Summer in Northern Minnesota

Midwestern summers are hot and humid. By July, Minneapolis was becoming uncomfortable, so we headed north to Lake Superior, way up in northeastern Minnesota and not all that far from the Canadian border.

Our first stop was Two Harbors, a small town on the lake, where we found a private campground we liked so much, we stayed for a month. Two Harbors has a decent grocery, a good hardware store, several restaurants, and enough local people that tourists don't obscure the genuine character of the town. I walked out to the end of the breakwater between the harbor and the lake, and one day toured an old, retired tug boat, the Edna G, with its coal-fired boiler and steam engine.

Next we spent a week in Grand Marais, an even smaller town, even farther north on the lake, whose principal business is tourism — it has the kind of restaurants that tourists can afford but locals can't, souvenir shops that sell fudge, and a picturesque bay that draws tourists like a magnet.

Our last stop was Duluth, an old and busy terminal for Great Lakes shipping. I walked along Canal Street, visited Duluth's iconic lift bridge, and toured the William Irvin, a retired Great Lakes freighter that had seen decades of service.

The scooter came right along with us, pulled behind the RV on its tiny trailer. Wherever we stayed, I really enjoyed the convenience of using the scooter to buzz into town for lunch or shopping.