Duluth--May, 2008

Twice a year we head up to Duluth and the North Shore for a weekend getaway. Typically, it's the four of us and my sister Jolene. This time, my parents and my nephew Nick came along. We left the Cities after Nick got out of school at got to the top of Duluth around 5:30pm. There, we had a picnic in 60 degree weather. But the sky was clear, the sun was out, so it felt fine. The kids had an opportunity to run around for a bit before we checked into the cottage we rented for the weekend, the Hillside Cottage Guest House. It was a perfect arrangement for the eight of us.

After we dropped our bags off, we headed to Canal Park for some rock skipping, boat watching and shopping. We returned to the cottage and played a few games of Yahtzee.


Saturday morning, Dad discovered some bunnies were stuck just outside their bedroom's egress window, so he and Nick rescued them. Nick enjoyed showing off one of the bunnies before he sent it on its way.

Gooseberry Falls Day! It would be really quite odd if we went all the way to Duluth and didn't get to Gooseberry Falls. Cate likes to climb the rocks near the falls. We like to take the half mile hike to the lakeshore. There is a particular rock at the lakeshore that is a special spot for Jolene. Everyone but Mom chose to get up there. For me personally, I was pleased because it's been probably 8 years since I climbed it because of my weight. I scaled it in no time. Phew! An awesome feeling.

After Gooseberry Falls, we enjoyed lunch at Betty's Pies and hit a few shops on the way back to the cottage. Max and I took naps while the rest of the clan headed out for Vigil Mass. Upon their return, Dad stayed back with the three kids while the rest of us hit a few more shops and picked up Sammy's Pizza for dinner back at the cottage. Jolene and Nick worked on food prep for Mother's Day brunch, Kyle and the kids watched some Winnie the Pooh and we closed yet another night with Yahtzee and then Apples to Apples.

Sunday morning started with a wonderful brunch made by Jolene and her helpers, Nick, Dad and Kyle, while I, Mom, Cate and Max hung around. Jolene served strata, caramel pull apart and strawberries. Delicious and hard to know when to stop eating. We then cleaned up, packed up and checked out. We look forward to staying there again.

Max horsing around (I know, not original...)

Much to Dad's dismay, we hit a few more shops we didn't hit earlier in the weekend. Afterwards, we hopped onto the Skyline Parkway in search of Chester Creek Park. Cate was in her element again, hiking the trails, but she was slightly disappointed there weren't more rocks to climb.

We then searched for lunch on they way out of town and got back to the Cities by 6:00pm. It was a whirlwind weekend, but every time we return from Duluth, we are refreshed and ready to take on the day-to-day until the next Duluth getaway opportunity presents itself. Any day now...