The Dentist: Always a Big Day in Duluth

For us, a trip to the Dentist is an all-day event. We travel 90 minutes to Duluth, so I try to make it worth the trip by doing something fun in town. This time, we went to the Aquarium. Thanks to Gramma Steckart, we have a family membership that we have been using for the past year, and our time is almost up. The kids know the place well and we always start upstairs. We check out the huge tank of all the Superior fish, and Piper gets up close to this one and talks to it...


While we are enjoying the fish, someone announces a ship is going under the bridge...


This one is the Philip R Clarke of the Lake Superior Fleet. She was born in 1951, an old timer. Here is a fun fact about this ship: during the 1997-shipping season, her crew of 28 set a Great Lakes cargo record when she was loaded with 26,621 tons of salt at Fairport Harbor, Ohio bound for Buffalo, New York. That's a lot of salt! I'm not sure what she was carrying today.


The Aquarium has been working on a new play space upstairs, which the kids have been eyeing every time we visit. This time, it was finally open! A beautiful huge tree that you could walk around in, with stairs going up and a curly slide to exit. Very cute with lots of intricate detail. Someone put a lot of hard work into this. Here, Piper is running up the stairs, and I don't know if you can tell, but Finn and Charlotte are hiding from her under the stairs.


Just check out the lit up display windows, the leaf shaped window to the left and the carved ceiling...


Three buddies take a rest.


Here is Piper just outside the tree in a little fishing boat. The mural was beautiful. I couldn't even capture the whole painting.


We head downstairs where there is a huge floor display of the Great Lakes Waterway. In this area, kids can put a boat in the water and float it through the Lakes, the various locks and rivers. It is very hands on and WET! Another favorite display are the two otters. They are very playful, and for the first time we saw a feeding. Alas, not any good pictures to share of this. It was a fun time.


I learned an important lesson on the drive home. ALWAYS have the camera out. You never know what you might "run into." I missed the shot of a duck crossing highway 2 with about 8 duckies waddling behind her. Darn it. Next, we're coming up Klemik when I spot a mama bear and her two cubs. Now at this point, the camera is in my lap, but she was not in the mood to be stared at, so this was the best shot I could get. It was a fine way to end our day in Duluth.