Duluth

To no one's surprise, a good time was had by all. We stayed at what Cate calls "the treehouses", a.k.a. Mountain Villas.

We did a lot of the things we usually do and ate at most of the tried-and-true places...Taste of Saigon Restaurant, shopping, Gooseberry Falls, Betty's Pies, more shopping, throwing rocks into the lake, Canal Park, more shopping...you get the idea. Bonus: no one fell into Lake Superior this time, which is always a good thing.

We did manage to try a couple of new things this visit: one new restaurant we've had our eye on since last year and we thoroughly enjoyed it. And on Sunday, we hit the Great Lakes Aquarium which we haven't done for a few years. An extra bonus at the aquarium--we got in on the Halloween fun they had going on that day. The kids had so much fun.

The view from our treehouse

Max and Kyle on trail at Gooseberry Falls State Park

Getting Max up on "Jolene's Rock"

Cate, our rock climber

Cate and Max coloring while we shopped
The lighthouses at Canal Park

Max and Cate throwing rocks in Canal Park

The Aerial Lift Bridge

Four day birthday extravaganza, here I come!

It's finally here!

As soon as one semi-annual Duluth weekend ends, I look forward to the next one. Today is the day we drive north. I get particularly excited for the October trip because it invariably lands on or near my birthday. I call it my birthday retreat and thankfully my family tolerates such vanity.

And the icing on the cake? While we return home Sunday, I will be out of the office through Tuesday, which is my actual birthday. Did you know my birthday was coming up? No? Really?! In case you haven't read other previous posts, I LOVE my birthday. And this year, I have four days of pure birthday bliss. How awesome is that? With so much going on right now, this time off is going to be really valuable time to just slow down. This is a break that has been a long time in coming.

Blog you later...

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...