Split Rock Lighthouse Ceremony

What a whirlwind trip Up North but so very worth it!  We left mid morning on Tuesday, hoping to be checked into our hotel in Silver Bay by 3:00.

We might have made had we not run into a traffic snag near the truck stop by the Koch Refinery involving a semi hauling a tanker of anhydrous that kissed the guardrail and got a boo-boo.  Thanks to that, it took us twice as long to get through the Cities as it normally would, so we had to haul butt once we got on I-35E North.  After that it was clear sailing!

Captain likes talk radio, and on this day, there was a lot of coverage of the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the Fitz. One spot in particular caught my attention. Whoever this guy was that was talking or being interviewed, had been on the boat that brought up the ship's bell from the wreckage of the Fitz. He said there were also several family members in attendance. His comment that struck me was that as the bell came out of the water, it rang for no apparent reason. Maybe a message from the crew or God or just an accidental thing but I got goosebumps when he said that.

The other thing we learned, although in Minnesota it was somewhat overshadowed by the Fitzgerald anniversary, is that the United States Marine Corps had its 240th birthday. Oooh-Rah and Semper Fi!

Anyway, due to traffic delay, we made check-in by 3:00 but didn’t get luggage into the room because we had to turn right around and go back south to Split Rock.  Holy masses of people, batman!  We had to park about a half-mile away and hike the trail to the visitor center, where people were milling about.  We got our admission wrist bands, and then lo and behold, we ran into Baby Brother’s best friend from high school who, it turns out, is the maintenance supervisor at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park!  Small world, isn’t it?  We chatted very, very briefly because--obviously--he had bigger issues to take care of, but it was nice to see him for the first time in about 20 years.

We headed out to the lighthouse area and found nearly 1500 people milling about, many taking a tour of the lighthouse until they ceremony started.  I imagine that in the 30 years of doing this ceremony, there have been times when it was brutally cold with snow on the ground, but this night, there was just a pleasantly brisk breeze off the lake and no snow on the ground.

Once they got everyone out of the lighthouse, an a Capella quartet sang The Navy Hymn (“...for all in peril on the sea…”) before the officers read the watch list...or the name of all crew members who perished on the Fitz.  After each name was read, a ship’s bell was rung, and then after every name had been read, they rang the bell a final time for all souls who have been lost on the lakes.  During the reading of the names, not one person in attendance--and there were a handful of rambunctious elementary school boys there--uttered a sound.  It was close to reverent.

Thereafter, they lit the beacon and opened the lighthouse back up to visitors.  We wouldn’t have had a chance to even get close to getting into the lighthouse in the hour that remained for tours, and we have been through it before, so we opted to hike down the trail/steps to the shoreline below the lighthouse for photo ops.  I can’t describe the feeling you get--or, at least, I got--seeing that beacon shining in the dusk.  It was a sense of timelessness, almost.  Whatever it was, I was filled with it.  

From the shoreline, we made the half-mile hike back to where we had parked and headed north into Beaver Bay for some supper.  There really isn’t a whole lot happening in Beaver Bay (population 181), but there is a nice pub-type place we’ve eaten at before.  We weren’t the only Split Rock visitors who ate there...I recognized a few from the ceremony.  After a meal of fish (Captain) and pasta (me), we headed just a bit further north to Silver Bay and the AmericInn Hotel.  

On a side note, we LOVE AmericInn Hotels!  They are reasonably priced, clean, comfortable, and they have a good free continental breakfast.  That’s my plug for this national chain.

Back to the important stuff...at the hotel, we got our luggage into the room (king suite with balcony) and stepped out on the balcony to check out the view...of the parking lot.  Dang, not what I was hoping for!  Oh well.

We changed into swim suits and wandered down to the pool area.  This hotel boasted a water slide 110 feet long.  It was mostly loops and turns, but we tried it out half a dozen times anyway.  After I’d had my fill of the slide, I swam over to the open swim area (4 feet deep) and **NERD ALERT** practiced some of the moves from my old junior high water ballet days.  Yes, I was on a water ballet team in junior high.  Don’t judge.

I can still do an oyster (fold in half toes-to-fingers and sink), a front somersault, and a back somersault.  Memo to me:  don’t do back somersaults in 4-foot water...you will scrape your nose and forehead on the bottom of the pool.  Yeesh! If I had the nose plug worn for water ballet, I could have done a few other things, but smashing my face into concrete sort of dampened my enthusiasm for the whole deal.

Having had our fill of fun times in the water, we headed back to the room for adult beverages and HGTV.  I guess that’s another NERD ALERT, but too bad. Apparently we were exhausted from the travel and excitement because we were asleep before 10 p.m.!

Consequently, we were up at 6 a.m. watching the news before showering and going down for light breakfast and coffee.  We got packed up and checked out to head down to Gooseberry Falls State Park.  We drove through the campground to remember all the sites we’ve camped at over the years, and we ran into Bambi!

I have dozens of pictures of the middle falls--the most famous and photographic of the three falls--but this time I got some good ones of the lower falls.  

Our next stop was in Two Harbors where we knew a boat was loading taconite.  Stopped there for a couple of photo ops (see Facebook post) before moving on to Duluth.  We stopped in Canal Park and had pizza at Old Chicago.  There was nothing else happening in Canal Park, so it was back on the road for us.  

We stopped at Moose Lake State Park on the way home, but the Agate Center/Museum was closed for the season so that was a bust, although we got another state park checked off our bucket list.

We had good weather until just north of the Cities on I-35 when there was a brief, but intense, rain squall.  Interestingly, we had the “you need to turn the wipers on” conversation!  I swear, it’s a guy thing.

It was good to get away, and for such a touching ceremony, but it is always good to get back home to our own bed!