Wednesday, 28 June; Duluth

What an incredibly miserable day.  Bella and I woke up to cold and grey.  We went out for her potty and shortly after we came back in it started raining.
I thought about running errands today but it has been raining non stop all day. Poor Bella is just sadly staring out the window watching it rain. 

10 am; watching it rainSo, we have been stuck inside all day watching marathon TV. The sad part is that there is nothing worth while on TV.

No chores because we will drown just going to the car.

I'm glad we went out over the past two days.  I knew we were going to get rain, but I didn't realize how much.  Hopefully tomorrow won't be quite so wet.  I do need to get some chores done.

I played on the computer for a long while and watched stupid TV programs.

4 pm;  Mom, is it ever going to stop?

I finally started working on my stitchery.  I am making a sea scape box for the Teton.  It continued to pour. And the TV programs didn't get any better.

6:30 pm.  OK Mom, we both agree this is rediculous right?! 

 

At about 9:30 she actually went outside, on her own, in the rain, to go potty.  I had put a pad down and even placed her on it telling her she could go potty right there but she just looked at me like I was crazy.  Then I lost her.  I thought she had gone to bed, but all of a sudden she came in through the doggie door.  She was wet.  What a brave little girl.  She hates the rain.

We had just about all the stupid TV we could stand, so we went to bed.  I couldn't get to sleep forever.  

What a day, what a night.

Tuesday, 27 June; Duluth

Wow, this morning is considerably warmer.  I really didn't even need my sweatshirt when I took Bella out.
The sky is clear overhead, but I can see high clouds off in the distance.
I have a little concern.  Along with being right by the port-a-potties we are right up against the fence of the dry dock.  

Right outside our living room window a man has been working on the bottom of a sail boat. He started yesterday power washing the bottom and then started sanding it.

Today he is still sanding it.  I am worried about them painting and getting the overspray all over our rig. Rob has the truck in Minneapolis so there is no way for me to move the RV.

So I went out and asked if he is going to paint it. He said yes.  I asked if he was going to spray it and he said no, they are going to had roll it.  Phew!  no over spray. 

So, Bella and I went walking into town.  The bridge was up as the Bay Cruise was passing under.  Apparently they were working on the bridge because it never honked at the Cruiser and the bridge stayed up.  I looked up and there were some men up there.  Anyway, it finally came down. So we walked across.  

We wandered through some of the shops.  It was fun.  There are several different kinds of shops.  I didn't find anything that I couldn't live with out tho.

At about 3:00 we stopped in a the Italian Restaurant and sat out on the patio.  They have an extensive wine list and I found a yummy zinfandel.  I also had a good Alfredo with chicken and asparagus. It was really good.

From there we walked back home.  Along the water way are two houses that have really pretty gardens.  The house and part of the yard is on one side of the street and then on the otherwise is apparently their property as well, because it is all planted as well.

We continued on home.  They had finished painting the bottom of the sail boat.  It is blue and looks really nice.  They continued to work on cleaning up the white above water portion of the boat.  The guy working on it is kinda funny.  He sings while he works. He also quits at 4:30.  So all has been quiet for the evening.

Rob flew from LA to Seattle and the to Dallas.  He is spending the night there.

Bella and I watched TV and then went to bed.  It is supposed to be rainy tomorrow.  We'll see.

