the remainder of my life. It was like stepping back in time.

My wonderful wife Kim is not ‘into’ lighthouses as I am so we scheduled one day this vacation for visiting lighthouses. That day was Wednesday, June 28th. We’d flown into Minneapolis the previous Sunday and were staying in Bloomington, a Minneapolis suburb. We left the hotel in our rental car at 4:45 A.M. Headed for Split Rock. Our plan was to go past Duluth and Two Harbors and start at Split Rock, the farthest point, then work our way back. On the way we stopped for coffee and a quick eat-it-in-the-car breakfast.

The drive between Minneapolis and Duluth is very picturesque. There are of course many small lakes, Minnesota’s motto on their license plates is “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and I suspect they under counted. There were a few farms with red barns exhibiting weather vanes on their roof ventilators.

In route we stopped at Gooseberry Falls State Park to see the beautiful falls and walk some of the hiking trails. The natural habitat up there is so different from what we have down here that we ooed and aahed all the time. Types of ferns which we grow in greenhouses occur there naturally, sometimes covering entire hillsides. The spruce and fir we know as Christmas trees grow there naturally too, along with the silvery birch and other tree varieties I cannot identify. Tall lupines in several colors were blooming in all their splendor. Just after 9:00 A.M. we turned into Split Rock State Park and followed the signs when suddenly, there was the top of the tower and lantern room above the trees!

We entered the gift shop and museum building where we toured the museum and watched a short film on the lighthouse’s history. We paid our admission and signed up for the tour. The lighthouse and outbuildings built in 1910 are immaculately restored to their early 1920’s appearance. The lighthouse is situated on a cliff 130 feet above Lake Superior giving a majestic view of this gorgeous lake.

There are a total of three keeper’s houses at the site: one for the Head Keeper and two for Assistant Keepers. Only the Head Keeper’s house is open to the public. The two Assistant Keeper’s houses are currently occupied as residences.

After a brief oral history, the tour guide led us first to the Head Keeper’s house where an interpreter described in some detail how the keeper’s families lived in that place and time. They had a wood cooking stove in operation. The bathrooms were originally built with indoor plumbing. Each house had two separate water systems; one fed by Lake Superior, the other from cisterns. We went through the Head Keeper's house from bottom to top.

The original oil house is restored but is not currently in use, not open to the public and was only casually mentioned by the tour guide.

Next came a tour of the fog signal building which is now empty except for storyboards. The remaining fog signal equipment is on display in the museum. One of the highlights of our tour for me was the fog signal recording they can play on demand through speakers mounted at the back end of the fog signal trumpets so the sound actually comes from the original trumpets, at only 1/10th volume of the original they say. I love that BeeOh sound and they played it for me several extra times.

We then went into the tower and climbed it to the watch room level, immediately below the clamshell Fresnel lens rotating on its bed of mercury, driven by the original clockworks and weights. They wouldn’t let me up into the lantern room but I shot a few pictures of the rotating lens from the watch room level.

One of the things I noticed that Paul had mentioned earlier is the entire interior of the tower is covered with white ceramic tile. I’ve not seen that before.

Amending this post to right a wrong. It wasn't Paul who mentioned the ceramic tile lining inside the tower, it was Dave H. who pointed out this very unusual feature.

At the end of the guided tour, one can go down many stairs to the site of the original tram way where supplies were brought up from the lake level. We descended the 130 feet down wooden stairs, took more pictures, enjoyed the enchanting scenery then climbed back up. I didn’t actually count them but I think there are three or maybe four times as many steps coming up as there are going down. On the descent we saw by far the biggest rabbit either of us has ever seen!

By now it’s about noon so we asked in the gift shop where we could have a lunch of ‘local’ specialties. One of the ladies suggested we go up the main highway a little ways to the town of Beaver Bay and eat at the Northern Exposure Restaurant. The restaurant was quaint and had a comfortable, homey feeling. We had wild rice soup, wild rice quiche and herring cakes for lunch. Definitely a culinary experience. After lunch we Headed for Two Harbors.

Guided by the book Western Great Lakes Lighthouses by Bruce Roberts and Ray Jones, we found Two Harbors lighthouse in the town of Two Harbors. Two Harbors lighthouse is now a bed and breakfast. The tower portion of the lighthouse is regularly available for tours but the remainder of the dwelling is not. As our good fortune would have it, Two Harbors was having their annual open house so we were able to see the entire restoration effort. It’s still a work in progress but it was a beautiful experience, too. The rooms are nice sized and airy. Kim and I decided if we ever come back we’re going to stay here. Each guest room has a magnificent view of Lake Superior.

Two Harbors light station had two Assistant Keepers. One fact I found of particular interest was the arrangement of dwellings for the keepers. The house to which the tower is attached was the Head Keeper’s house. A house very near the Head Keeper’s house was the First Assistant’s house. The Second Assistant was housed in town but was provided with a tiny room on the first floor in the tower area for his use while on duty.

The fog signal building is converted to a gift shop now with no sign of the original equipment. It was here that we hand fed a ground squirrel and where I purchased a couple of nice small pieces of polished Lake Superior agate, two for a quarter. They’re very pretty and the price was sure right!

