Wooden Ships on the Water

We trekked up to Duluth today at Scroo-Loo's behest, to see the tall ships in the harbor. Here's a closeup of the Pride of Baltimore II's bow with the lift bridge in the background:



And here's a shot of the Pride of Baltimore II (left) and the Niagara, a man-o-war that barely cleared the lift bridge when it entered the harbor on Friday:



The Duluth News Tribune has a video of the ships entering the harbor, including a shot of the Niagara letting a round loose from a cannon. Pretty cool.

The missus' only disappointment was that the ships had sails furled. I told her they can't be under sail when they are tied or at anchor, but she didn't care. She thought it would have only been fair if the crew were to take them out for a spin every couple of hours so we could see them under sail. I certainly wouldn't have minded. As the above video will show, the ships true majesty can only be experienced under way.

The lines to actually go aboard the ships was blocks and blocks long, and tickets were $10 apiece. So instead of taking a tour we went to Wisconsin Point, where freshwater body surfing - or at least the attempt - ensued:



When the waves are that big, no one cares what the water temperature is.

And thus the annual family road trip to Duluth.