Vikings

Rob was in Duluth on business recently. He got a few good photos - for Duluth - in winter. Rob says Duluth is best seen when it's cold and gray. I think these photos capture that well.

This is a freighter Rob spotted through the dense fog about a mile away on Lake Superior from Leif Ericson Park.
This is a photo of the East side of Duluth. The downtown area would be just out of sight to your right. The large structure in the center is the Aerial Lift Bridge.
These are 2 iron ore docks built in 1914 and 1918. They are still in operation. Those huge freighters (like in the photo above) are around 1000-1500 feet long and each dock can accomodate about 4 freighters at a time! Hard to believe the harbor is deep enough for those boats this close to shore.
And here is the first Minnesota Viking...Leif (I can't believe they give Columbus my credit) Ericson gazing southward looking for warmer climes. Why did he stop in Duluth?

Speaking of Vikings, we took a field trip this last week to the American Swedish Institute - a celebration of all things blonde and cold. It is a converted mansion once owned by a wealthy Swede. It was pretty - the entire house was decorated to celebrate Scandinavian traditions for Christmas - from decorations to dinner settings to dress (and I didn't see one thing in there from IKEA). I don't care how many pictures I see of young women wearing crowns of candles on their heads - I still dont' get how they do that without pulling a Michael Jackson and burning their hair off. The boys favorite part was the costume corner:They look all ready to burn and pillage, don't they?
I'm still a bit unclear as to the costume Noah is wearing. We did look at a book (written in Swedish) that had some little elfin creature that took care of animals - he wore a costume similar to this, so maybe he's some famous Swedish fairy tale creature. Didn't bode well for the poor guy...as civilzation pressed on and depleted the animals habitat, this little elf ended up living under someone's kitchen sink caring for their dog and cat (no, I'm not making this up).