Also on the grounds is an unrestored pilot house from a Great Lakes cargo vessel, complete with many pieces of the navigational equipment. Interesting!

In another area adjacent to but not a part of the lighthouse grounds was a curious looking (to me) boat which turned out to be a Great Lakes fishing boat. I would guess it was about 30 feet long and entirely enclosed, stem to stern by a curved roof, occasionally punctuated with side portholes.

We then walked out to see and photograph the pierhead light. From the pier we got a good look at the massive equipment used to load ore into the holds of ore carriers. First time either of us had seen this, too.

From Two Harbors we drove back to Duluth, punctuated by many stops at little stores selling local arts and crafts items.

At Duluth, we visited and photographed all three of the lighthouses here and did more shopping at stores set up in reclaimed warehouse space along Duluth’s waterfront.

These two tired tourists then drove the two hours back to Bloomington for homemade hamburgers, fries and malts, then collapsed into exhausted slumber.

Edited to correct a factual error.

[This message has been edited by LamarB (edited 07-07-2000).]

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66177 07/06/00 04:42 PM
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So Lamar, I guess what you are saying is you liked Split Rock?

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Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66178 07/06/00 05:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by engbrady:
So Lamar, I guess what you are saying is you liked Split Rock?


Uhhh, yeah Paul. Enchanted by it might be another way of saying it, too.

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66179 07/06/00 11:22 PM
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Sounds like you had a wonderful time! I hope you got some great photos! Split Rock is spectacular! I am glad you also took the time to visit the lighthouse in Two Harbors and the waterfalls at Gooseberry.


Suzanne Murphy
President, Wisconsin Lighthouse District (WILD)
Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66180 07/07/00 12:07 AM
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I figure that when God was just about done making this world, he stopped and said, " I need to make a perfect place for a lighthouse" that place is Split Rock!

It just doesn't get any better than Split Rock!

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Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66181 07/07/00 02:08 AM
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Lamar,
Glad you and Kim enjoyed Split Rock, Two Harbors and Duluth. Is some very pretty country. If they could just get rid of those king size mosquitos!

Dave

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66182 07/07/00 09:19 AM
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Hi Lamar,

Glad you had such a good time in Minnesota. Diane and I were up there the week before Rosemont and fell in love with the area. When we went to Split Rock the weather was lousy. Rain was just ending from an all night storm and thick fog was rolling in off the lake. We both felt that this added to the experience of the lighthouse visit. That kind of weather is why lighthouses were built.

We were enchanted with the three lighthouses at Duluth Harbor. I read somewhere that this is probably the only place in the U.S. that you can photograph three active lighthouses that are different types with one picture. The area around the waterfront has a lot of shops and restaurants that are fun to visit. The plastic took a real hit there.

We also visited Wisconsin Point (Superior Breakwater). This is a little house that has curved walls in the front and back and straight walls on the sides. The breakwater is pretty long but the hike over the large rocks was worth it. We would like to see HL make replicas of all these breakwater lighthouses someday.

Alan & Diane

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66183 07/07/00 04:20 PM
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LamarB Offline OP
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Quote:
Originally posted by engbrady:
I figure that when God was just about done making this world, he stopped and said, "I need to make a perfect place for a lighthouse" that place is Split Rock!



Sure did a good job didn't He?

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66184 07/27/00 12:16 AM
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LamarB - Your description of the area was so wonderful, I decided to go back and visit the North Shore (Split Rock and Two Harbors) again. I am going there next week. I hope the weather is beautiful.


Suzanne Murphy
President, Wisconsin Lighthouse District (WILD)
Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66185 07/27/00 02:08 AM
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"Amending this post to right a wrong. It wasn't Paul who mentioned the ceramic tile lining inside the tower, it was Dave H. who pointed out this very unusual feature."

Just a guess here but most of the tunnels thru mountains or under bays that I have been thru are also linned with white tile, and I am guessing that the tile is there because it reflects light quite well and helps give the best use of your light.

Sincerly, Thomas Edison

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66186 07/28/00 02:46 AM
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If I remember correctly, they said the tile was left over from the keepers quarters and other projects at the station, and that someone decided it would be nice to use it inside the tower. Much easier to keep a tiled wall clean than a painted wall!

Dave

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66187 07/28/00 02:21 PM
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Good to hear about your trip to my favorite lighthouse also. SPLIT ROCK IS THE BEST!
After seeing every lighthouse from Cape Henry to Cape Florida,(some by boat,some by plane) I still rank Split Rock as the best! Part of the fun was the drive to it. We also left from Bloomington. The day was perfect for the first of October 3 years ago when we went. There can't be a better place in the world for a lighthouse to sit! The only regret I have was not taking any pictures of Duluth from the highway as it crested above the city. A must do on the next trip!



[This message has been edited by Randy Kremer (edited 07-28-2000).]

Re: Lighthouse Tours From Minneapolis? #66188 07/28/00 04:50 PM
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Well now that the 'hook' is set, reel us in and show us the pictures.


LONG ISLAND BOB

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