MN Road Trip

We spent the weekend in Minneapolis to celebrate OFD's birthday. Then we headed northeast to revisit part of a road trip we took in August 1970 on a camping trip to Thunder Bay for a 'second' honeymoon. There is another reason for this northern Minnesota road trip...geocaching. Our goal is to find a geocache in all 87 MN counties; 65 counties have at least one smiley face. 

Duluth was our destination on Monday. The sky was very overcast. We had some rain and a bit of hail on the drive, but we also saw some little known but interesting locations.

The Great Hinckley Fire Monument

A forest fire on September 1, 1884 between 3 and 5:30 PM burned 40 square miles and consumed the villages of Hinckley, Sandstone, Mission Green, and Brook Park and destroyed more than 418 human lives.

418 men, women and children perished in the fire

Four trenches behind the monument contain the remains of 228 Hinckley residents who perished in the forest fire.

In Duluth we visited a memorial titled: An Event Has Happened Upon Which It Is Impossible To Remain Silent

On June 20, 1920 following the alleged rape of a young woman, Duluth police locked up a number of men who worked for a traveling circus. That evening thousands of Duluthians gathered outside the jail. The police were given orders not to shoot and they obeyed.

The mob broke down the doors of the jail and staged a trial for 6 of the men. Three of them were convicted, - Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Issac McGhie (McGhie was a witness) - dragged from the jail and beaten mercilessly and then hanged from a light pole. Some brave people spoke out but they were few amongst the thousands. A photographer took a photo of the event which was distributed as a post card.

The memorial is dedicated to the memories of the murdered here and everywhere.

view of Lake Superior

Canal Park in Duluth (peninsula)

On Tuesday morning we drove the North Shore Scenic Byway.

We stopped at a cemetery without any signage, We would not have found it if it weren't for geocaching.

a steep climb up the hillside

and the cache find in the guard rail

As we headed north from the North Shore to Ely (Tuesday's destination) we encountered the remains of some of their recent snow.

Some of you may know we had a cruise booked for the Capitals of Northern Europe to take place mid-June. That cruise was cancelled when Russia invaded Ukraine. Finland was one of the six stops, as was St. Petersburg.

I couldn't resist. We did make it to Finland. Finland Minnesota that is!

St. Urho

Saint Urho is a fictional saint of Finland elaborated by Finnish Americans in Northern Minnesota.

According to legend, he chased the grasshoppers out of Finland shouting at them, "Grasshoppers, Grasshoppers, Go to Hell!" and saved the wine vineyards from destruction, saving the grapes and the workers jobs, all while fortified by sour milk and fish soup.

and the very appropriate geocache container!