Tuesday and home

It is hard to believe that my week in Minnesota is at an end.  

Some of Jeanne's flowers

We went in for morning coffee

women at one table

men at another

Then Jeanne and I drove to Virginia for lunch.  It was on the way to the airport

Good lunch

We did some errands and then Jeanne dropped me off at the airport.  I had TSA PreCheck but in Duluth it does not make much difference.  I just did not have to take off my shoes.  This really bothered the people in front of me.  One of them had a bottle of some prescription medication, the bottle was larger than 3 oz.  It took quite a while to straighten this out.  The flight from Duluth to Minneapolis was uncomfortable. The AC was not working.  Luckily it was only a half hour flight.  It was hot.  I had about an hour in MSP.  Then the flight to Portland was uneventful.  George and Rebecca met me. We went out for Thai food for dinner and then home.  It was a great trip from start to finish.  

Monday

Monday we went in for morning coffee with the church group and did some errands.  One fun thing we did was to go to the bear center.  I had been there a while ago but they have added to it.  It was fun.  They have done a very nice job.

Ted on the scale before breakfast.  He is over 600 pounds.

A very nice enclosure for the bears.  They have 4 of them.

This is Honey.  We did not see the other two.

Then we went home for lunch.  The afternoon was relaxing.  Jeanne and I had a chance to look at our plans for our next trip in October.  That was fun.  Then it was time to fix dinner.  They had invited some friends to come over.  Cheese and crackers then sweet-sour meatballs with rice, melon, beans/carrots and blueberry pie/ice cream for dessert.  Of course there was wine.  Very nice dinner.  We relaxed in front of the TV for a little while before crashing for the evening.  

Quiet Sunday

Early morning walk.  Jeanne's lake is always so pretty.

After breakfast we headed to church.  The walked to the Steakhouse for lunch.  I had a delicious French Onion Soup.  We dropped Jay off to visit his dad and then we went to the Harvest Festival.  Wandered around looking at the various crafts.

This artist makes these designs by using plants and leaves and parts of nature.  Hard to believe.  

We sat and listened to some music.  Barber shop quartet sound with a Swedish accent.

There were people dressed up.  We bought a blueberry pie.  Then we went to pick up Jay and went back home to relax.

Ahh what a life.

watched the birds.

dinner. :-) 

I almost broke out my sandals today.  I guess tomorrow is going to be warmer.  It might be in the 70s.

Duluth to Ely

This was the view from our hotel room

In the morning we walked over to the Perkins for breakfast.  They have a nice over 55 menu.  I like that, but Jeanne and I still could not finish our meals.

We then went to the Hartley Nature Park for the AAUW (American Association of University Women) conference.  It was an interesting conference.  The first speaker talked about Hawk migration and counting/banding the raptors. The next speaker was a native american and she is a Water Walker and she talked about the importance of caring for our water.  In this area that means the rivers and lakes.

 We then had lunch.  Sandwiches were provided.

Not just no smoking. 

We then divided into 4 different groups.  Our group went up to the Hawk Ridge to hear more about Raptors and counting and identifying them.  It was interesting.  Plus it was a gorgeous day to be outside.

We then drove to Ely. We had to stop at Jeanne's church.  She had to set something up for Sunday morning.

Then we got to her place.  Jay got home about 1/2 hour after we got settled in.  He had a golf tournament.  We had cheeseburgers for dinner with wax beans and french fries. Very good dinner.

This is my room.  They have recently redone this room.  

After dinner we watch "Chef" which was a very enjoyable movie.  Another fun day.

Friday

Another full day.  Jeanne is keeping me busy.  After breakfast wee took a walk.along the lakeshore.  It is a long trail.

Stopped at the Leif Erickson Park.

Interesting window scene in an old warehouse

Then back to the hotel.  We then got the hotel shuttle to the Canal Park area.  We rambled around the harbor a bit an then went to try to find a place to have an early lunch.  

We found a nice quick place.  I had a chicken salad sandwich with spinach and cranberries.  

Very good.  Jeanne had a broccoli cheddar quiche.  Then we walked over to the train depot to have a train ride on the North Shore Scenic Railroad 

It was not a long train ride.  Only 1 1/2 hours.  When we came back we went to take and Ore Ship tour.  That was an hour.  It was interesting.

More wandering and then it was time for our Vista Fleet Harvest Dinner Cruise.  

recognize Jeanne's shadow 

The drawbring is going up for us.  It is called a vertical lift bridge.  After the cruise we decide to go back to Grandma's Bar and Salon for dessert.  We had tried to have lunch there at the beginning but it did not open in time for us.  We split a Turtle Browne Sundae!! We could not finish it. 

I took these in the morning

This was when we came back.

We called the shuttle from the hotel to come pick us up.  Whew.  What a day.