Monday, 26 June; Duluth

It is a beautiful, sunny morning this morning.  Sad that it couldn't have been this way yesterday for Rob's birthday.  It is pretty chilly and windy though. And of course, Rob has to go to work today. 
He left at about 8:00 and has a 2 hour drive to Minneapolis.  Hopefully he will not have any problems with his commute.  He will be back on Friday morning I believe.  
So it is just Bella and I.  It is supposed to be 68 ish today and in the 70s tomorrow and then rainy the rest of the week, so Bella and I better find some fun things to do today and tomorrow. Maybe today we will go and ride the entire Lakewalk.  15 mile total will be good for us.  
Rob's drive, parking and commute went fine.  He texted me when he got to Minneapolis and again when he got on the plane.  He was a bit concerned about it all so I am really glad it went smoothly.  It is going to be somewhat more complicated for him to get back to LA as we continue our journey northeast. Much longer flights as well.  I know it is a 5 hour flight from Boston.
Bella and I finally decided we would do the bike ride.  I got dressed and as I was grabbing her harness I realized it was raining.  But in a few minutes it stopped.  I got the bike all together with her basket and all.  I think she actually likes going for the bike ride now, because I have to straddle by bike and pick her up to put her in the basket.  When I reach for her she comes right to me.  
Any way we started off and of course it started to rain.  Bella hates the rain so we had to stop and find shelter for a few minutes. As we continued on it was chilly.  I remembered that Bella's basket came with a rain cover.  It covers the basket and her body but allows her head to stick out.  So, I put it on.  It seemed to work quite well.  
So we zoomed on.  I also had the movie we rented which I had to return, but it was only a block off the path so no problem.  I was relieved to be done with it. I was concerned I would either forget or lose it.
Anyway, we rode all the way to the end, through Lester Park and at the road turned around.  It was 9.5 miles when we turned around.  On the way back I stopped and took pictures along the way.  Most of the pretty spots are on our end of the trail.
There are several bridges that we crossed.  Some are over small creeks;

some are over small falls.

That is where we live off in the distance, you can see the Aerial Lift Bridge.

There are some very pretty sculptures and beautiful flowers.

 There is a stage for performers.

And very peaceful sitting and viewing areas.

People also live along the trail and have balconies with flowers.  There are also businesses.

Some of the parks have various memorials in them.

Leif Erikson Park has a beautiful Rose garden, but I didn't ride through it or take any pictures...Sorry!

The park at the very beginning of the trail (which is our end) has the resort and Silos Restaurant in it where we had Rob's Birthday dinner last night. The bottom floor is the restaurant.

I also has a nice pavilion 

and in the back ground is our bridge.

We rode back to the shopping area surrounding the park at the base of the bridge.  I thought maybe I'd stop in at one of the breweries for some late lunch (early dinner), but when I came upon this bright place I knew this was where I would dine.

 How can you possibly go wrong with colorful umbrellas

Especially when you know there are going to be Margarita involved

And good Mexican food??!!!

I had shrimp enchiladas!

After lunch we waddled, I mean rode back across the bridge and back home.

A huge wind came up and I had trouble keeping the bike upright to lock it up.  I also had to pull all the plants off the table and put them under the rig.  The wind was really howling for about 15 minutes and then it died down.

I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.  It was a fun day.

Sunday; 25 June; Duluth, MN

Happy Birthday Rob (54) and Bella (5)

Poor Rob;  for his birthday he wanted two things; to play golf and to go to dinner.  Well, it is raining.....big time. He had made a tee-time for 11:00 this morning a couple weeks ago.  Looking at the weather he thought the storm would pass and clear up later this morning. So, he called the golf course and asked if we could push our tee time back to noon.  they said no problem
We went to breakfast.  It was a funky place.  Rob chose it because they had blueberry pancakes.  It was very crowded and we had to wait a bit for a table. When we got a table it was right next to the bathrooms (there were 2).  One of the toilets overflowed so we got to watch them clean that up.  Then, everyone who needed the restroom came and stood by our table while they waited.  Very entertaining.  One of the waitresses came by and needed a chair from behind me so I had to get up.  While getting it she knocked Bella's water over and I had to clean it up.  And it took forever for us to get our food; oh, and the coffee was super weak like tea.  But, Rob liked his pancakes.
It was still raining so we pushed the tee-time back to 1:00. We drove around a little bit and then Rob called to see if we could get a refund for the golf.  They kindly obliged.  We decided to go and get a massage instead.  The massages were really good.  
We decided to get a movie and just come back and chill and eat popcorn.  When we got home Rob put the golf on and we watched golf instead of played golf.  It was much drier and warmer that way.
After the tournament Rob went for a quick run and then returned for a shower.
I had made reservations for dinner at a restaurant called Silos.
It turned out to be very nice.  It is on the harbor so we had a view.  It had stopped raining and the clouds went away so it was a pretty evening. We each had a glass of Champagne to start with.  Rob had a very delicious Filet Mignon with mushrooms and garlic potatoes.  I had scallops on a bet of tomato risotto.  They were both delicious and we shared both and still brought some home.  Bella really enjoyed some of the filet, but she does not like seafood.
For dessert (complimentary for the Birthday Boy) he chose a cake with berries cooked inside and berry sauce with berries over the top.  It was delicious.
After dinner we walked a bit and then came back and watched the movie.  It was with Keanu Reeves and was a bit violent so I ended up going to bed.  
Rob said he had a nice birthday even though he didn't get to play golf.  I hope he did.

