Two of my favorite things

Today was the last day of the downhill ski season at Spirit Mountain in Duluth, MN. We headed down the hill to the Thirsty Pagan brewpub and BjornDahlieOfMahtomedi noticed the beer poster below with a unique image in the beer foam. Two of my favorite things in the world, Lake Superior and fine craft beer, made even better by the fact that we are on the cusp of spring in the northland.


The aerial lift bridge is painted and operational once again. Empty rail cars that held taconite pellets were headed back up to the iron range and lake freighters full of ore are headed downlake, passing under the lift bridge and out into the open lake. And as you can see from the photo below, taken on the chair lift, the big lake is wide open once you get beyond the harbor. It seems that a Lake Superior paddle might only be a couple weeks off. On a more local note, there is a small wager between a few of us paddlers as to when the ice will go out on Lake Calhoun, a local lake that many of us train on. I have April 12th, less than two weeks away. I'm hopeful but not confident. But I am indeed ready for spring.


P.S. Another sure sign of spring......our very first Small Craft Advisory!!

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY
AFTERNOON

THIS AFTERNOON
NE WIND 20 TO 25 KT. SNOW DEVELOPING. AREAS OF BLOWING
SNOW. WAVES 2 TO 4 FT BUILDING TO 3 TO 5 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT
NE WIND 20 TO 25 KT. AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW THROUGH THE
NIGHT. SNOW IN THE EVENING. SNOW LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. WAVES
3 TO 5 FT. A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY MAY BE NEEDED.

TUESDAY
N WIND 15 TO 20 KT BECOMING NW 10 TO 15 KT IN THE
AFTERNOON. A CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE MORNING. WAVES 3 TO 5 FT
SUBSIDING TO 2 TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.