This twisty bit of tarmac is often regarded as the best piece of pavement in MN. While we have some great roads in the southeast part of the state (like Hwy 60 or 25), and lots of scenic stuff around Lanesboro, Highway 1 has twisties and sweepers that goes for many miles.
It was once again cold when we left Silver Bay, but it wasn't raining. I fact, we made it all the way to Ely without seeing a drop of rain. Some of the corners were moist, and due to the cold (which also compromises traction) we took it easy on Hwy 1.
In Ely we had some places to visit, the first of which was the Boathouse brewpub. We parked the bikes and went in for a brew. They had four on tap - a blueberry blonde (which, like most blueberry brews, didn't taste much like blueberries), a very good hoppy rye and a delicious brown, and a kolsch which didn't elicit much tastebud excitement.
Ely is a gateway for many heading to the Boundary Waters and such there are several outfitters there, which we visited. Also, since the purchasing public here is often captive and in dire need of equipment on short notice, the prices were at MSRP (except at the outlet, which didn't have much). We also made a stop at the Brandenburg gallery, as we had several photographers with us. I'm sort of a philistine when it comes to art, but I have to admit that they had some good stuff in there. And finally lunch at the Chocolate Moose - the others reported the walleye sandwich was excellent, while my own thai chicken sandwich didn't have much thai in it (but as a chicken sandwich, it was excellent). It was sort of wierd to see that they didn't have a cash register, so the waitresses had to dig through their purses to made change. Odd. Good thing I used a debit card.
From Ely we made a beeline for Duluth ... and got soaked. The clouds moved in, the temps went down, and we rode in rain - sometimes light, sometimes hard - all the way to Brett's house. Then had dinner at BW3's before retiring for the evening.
The next day was for getting home. Those of us left rode thorugh Jay Cooke State Park on Hwy 210 which is eight miles of new twisty tarmac. Since the pavement was damp and cold and there are park rangers there we didn't treat like a race track - but it was still very fun. Hwy 23 brought us back to I-35. In a desire to avoid metro traffic, Hwy 95 in North Branch led us to the river, and a lunch stop in Stillwater, before bringing us home.
And that's all for the wettest Walt ride in history.
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