We had originally planned an excursion to Croatia in the spring of 2025, but between Jim's balance challenges and my bum knee, we decided that trip was too strenuous. As it happens, we had been wanting to take a cruise on Lake Superior for some years and Victory Cruise Lines had been bombarding us with offers on their new cruise itinerary from Chicago to Duluth and back. We were able to secure a room at a discounted last-minute price.Overview map

Victory did not supply a suggested reading list, but mining the Road Scholar site and doing some independent research turned up a variety of source material about the Great Lakes in general and histories of the voyageurs, mining & shipping ... and even ghost stories.

Weather on the lakes is notoriously unpredictable. We prepared for a wide range of conditions, but for the most part we had excellent weather except persistent smoke from devastating wildfires in Canada.

See the map for our itinerary. You can follow he day-by-day details below or visit the overview page for a brief summary of each stop.

I've tried to make the narrative a complete summary, but I've used many links to other web sites to provide additional details and sometimes pictures. You can either stick with the basic narrative or explore the various links. At the time this album was created the links were all valid, but the WWW is in constant flux and that can change. If you encounter broken links, please send us some email.

Click your "back" button to return to the previous page or click for our picture album.