We went to Duluth Aug 18-21 for the Tall Ships Festival. It was our second time to Duluth, but our first time to this festival. Duluth is a 4 hour drive, and it went well. I made the boys play outside a lot before we left. They danced to music and played on their tablets while we drove. They fell asleep as it got dark. We put Tanner in the way back so that we could fit our bikes. We used my special grabber stick to pass him things, haha.
We enjoyed free breakfasts in our Super 8 hotel. Then we parked about 2 miles from the festival and rode our bikes there. It was great! The first thing we checked out was the world’s largest rubber ducky.
Then we headed over to the tall ships. The place was packed!!! Dallin is walking on the rail because there was no room for him on the dock, the place was shoulder to shoulder with people in this bottleneck area.
We got in line to get onto a ship. Little did we know, this line was 3.5 hours long. After the first 45 minutes, we asked around and figured out we would be there for quite awhile. We thought about getting in a different line, but heard this was one of the shortest ones! We took turns standing in line while the other grown-up entertained the boys at the other activities. I ended up in line the most because the people we stood with were really nice. We all got to know each other and we googled information about the famous ship we were going to wait forever to get on. Honestly, it was probably the best line I’ve ever waited in because of the people. The whole thing about “Minnesota nice” is real, and our experience in this line helped prove it.
Here are some of my views while standing in line, not that bad! The weather was gorgeous.
Famous Duluth bridge behind me.
Getting closer! One more hour to go!
Eating lunch while Jeremy took a turn in line.
Almost there!
Looks even taller when you are right under it!
About to get on a famous ship from the war of 1812!!! (of course now I cannot remember the name of the ship, even though I read about it on Google for at least 45 minutes). Once we were on the ship, we were not pressured to hurry, which was nice.
Great view of the bridge!
The boys loved the ship. We found ourselves comparing everything to Captain Hook’s ship, and Jake and the Neverland Pirate’s ship.
There were people under this grate. When they saw the boys peeking through, they poked their fingers out and the boys would try to grab them. Later, we got to be inside the ship and look up through this grate to see other kids trying to grab our fingers!
We met the captain!! Dallin could not keep his eyes off of him. I think he was enthralled with the captain’s beard.
Tanner asked the captain several questions.
“Are you a pirate?” No. I’m actually trained on how to fight them!
“Do you live on this ship?” Yes. I love it!
“How do you get your water? Do you just scoop it up out of the ocean?” Well, we only sail on fresh water, so yes actually, we do scoop up the water out of the lake and purify it.
“Where do you steer the ship?” Come over here and I’ll show you!
“Have you been a captain your whole life?” No, I had to train and work really hard to become a captain.
We did not attempt to stand in line to see another ship. It would have been cool to go on this enormous Spanish ship, but the wait was 5-6 hours!
Instead we headed over to the rocks and lighthouse!
Sitting in one spot, I had this view on one side…
And this view on the other! So beautiful!
Tanner found a special treasure, and then hid it so he can find it again when he comes back. Haha, I did that as a kid, too!
On Saturday, we went on a train ride!
We got to watch the engine move to the back of the train, to help us turn around.Tanner and Dallin were really excited and nervous to see the engine heading straight toward us!
The caboose was this 1918 passenger car with all original cushions, woodwork, etc. So we rode this all the way back. Felt really neat!
The conductor encouraged us to open the windows! So we did!
Jeremy’s silly modeling face, lol.
Dallin’s hand waving!
Yummy pizza, look how stretchy the cheese is!
Train Museum was really neat.
Abraham Lincoln was there!!! And so was the remake of his funeral train car that took his body from Washington DC to his homeland in Illinois. I’m really glad we got to see this train car, which is a temporary exhibition, I learned so much!
During Dallin’s naptime, we found this neat jungle gym to play on. I stayed in the car with Dallin while Jeremy and Tanner played for a long time. When Dallin woke up, we joined them! After the park, we went to a really yummy restaurant that only serves grilled cheese sandwiches. Mmm!
On Sunday, we went to church. Then we enjoyed lunch at a Japanese restaurant!
After lunch, we enjoyed some time by the lake again, and we took a tour of the Glenshene Mansion!
At the Mansion…
Back at the water
Tanner took this picture of us.
Way to go Mommy and Daddy, for a great family road trip weekend getaway! It was cool to see the Tall Ships Festivities, although we most likely won’t do it again. But we will be back to Duluth. This place is so neat with lots to do!!