Tall Ships and Chairlifts

A couple weekends ago my family and I headed north to ride the new, lift-served trails at Spirit Mountain. We had been hearing lots of good things and wanted to give it a go for ourselves. Lynn also just got her hands on a new free-ride bike which she broke-in out in Seattle WA. a few weeks prior that was just begging for more downhillage. I might add she placed third in her age class at a free ride competition she did when she was out there.

Ready to roll Saturday morning......rain en-route 

Change of plans,  go see Tall Ships

Tall Ship located

 We got in late on Friday night and were all set to ride on Saturday morning just as the lifts were opening. Mother nature would not cooperate and just before buying our tickets it started raining and would continue to do so, off and on the rest of the day.

It stopped raining Saturday evening, time for a campfire and smashing things with sticks

 All was not lost, the harbor in Duluth was hosting a small fleet of Tall Ships. We decided to head into town with our bikes and ride the bike path to Canal Park. We agreed beforehand were not going to pay to get up close to the ships. We were rewarded several times throughout the day watching them pass under the historic lift bridge and through the canal. The rain continued but we manged to dodge the drops by visiting Dairy Queen and various other shops.....this got expensive.

Timber Twister

Finally some riding

 

First ride in a chairlft

 Sunday the weather was perfect. We slept in and timed it just right to go for a ride on the timber twister just as they were opening for the day. After a fun, but spendy, ride on the gravity roller coaster we began our assault on Candyland. Lynn and I were a little nervous at first about the boys getting carried away with their speed so we took turns leading and trying to get them to stay under control. They took to it like a fish to water, and soon we were just letting them go, and meeting up at the bottom. It was awesome!

Sponge Bob in da house

Super Y

 We all ended up with 16 runs each and were completely fried by 5pm. Lynn and I took a few laps each on Smorgasbord, another super fun but more technical route. We're all looking forward to a return trip this fall when they will have another trail open for riding. I also would't mind having my own, super cool bike, like my wife's Pivot, Firebird..

My birthday is coming soon, so they got me a skull at one of the shops we visited in Duluth. What more can a guy ask for.