Grandparents Minnesota Style: Places to Go and Wisdom to Share

Canal Park

There’s no single place that says, Duluth, like Canal Park. The lift bridge, the restaurants, the harbor view and the canal encompass the essence of what makes Duluth so unique in the Midwest. This is the place where the great sea voyages of international vessels come to an end, where people line the walkways to wave their greetings at incoming sailors. Canal Park is also the starting point for ships laden with iron ore. It is a place to celebrate sport and industry, inland and coastal.

With a lighthouse on each side, the canal is a picturesque place to begin exploring Lake Superior. Take your grandchild to the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center, which keeps track of incoming vessels and lifts the bridge when needed. The center also provides wonderful displays of Lake Superior’s history, so you can combine the past with the present and learn about Great Lakes navigation, including stories of sunken ships.

Next, spend some time outdoors. This is one of the most interesting places in the state, filled with history and chances to share a wealth of information. Skip rocks on the lake, walk along the boardwalk, and hike part of the 4.2-mile lakewalk. You don’t get many chances like this one—to hang out under the sun in such a beautiful setting.

The lift bridge is likely to be your grandchild’s favorite. It was built in 1905 and has adorned postcards and brochures ever since. It connects Duluth’s commercial-business section with the long, narrow sand spit known as Minnesota Point. At the end of the point you’ll find a small-plane airport, a boat launch, a picnic area, natural dunes, a forest and a swimming beach.

Duluth’s canal originally came about as shipping on Lake Superior began to increase. Businessmen on the Duluth side of the harbor were dismayed to see that Superior, Wisconsin’s, port was receiving more activity. They decided to dredge a canal through the narrowest part of Minnesota Point. The town of Superior filed a court injunction to halt the dredging and got their ruling. But while the papers were being delivered, the Duluth citizens worked around the clock and had the canal completed by the time the papers arrived. The rest is history!

Bonding and bridging:

Lake Superior is as close as we can get to a coastal experience. From Canal Park, the view to the east is an open horizon. The water curves over the edge of the round earth twelve to twenty miles away, depending upon where you are standing. On warm days, upside-down mirages appear before the vessels and sometimes seem to ride atop the ships.

Imagine the lives led by the sailors on these boats. How and why did they choose their careers? Ask your grandchild what he thinks. Share with him the rewards and dangers of life as a sailor. Then ask what he wants to be when he grows up and what he will do to accomplish that goal. College? Studying? Special training? This is a great way to get your grandchild thinking about how his actions today may affect his success in the future.

A word to the wise:

Standing along the canal when the horns blare and the bridge rises is a wonderfully exciting moment. The incoming ship seems so large that you almost feel as if you can touch it.

Age of grandchild: All

Best season: Summer

Contact: Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center (Army Corps of Engineers), 600 Lake Avenue South, Duluth, MN 55802 • (218) 727-2497, Extension 1 • [email protected] • www.lsmma.com

Also check out:

Lake Harriet, Minneapolis; (612) 230-6475; www.minneapolisparks.org

Grandparents somehow sprinkle a sense of stardust over grandchildren. ALEX HALEY

Lake Superior Railroad Museum

Do you remember when we were young, when trains were among the most interesting things in the world—the anticipation and excitement of hearing that horn blast in the distance? A train rolling through our neighborhood was a childhood event. We all gathered and waved, hoping that the man in the caboose would wave back. The Lake Superior Railroad Museum has captured some of that magic, allowing us to share it with our grandchildren.

The museum is located on the lower (track) level of the old Duluth Depot, an architectural marvel that serves as home to the children’s museum, as well as a repository for one of the great railroad collections. It is significant that the museum is so close to the docks and lift bridge because this is where railroads and water shipping came together mid-continent.

Walking into the high-roofed museum is an amazing experience for you and your grandchild. It does not seem possible to get so many railroad cars in one place, but here they are! A Soo Line caboose from 1886 is the oldest in the collection of red cabooses (and an orange one). Each is distinct and part of the romantic image of the railroad: the black engine roaring in from the distance, the bright red caboose inviting travel and adventure as the train chugs into the horizon.

But as colorful as the cabooses are, it is the collection of engines and small trolleys that will really impress your grandkid. The bulk and the massiveness of the engines can’t help but affect any onlooker. In some instances, you and your grandchild can even climb into the cab and feel what it must have been like for an engineer to put his hands on the throttle of such a beast.

What did they do about snow? You’ll find locomotive snowplows too. There are many more implements that tell us stories, such as the massive timber loader that cleared some of the forests around Crater Lake in Oregon or the steelworks ladle car that moved molten steel.

There are passenger cars, mail cars and cars of all types, open for your family to step into and discover. Signs help you interpret the past, and models reduce the scale so you can see the big picture of railroading. The models also help the children visualize railroading and are important to their experiences. When it comes to trains, this museum truly has it all.

Bonding and bridging:

It’s hard for children to realize how important the railroad was in opening the West and in the commerce of Minnesota. Towns survived if the railroad came through and collapsed if it didn’t. This presents an opportunity for you to discuss actions and consequences. There are consequences for most things a grandchild does. Some consequences are good—such as getting an A after studying for a test. Some consequences are bad—like getting an F if she blows off her homework.

Discuss examples of good and bad consequences your grandchild has experienced recently. Ask her what she would’ve done differently in those situations and how the consequences may have changed. When you do, you’ll help her learn to consider consequences before she makes important decisions.

A word to the wise:

Walk the avenue of Depot Square, where the Duluth community of 1910 is recreated. Window shop in the old Duluth Tent and Awning Company, J.L. Tronsdal Meat and Fish, and many more Main Street businesses. This is a wonderful look back at the turn of the century.

