Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin sit across the bay from each other. Both are mariner towns - catering in many ways to the sailors that come into dock for a few hours or a few days. Superior is decidedly less urban, less touristy.
I found myself with a few spare hours this morning before we hit the boats and decided to take a walk. It's always interesting for me to take pictures when I'm traveling. Discovering new things, buildings, quirks, people is one of the greatest pleasures in life. It also helps when the weather is absolutely beautiful. I had some fantastic morning light to play with.
I started out along Belknap Street.
At Tower Ave., I turned right to head down bar row. My colleague, who used to dock in Superior every five and a half days when he sailed, said this was a wild place at night. In the day, it was a somewhat sleepy, somewhat depressing little main street. There were even a few strip clubs!
I only saw the big potential for this one once I got it into the computer. I thought the reflections were distracting but now I see that they really make the photo, if it can be said to be made. If I go walking again tomorrow, I'll attempt this shot again with a
lot more attention to the reflections.
It's true, I'm using another shot I took of these grasses growing on Belknap Street. I don't have anything to say in my defense - I just
love the deep oranges (deeper before I converted them for the web!) and the blue, plus the sharp, shallow depth of field. I would not be surprised if I ended up using these images for diptychs that are totally unrelated to Superior. I won't be able to help myself!
At the end of Tower Street, my walk took a bit of a turn for the worse. Turns out you can't walk at all on 2nd Street - not if you want a sidewalk, anyway. I took a while on the grass but as the road quickly turned into bridges (with no room for pedestrians!) I decided to rough it toward the docks and factories. It made for better photos, anyway.
I was quite a bit shy about taking photos in this area. A random girl walking around the docks is already super-suspicious, but a random girl taking photos? I'm not worried about people being unfriendly out here in God's country but I'd rather get home unhassled.
One more from my walk. This is right down the road from the hotel. I was glad to be back and glad to grab one of the hotel's cinnamon buns.
El Charrito doesn't have a website. It's not that kind of place. Nestled between a 7-11 and a pizza shop on Washington Blvd., it's the kind of place where everyone besides you is ordering in Spanish. The man I assume to be the owner is always behind the counter, at least every time I've been there. The place is open something like 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. And he's a surly dude. The first time we came in, George and I wanted to split a burrito. We asked for sour cream on the side and the guy said "no" and went to help another customer! But hey, for $4 burritos, don't expect white tablecloths. Oh, and they have Mexican coke - with sugar.
The anticipation is incredible. Let's end it.
Ahh sweet mana from heaven. I ate this burrito about an hour ago and I'm instantly hungry for another. I think the thing that makes these burritos so amazing is the beans. They're not wet, at all. I think they spread a thin layer on the tortilla and then grill the tortilla so the beans dry up quite a bit. Then they throw on all the extras. Man, this is a tasty burrito!
You want it. You know you want it.
Yes!
As a side note, it's not easy to take a flattering picture of yourself eating a burrito! I just went with the unflattering ones.
