Ely to Beaverton

I set my alarm for 2 am because it was listed that it might be a good time to see the Northern Lights.  No luck. Oh well.  I guess we should have gone out before the movie.

                                        

I took pictures from the deck.

We got a little late for our walk this morning.  

Jay made one more delicious breakfast.  Omelets.  

Right after breakfast Jay, Jeanne, and I headed out to get to the Duluth airport.  We had some stops to make along the way.

We passed a huge area which had been damaged by fire a few years ago. 

We stopped in Two Harbors.  Levi had left a toy in Ely on Sunday, and he wanted it back ASAP.  

Then we drove on to Duluth.  It started pouring.  I felt sorry for Jeanne having to drive.  

Terrible visibility.

We stopped at Panera Bread near the airport for lunch. It was nearly 1 pm.  We had a very nice lunch.  

Jeanne and Jay dropped me off at the airport at 2 pm.  

Naturally, they gave me a hard time going through security with my Zup's seasoning.  They had to sprinkle a few grains of seasoning onto some kind of scanner.  They finally let me go through.  Luckily, I had plenty of time.  There are only 4 gates. 

They had a bunch of errands to do.  Things that they can't do or get in Ely. Jeanne ended out getting a new computer.  Hers had died while I was there.  

Our flight left about 10 minutes late from Duluth.  But we got into Chicago 10 minutes early, and then it took us about 20 minutes before getting to our gate.  A real tour of the airport. We came in at F3, and I had to walk to C22.  It was listed as a 16-minute walk. 

I had a 2 and 1/2 hour layover in Chicago.  

Soap, water, and a dryer at each sink

Then it was time to board.

I bought an ultimate cheeseburger dinner on the plane. It was not bad.  I watched 2 movies.  I had seen them before.  My Best Friend's Wedding and one of the many versions of Snow White.

We arrived in Portland about 20 minutes early.  George met me at the airport.  

We got home in time so that Rebecca could take the car to her work.

So I got home safe and sound and ready to go to bed.

Monday in Ely

 

We had a nice morning walk.  We went by the local pickleball courts.  No nets, though. The pickleball courts were put in the parking lot of the township hall. Jeanne has never seen anyone playing there.

Wilhelm

Jay fixed pancakes.

Made to order. Delicious.

We had a very relaxing morning. Laura and Jay were working on booking Airbnbs for their Christmas trip to New Zealand.  

Jay on the left, Erin on the computer via zoom, Laura on the right.

A tree is starting to turn color.

Laura and family got all packed up and then they started a game of Wingspan.

They took a break mid-game to have lunch.  We had sandwiches. Then returned to the game.  Wilhelm left after lunch.  Laura had hoped to leave at the same time but they didn't finish the game until 2 pm.  It is a 7 hour drive for them and the first day of school for the kids tomorrow.

We heard a knock on the door.  It was the local sheriff saying that a onewheel skateboard (with an air tag) and helmets had been reported stolen and taken out of state, from the place that Wilhelm & Tristan had been yesterday with a bike race. Laura called Wilhelm.  He said that someone had left the equipment at the race. Wilhelm services all the bikes that kids ride in the races. He had to leave early to get to Ely for Jay's birthday party, he did not want to leave the equipment unattended, so he picked it up.  He had planned to take it to the bike race next weekend to track down the owners.  But since it had been reported stolen the sheriff still had to fill out all kinds of forms.   Weird.  They did get it all straightened out. Wilhelm talked to the owners.

Laura learned how to make these origami bunnies.  She left these on the dashboard for Jeanne.

We ran a quick errand in town.  It did not take long.  We relaxed with a Smirnoff out on the deck.

A pileated woodpecker

This is what my picture should have looked like.

We had a delicious chicken alfredo for dinner with homegrown green beans.  Jay and I enjoyed a bottle of Josh Cabernet.  

We had hoped to catch some of the northern lights.  They were predicted to be visible in this area both tonight and tomorrow night.  Well, we missed it.

We ended the evening by watching Phenomenon.

Sunday in Ely

 We had a very short walk just on Jay's trails and then down to the bay.

The mama deer was out again. Today the fawn was very frisky.  It kept running in circles through the woods and back.

I want to play hide and seek mom, you count.

Where did you go?

There you are!!

Jay made French toast.

Yummy.

We headed off to church.  I met the new pastor, Kay Carter. Interesting thought: What would you really like to have on a welcome mat? What would you really like to say? 

Church was followed by a potluck.  Those are always fun with way too much food.  Jeanne had made a tortellini with tomato sauce hot dish.  It was almost all eaten. 

A little bit of screen time

Then we took the pontoon out.

Emmet and Liam like to get pulled around on the tube.

We like to sit and relax and enjoy the scenery

Jeanne, Laura, me.

It was great to listen to Laura play the piano.

I had given this Lego flower arrangement to Jeanne for her birthday.

Soon after we got back the company started to arrive for Jay's birthday party.

Bev and Dan on the right.  They were the first to arrive.  A lot the people from yesterday's birthday party were coming.

As they arrived I got busy making Hugos for 11 people.  1 bottle of Prosecco, 1 bottle of club soda and 2 cups of elderflower liqueur with lemon slices and mint.  I think that it was a hit.

Ice cream cake.

Gordon, Trey, Julie, Christine, and Spencer all with their Hugos. 

Jay opened his gifts.  The main one was a magazine which Laura put together of pictures and stories she had collected from all of Jay's friends and relatives.  It was an amazing magazine.  It was modeled after the Bulls Eye News magazine which Jay used to put out for his dart company.

The first page had some of the pictures I had sent in from Jay's college days. I did not do the text. It was 28 pages long.  Laura also has pages of things that people wrote which she either did not get in time or they were too long to fit in.  It had drawings that the grandkids did and puzzles.  Very professional magazine.  

Christine, Spencer, and Irwin had to leave but the rest hung around. 

It was wild in the family room.

After Bev and Dan left we joined the crowd in the family room.  They had wanted to hang around until Tristan and Wilhelm arrived.  They arrived around 6:15 pm.

Tristan is the one standing.

Levi, Gordon, and Tristan.  Tristan has gotten pretty tall.  He is 15.

Once Wilhelm and Tristan arrived Gordon and family all left and Jay started fixing dinner.  

Grilling the brats.

Quite a feast.  

We ended the evening by watching Apollo 13.