It's Wednesday, June 3rd and it's also our second rest day in Duluth. I got up and watched the sun rise over Lake Superior while I sat in our room and played lazy for a second day! With the breeze coming in the window and the sun shining over the lake it was a great time to just sit and do nothing else! So that's what I did.
The rest of the day we were tourists again. We watched some ships come through the Aerial Lift Bridge, went north to Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse, came back to Duluth to hang out, and we ate another meal at The Green Mill. At The Green Mill we had another top-notch waitress, Tierney. She, like Whitney, made us feel right at home in Duluth again. Both of these gals made our stay in Duluth very, very special. Thanks for today Tierney. Show this to your boss because you and Whitney deserve big fat raises!
For all you geographical trivia people let me give you facts from two of Minnesota's biggest attractions: Lake Superior and The Mall of America. I will give an exam in the future!
Lake Superior has a surface area of approximately 31,700 square miles and is 382 miles long and 160 miles wide. Maximum depth of the lake is 1,279 feet. The volume of Lake Superior is 3 quadrillion gallons of water. Do you know how many zeroes that is? Average water temperature is 40 degrees and kids are right now jumping off of Uncle Harvey's Mausoleum outside our window. Lake Superior is the largest fresh-water lake in the world by area and holds 10% of the world's surface fresh water. One more thing . . . Lake Superior borders Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
The Mall of America, another of America's natural wonders, has a gross area of 4.2 million square feet, with 2.5 million square feet available as retail space. The mall is a nearly symmetrical building, with a roughly rectangular floor plan. Over 520 stores are arranged along three levels of pedestrian walkways on the sides of the rectangle, with a fourth level on one side. Two nearly identical seven story parking ramps on east and west sides provide 12,550 parking spaces. Overflow parking brings the total number of parking spaces to approximately 20,000! Nickelodeon Universe is an indoor theme park in the center of the mall. The park features roller coasters, among numerous other rides and attractions, and is the largest indoor theme park in the United States. The park features two new roller coasters; SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge and Avatar Airbender. It has a golfing section called Moose Mountain. I think it also borders on four states and two countries and takes in three quadrillion dollars a day (maybe not)!
Okay, that's it for trivia, facts, and maybe some fantasy. I know you're impressed with all my knowledge and wisdom, but for the life of me the only spiritual application I can come up with this evening is Romans 1:22, "Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead."
By the way . . . the photo of me in bed with my eyes closed. I'm praying while everyone else is out shopping, riding in a horse-drawn carriage, and eating ice cream!
These rest days sure can be tough on a guy!
What I want to know is where are all the local TV stations along the way waiting to interview you and do a feature for the evening news?? Then, of course, this would be picked up by the network and we'd all get to see you on the morning or evening telecasts.
ReplyDeleteSharon Reid
YES! I am with Sharon! It is indeed newsworthy that a 67 year-old JUST retired Youth Pastor is pedaling coast-to-coast and is now with a party of 13. Somebody call Sean Hannity, Oprah or Katie Couric...preferably Sean because the perky liberal Katie Couric and the New Ager Oprah both nauseate me. BUT, if Burr were on there, I may have to record it and watch it while taking anti-nauseau medicine to get past the hosts. Love and prayers from War Town!
ReplyDeleteI definitely just skipped over all the facts...not even kidding. Keep on pedaling!
ReplyDeleteNow you have turned this into an almanac blog. Carly is a wise woman. Please see my comments yesterday re: exciting blog on days off. I demand adventure, excitement and possibly violence.
ReplyDeleteDid you plan to spend multiple days in Duluth, or was it the the totally unexpected arrival of Stacey & 5/6 ths of your grands that changed plans for you? I hope you can spend as much time with those kids as possible before they depart towards home in Statham.
ReplyDeleteArlan - it was a total surprise that Carey and her five children showed up in Long Prairie, MN. We all went to Mall of America (after I picked up Sarah from the airport) and then headed to Harris, MN to pick up Barry and Jonathan. We headed north on Interstate 35 and spent the night in Hinckley, MN. The next morning (June 2) we headed for Duluth. We spent June 2 and June 3 in Duluth and headed south today (June 4). Carey is on her way back to Statham but is stopping at House on the Rock Inn tonight and then touring the house tomorrow before heading on down the road. Sarah is still with us but unfortunately I will be taking her back to the Minneapolis airport to catch her 12:49 Saturday afternoon flight. We had a blast in Duluth!
ReplyDeleteAwe you guys were so much fun to have as customers! It looks like the trip was a great success and a whole lot of fun along the way! Such a neat idea to blog it with pictures of every stop :)
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