Age of grandchild: All

Best season: Summer (when you can walk outside and visit the harbor), but the Holiday trains are exciting for children as well.

Contact: Lake Superior Railroad Museum, 506 Michigan Street West, Duluth, MN 55812 • (218) 727-8025 • www.lsrm.org

Also check out:

End-O-Line Railroad Park & Museum, Currie; (507) 763-3708; www.endoline.com

Minnesota Streetcar Museum, Minneapolis; (952) 922-1096; www.trolleyride.org

Minnesota Transportation Museum: Jackson Street Roundhouse, St. Paul; (651) 228-0263; www.mtmuseum.org

Minnesota Transportation Museum: St Croix Valley Rides, Osceola, WI; (715) 755-3570

Few things are more delightful than grandchildren fighting over your lap. DOUG LARSON

Great Lakes Aquarium

We live in the land of lakes—close to fifteen thousand of them—as well as ponds, swamps, bogs, marshes and the greatest of the Great Lakes. But what do we know about our lakes? We know we can fish, swim, boat, take pictures and build cabins. Look at the water’s surface, and what do you see? Reflections of the sky, the shoreline and yourself. But for as much time as we spend on our lakes, we know very little about what is in them.

Filled with exotic animals like mudpuppies and eelpouts, the aquarium also features birds, turtles and snakes. You can even see the notorious Sea Lamprey!

There is a section of the aquarium devoted to the story of the Great Lakes, and the aquarium is filled with wonderful information that you will not find anywhere else. It is currently Minnesota’s only large-scale aquarium, and it has some essential information for understanding the Great Lakes.

The shapes and relative elevations of these lakes are well represented, thanks to the Great Lakes Water Table. It’s a real playfest for your grandchild, as he moves floating toy boats through a model of the lakes. Add a few of your own observations to his fun, while learning some new facts yourself.

The main floor features changing aquatic displays that often depart from the freshwater realm, with such exhibits as the Abyss: a combination of aquaria, film and displays. There is also a river otter display and two large, two-story tanks of freshwater fish.

But that’s not all. Your grandchild can also touch real stingrays and sturgeons, watch the sea creatures being fed, meet Bogey the Bald Eagle (who has a wing injury preventing him from returning into the wild) and much more.

We love Minnesota for a lot of reasons. The Great Lakes Aquarium is the place to celebrate one of them.

Bonding and bridging:

The Great Lakes Aquarium lifts the curtain on one of childhood’s mysteries, revealing a hidden world that lies beneath the water’s surface. Suddenly, we’re snapped into an awareness that there are things around us which we never before noticed.

The possibilities that come with this realization are almost endless. You can use your time to discuss how our actions affect the environment—how we must be stewards of the land to save these fish habitats from pollution. Share how factories located hundreds of miles away may discharge harmful chemicals that travel to our region in air currents. These chemicals then fall into our lakes as acid rain, killing plankton that small fish feed on, thereby killing the small fish, which in turn depletes the food supply for larger fish.

The overall message here is a big one: Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean it won’t have a huge impact on our lives or on the environment around us.

A word to the wise:

Everyone loves the action when the big fish are fed. The fish become more active, we can see them use their fins and tails, and they interact more with one another. Feeding times are posted, and each is hosted by a narrator.

Age of grandchild: All

Best season: Summer (because you can combine the visit with so many harbor experiences)

Contact: Great Lakes Aquarium, 353 Harbor Drive, Duluth, MN 55802 • (218) 740-3474 • www.glaquarium.org

Also check out:

Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley; (952) 232-0382 or (800) 219-1855; www.mnzoo.org

Minnesota Sea Life Aquarium (Mall of America), Bloomington; (952) 883-0202; www.visitsealife.com/minnesota

The simplest toy, one which even the youngest child can operate, is called a grandparent. SAM LEVENSON

Bentleyville Tour of Lights

The magic of the holiday season can be encapsulated by a festive display of Christmas lights. People get swept up by those simple, colorful lights; after all, that’s why we tour neighborhoods in search of the best sights, and some areas even give prizes to the fan favorites. If you love Christmas lights, head to Bentleyville in Duluth.

There you’ll see over four million lights as well as much more: campfires for staying warm, marshmallow roasting and making cocoa, festive music to sing along with, and above all, an atmosphere filled with smiles and laughs. Both young and old will enjoy the holiday magic and Bentleyville’s vibrant trails, which wind like a path through a fantasy land.

Rudolph, Santa, and even Mrs. Claus are there to greet the young kids, and the popcorn and cookies are sure to please every age! The Duluth Harbor and the magnificent Aerial Lift Bridge aren’t far away, and they both are lit up and sparkle across the water.

Bentleyville is the perfect place to capture photos that will be treasures for future holidays; memories such as these are significant when they are shared, and these visits are worth repeating year after year. If you make repeat visits a tradition, compile a photo album of each one; that way you can capture both the growth of the grandchildren and the changing displays.

Bentleyville is open from Thanksgiving week through Christmas. The site also hosts a fireworks display on the day after Christmas (the last day it is open). This adds even more color and excitement to a visit.

Bonding and bridging:

Bentleyville began as a holiday display at a private home in the town of Esko. In 2001 Nathan Bentley created a lights display that led people to drive by his house. Not content to just switch up the display, he changed it to a walk-through event in 2003.

In 2004 the family moved to Duluth and he added fires and cookies and soon had 35,000 and then 72,000 people came to see the family display. But that created its own problems: parking, traffic, and so on. Thankfully, Mayor Don Ness stepped in and the celebration became a community event at its new home. The lesson is clear: if we share happiness with others we can truly change our little corner of the