Canal Park...

On the way back to Duluth (after we left that 'laker' at the ice line), we saw something cool...from a distance, it looked like the Coast Guard Cutter that is based in the Twin Ports.  We were hoping we'd see it come into harbor...

Our first stop was to look at the bridge...

But we could see something way off on the horizon...

And it was getting closer...

We walked out to the lighthouse...

And it just kept coming...

Eventually the bridge went up...

And the Coast Guard cutter was ready to enter port...it had been out in the lake doing some icebreaking...

The ship was the Alder...

We were all impressed, I'd never seen a cutter actively icebreaking and the kids seemed impressed that I hadn't...

After the Alder entered port, we took off for lunch at Little Angies Cantina...but coming out of lunch we saw the bridge was up...we took off...

Broken ice from the harbor had flowed out under the bridge, but now the 989 foot American Century was pushing ice in front of it back to the harbor...

It was cool to watch, but watching these ships come in is pretty cool too...

Once the ship reached a certain distance to the bridge, the ice started to flow around the ship and out into the lake...

This first ship to depart the Twin Ports went under the Aerial bridge on March 22.  The Soo Locks opened on Monday, March 25, so the American Century was one of the earliest arrivals to Duluth for the 2019 shipping season...very cool to see it!

And just like that, the bridge was coming down...always love seeing that...

Then it was back to the hotel for swimming and arcade games...