So we heard about the ice caves in Wisconsin - walking onto frozen Lake Superior to see ice sculptures and amazing rock formations that generally are only visible to kayakers and other boaters.
(If all you want is photos - Jump Here or videos - Jump Here)
Here's a good overview story about the ice caves:
We had planned to spend two nights in Duluth, driving up Friday after work, the caves Saturday afternoon then a lazy drive home Sunday.
The Friday drive was fine, and we got into Duluth around 9:30, checked into our hotel - realized that we had no hope of parking in their main lot because of the steep grade and slick ice/snowpack - fortunately they had an overflow lot on the hillside above the hotel ;-) But that cemented our ideas for a valentines day dinner - regardless of the low teens temperature - it was walking in our future to get to the brewpub vs dealing with the slippery streets and uncertain parking options =)
We wandered our way through several of Fitger's specially brewed Sochi-themed beers, a bowl of tasty clam chowder, a fish sandwich and a smoked fish wrap. They also had a great live band playing that night and not too long of a wait at 10pm on Valentines day =) there were two Sochi beers we missed, but another bar along the walk home might have them so we stopped and they did have one more to try - so we shared another beer, chatted and admired the gorgeous staircase by the bar.
After a late night Friday, and knowing we wanted to hit the ice caves in the afternoon due to rumored great lighting, we slept in and made our way out to Bayfield for lunch around 1:30. By 2pm we had our name on a list at one of two places open for food in town and were chatting with two couples who had gotten in line behind us - coming in for lunch after spending the morning at the caves. It had started to snow and visibility wasn't great and as we chatted they talked about how fun it was, gave us some pointers about which trails to follow (the one closest to shore is the most 'smooth' and the one farther out doesn't add anything to the trip plus it's fairly unstable snow - you're more likely to twist an ankle), and shook their head at anyone who might be heading out yet for the caves. They looked a little sheepish when we told them we had been planning on lunch then a trip out, but when I mentioned that I guessed we could try for early Sunday morning instead they highly recommended that course - and getting there early - 8 if at all possible. They had parked around 8:30 and spent 4 hours walking 2.5 miles roughly out and back (but including an additional undetermined distance to their car).
So we waited for our table, had a nice lunch (although they JUST ran out of whitefish livers when I ordered them - still terribly disappointed about that) and then headed back to Duluth basically retracing our steps. But this time stopping two places that had caught our eye on the way out - a potter and a winery =) The potter had some pretty stuff, but nothing to add to our collection. They did have a totally adorable 5 month old basset hound puppy wandering around trying to make friends, though. He was awesome. Then we found we still had time to stop at a winery before they closed - we tried several of their apple wines and picked up a 'bag' of dry apple wine. While there we chatted with another couple who had been to the ice caves that morning - and again agreed that we were wise to wait until the next morning and early - 7am not being too early if we could do it (we couldn't!). They also complained bitterly about the "shuttle" as they parked at 9 and then the shuttle didn't arrive until 10, they also seemed frustrated that there were so many people out on the ice so that you really couldn't get a picture without someone in it or walking through it. I'd heard that the park had been getting upwards of 10,000 people a day and was a little surprised that they'd even expected to have 'clear' shots - but it was good to get their perspective and we agreed that even if it meant a longer walk - parking along the road and walking seemed like the best bet.
Back in Duluth we decided again, after again failing to drive up the slope into the main hotel parking lot, that walking seemed a good bet for dinner. We swung by Luce's for pizza and beer then hit another bar on our way home for some fun flights - they had a great tap list - and some apple pie/cream cheese wontons for dessert. The second bar was hilarious because we got an old beer list to start and even though we knew it was wrong based on the tap handles we could see in front of us, we did the don't make waves MN thing and just ordered from the possibly wrong list. After we'd ordered a beer that wasn't still on tap the bartender realized we had an old menu and gave us the current one which made much more sense - and really only had one or two beers we would have rather tried and when we got sample tastes of them it wasn't a big loss ;-)
Stayed up a bit too late and didn't sleep quite so well - considering we wanted to be up by 6 and out of Duluth at 7, but managed to get up, snag some breakfast and hit the road by 7:30. We took the route recommended by the local who helped us at the winery and ended up with one of the last 4 spots before a bridge (after u-turning in the empty road to get the spot that we were facing the wrong way to take any other way). Parking was prohibited on the southern side of the road.
It was actually a pretty short walk (half mile) to the service road to the park and again a short walk (another half mile) to the trail-head and actual parking lot. The main road and the service road were pretty packed but there were a few open spots. I was happy with where we'd ended up parking though - as it would be an easy to exist spot - some of the closer spots would take more maneuvering (and requiring a parking fee).
We'd bundled up fairly well - thermal underwear under jeans, layered shirts and a ski jacket for me and A wore lined pants, silk thermal underwear, more layers. And we both had mitten gloves, hats and good warm boots. We saw people much better equipped than we were - snow pants/jackets and shoes with ice cleats, as well as people much worse equipped - yoga pants and running shoes while uncommon looked cold. Several people brought their dogs - some like the husky puppy seemed to be in heaven and didn't mind the 10 degree weather - others like the sighthound without a coat (but booties) seemed really unhappy to be told to sit - all I could think was, "Please think about how cold that snow is on the poor dogs butt!" There were kids of all ages too, some just months old in front or back carry packs and a few in little parent pulled sleds, or fancier sled-strollers (those cracked me up somehow), and kids in their older years - retirees with their cameras and a good attitude.
Here is the main block of photos. Nothing really to say about our drive home - we thought about driving through Eau Claire to do a tour of the Leinenkugel's brewery (which we've always meant to do, but never got around to) but the last tour would have already left before we could get there. So, instead we drove back through Superior and stopped at a brewpub, had a tasty taco pizza (with crushed Doritos on top) and some interesting beers later (including a sour), it was a drive back to the house and shoveling the snow that came down Saturday night - before again tackling the snow that came down Sunday night. (Don't get me started on the cement-like snow we're going to have to deal with tomorrow morning before work).
Hope you've enjoyed the entry and that you enjoy the photos and videos on the next page/post =) Cheers!
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