Arriving in Sault Ste. Marie for a while we waited for the science teams to arrive provided me time to finally walk around this town. Which was 50% under construction, regarding the roads, anyway. A couple of us crew members decided to try out the new brewery in town. They only had 2 beers on tap (4 brewing, though) but both were given positive reviews by us. The setting was very interesting...large booths with little conversational privacy, with families gathering to consume adult beverages while their children played with toys and they all ate tv dinners they brought from home. We then went to this fine dining place and had some very excellent meals (which was an apparent rarity in the town) and even two bottles of red wine. I had not previously enjoyed wine in quite a while, but one of these bottles I didn't mind at all.
After we stepped outside of the restaurant, we decided to play the miniature golf course next door. I led things off with one of my 3 holes-in-one and proceeded to coast to a first place finish. This clearly means that I need to hit up an actually golf course very soon. It has been too long. My confidence is far too high.
The next day was a perfect day, with sun all around. This was a perfect opportunity to swim. So many of us took the plunge into the St. Mary's River. It was advertised as very cold...these were blatant lies. The water was a nice 72 deg F...and the air was 75 deg F...awesome conditions for a relaxing swim. 1 hour later, up the lock we go, Superior at long last.
Duluth has a restaurant with 3 dollar pizzas during happy hour. These pizzas are also delicious. The restaurant chain? Old Chicago.
Back at the boat, we are working on getting the 3 decks painted in between what has been and will be some nasty weather here in Duluth. Speaking of which, Autumn has definitely arrived. Low 60 F high temperatures and dry Canadian air. It feels good. No more oppressive humidity. Though it may be chillier on the lake, that is fine with me.
After we stepped outside of the restaurant, we decided to play the miniature golf course next door. I led things off with one of my 3 holes-in-one and proceeded to coast to a first place finish. This clearly means that I need to hit up an actually golf course very soon. It has been too long. My confidence is far too high.
The next day was a perfect day, with sun all around. This was a perfect opportunity to swim. So many of us took the plunge into the St. Mary's River. It was advertised as very cold...these were blatant lies. The water was a nice 72 deg F...and the air was 75 deg F...awesome conditions for a relaxing swim. 1 hour later, up the lock we go, Superior at long last.
Lake Superior, I called it 'The Vacation Lake', due to the 2-3+ hour transits in between stations compared to that of Erie, which was more like 20-40+ minutes between. The pace is much more relaxed, though Superior did take a while to get through, as a whole. The northern shore of Superior has a very similar landscape to that of coastal Maine, without the tidal effect. It's nice to be visually reminded of home every once in a while, even if it does make me more anxious to return.
Eventually, we made it to Duluth. We unloaded all of the samples we had gathered along with most of the science team and recharged our batteries before we were to embark on a circumnavigation of the US side of Superior with the Triaxus debau-machine.
I decided to ride out to the end of Park Point on my bike with perpetually flat tyres. 30 minutes to the nice park area. Nice open area for activities, nice playground for the kids, nice sandy beaches with cool sand dunes and dune trails to walk... and maybe 10 people were there total. Sad. It took 40 minutes to ride back against a stiff breeze. It felt good to exercise, something that often gets lost in between watches on the boat. I plan on returning in the future, without a doubt. I also tried to bike up Duluth's massively steep hill and regretted it. I mean, seriously, how can these people possible travel in the winter? Accidents just must be assumed. I would build a cage around my entire vehicle just to live here in the winter. Everything is on a hill. I was tired and I gained absolutely nothing from it. No finding cooler places in town (just the ghettos) and nothing but pain and then wearing on my already feeble brakes heading home.
In seemingly no time, it was Triaxus time, yet again. There was nothing much to this. Just steer the boat along the coast, about 3/10 mile offshore, and take it out for a checkup about every 6hrs. Until the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula heading west, near Bete Grise Harbor (ok ok ok, we also may gave acquired a fishing net too...but that is a minor one and the pump not working that one time, mysteriously). My shift has 1 hour left. All of the sudden the Triaxus decided to do its best impression of Shamu, it (without any human intervention or program change) flew towards the surface and breached unexpectedly. I kept it from hitting the bottom (in 20m water), as goal #1 always is) and we retrieved it for inspection. Nothing out of the ordinary was found, nor WAS there anything out of the ordinary. It was all very confusing. Unfortunately, this was a bad omen. A really bad one. For after we retrieved it next, the moisture alarm sounded (very bad) and once that was supposedly fixed, the battery would not receive power. The Triaxus survey was...NOT COMPLETED...we put it on IR for the year. Not even the Danish engineers could put Humpty Dumpty back together again (but our head Marine Tech since HAS, hat tip to Johna). What does this mean? Another day in Duluth (almost a week total) before our next survey. Lake Superior again, lots of stations. Looming large. Yikes.
Eventually, we made it to Duluth. We unloaded all of the samples we had gathered along with most of the science team and recharged our batteries before we were to embark on a circumnavigation of the US side of Superior with the Triaxus debau-machine.
I decided to ride out to the end of Park Point on my bike with perpetually flat tyres. 30 minutes to the nice park area. Nice open area for activities, nice playground for the kids, nice sandy beaches with cool sand dunes and dune trails to walk... and maybe 10 people were there total. Sad. It took 40 minutes to ride back against a stiff breeze. It felt good to exercise, something that often gets lost in between watches on the boat. I plan on returning in the future, without a doubt. I also tried to bike up Duluth's massively steep hill and regretted it. I mean, seriously, how can these people possible travel in the winter? Accidents just must be assumed. I would build a cage around my entire vehicle just to live here in the winter. Everything is on a hill. I was tired and I gained absolutely nothing from it. No finding cooler places in town (just the ghettos) and nothing but pain and then wearing on my already feeble brakes heading home.
In seemingly no time, it was Triaxus time, yet again. There was nothing much to this. Just steer the boat along the coast, about 3/10 mile offshore, and take it out for a checkup about every 6hrs. Until the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula heading west, near Bete Grise Harbor (ok ok ok, we also may gave acquired a fishing net too...but that is a minor one and the pump not working that one time, mysteriously). My shift has 1 hour left. All of the sudden the Triaxus decided to do its best impression of Shamu, it (without any human intervention or program change) flew towards the surface and breached unexpectedly. I kept it from hitting the bottom (in 20m water), as goal #1 always is) and we retrieved it for inspection. Nothing out of the ordinary was found, nor WAS there anything out of the ordinary. It was all very confusing. Unfortunately, this was a bad omen. A really bad one. For after we retrieved it next, the moisture alarm sounded (very bad) and once that was supposedly fixed, the battery would not receive power. The Triaxus survey was...NOT COMPLETED...we put it on IR for the year. Not even the Danish engineers could put Humpty Dumpty back together again (but our head Marine Tech since HAS, hat tip to Johna). What does this mean? Another day in Duluth (almost a week total) before our next survey. Lake Superior again, lots of stations. Looming large. Yikes.
Just before this event happened, I saw my second display of the Northern Lights; this time, a more brilliant, longer lasting display of dancing greens on the horizon...but still nothing over my head. Something to shoot for, Mother Nature.
Duluth has a restaurant with 3 dollar pizzas during happy hour. These pizzas are also delicious. The restaurant chain? Old Chicago.
Back at the boat, we are working on getting the 3 decks painted in between what has been and will be some nasty weather here in Duluth. Speaking of which, Autumn has definitely arrived. Low 60 F high temperatures and dry Canadian air. It feels good. No more oppressive humidity. Though it may be chillier on the lake, that is fine with me.
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