Saturday, 24 June; Duluth, MN

Happy Birthday Anne

Did I tell you that this Marina RV campground is nothing like the Sparks Marina RV outside of Reno, NV?! Well it isn't.  Sparks is an actual RV park across the street from a beautiful marina.  That marina has walking trails and grass around it.  Her is our camping place until the 30th!:

Notice the blue portable toilets right by us.  They are used by all the boat people and I believe by some of the RVers.  On this side we have no sewer hookups so I guess they would rather use the port-a-potties. So, we get lots of visitors.
Nearby is the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad.  It travels along the St Louis River and is an hour and 40 minute journey through History.  We get to hear it's whistle often.
Also nearby is the Aerial Lift Bridge. It is Duluth's most famous landmark.  There boats and thousand foot freighters blow their whistle and the bridge's middle section goes through.  Once under it the boats blow their whistles again, and this time the bridge responds with one long horn and 3 short that sound like ship horns.  

The aerial lift bridge is all the way down

In this photo the bridge is all the way up.  There is a little house or hut in the center of all the metal

In this photo the bridge is half way down.  A Freighter had just gone under it.

We here that quite a bit as well. Another thing we here are the lanyards that run the sails up the masts on all the boats with masts in our marina. It seems the masts are made of different materials so the clangs are all different. It sort of sounds like different wind chimes. Oh, did I mention it is windy here??!! It is windy here, and cold to.

They are having two festivals today.  One is a Rhubarb Festival in Leif Erickson Park which is at mile 2 on the Lake walk.  

The Lakewalk, as seen above; is 7.5 miles of paved pathway and boardwalk where you can explore the shoreline of Lake Superior from Bayfront Festival Part to Brighton Beach. 
Anyway; we decided we would walk to the Rhubarb Fest.  We walked from our marina to the Aerial Bridge.  It was up so we went to the shoreline to watch the boats come under.  It is a pretty cool bridge.

We went across it and then onto the Lakewalk on the other side.

There are quite a few people out and about today.  The lighthouse out on the point on the left doesn't seem to be in use anymore, but the one on the right is lit up.  

We passed couple of these posts with locks all over them.

There were memorials to Vietnam veterans who were from around here, and memorials to the many ships and sailors who have perished in this ginormous lake.

The Rhubarb fest was great.  It wasn't huge, but they had a couple Brat stands that had rhubarb relish to put on them.  Both places had big lines.  We were starving by the time we got there so Rob stood in line and I perused the rest of the fest tents.  It was mostly activities for the kids. They did have a tent where they were having the longest stalk and biggest leaf contest.  They were huge and dummy me, I didn't get any pictures.  They were measuring one leaf that was 36" across and it was not the winner.

I joined Rob in line for the brats and after we got them we found a table to sit at to enjoy them.  They were yummy.  After we finished them we went inside.  There they were serving Rhubarb Bread Pudding; Rhubarb Crisp; and what looked like a Rhubarb Cobbler but with big dumplings rather than a crust.

We each got the crisp.  You could get it with whipped cream or ice cream.  We both had the whipped.  It was really yummy.  But......definitely not as good as Laurie's Rhubarb pie.  Her's is really, really delicious.

On our way back we walked through the old downtown.  It is pretty cute with lots of shops and places to eat.  

Bob Dylan was born here and there is a street named after him and all the manhole covers.  I took a picture of the street sign but then forgot to look for the covers.

There were some statues and some cute....hmmmm not sure what to call it.

We walked on across the Aerial Bridge and back to our place. Oh, the other festival was down at the end of the Island that we are on.  It is another 7 mile to the end and then back.  I was pretty done with walking.  We had already walked about 6.  I was good.  

Rob, as it turned out, wanted to go mountain biking.  After walking all that way on mostly concrete and asphalt my knees were done.  The trail description sounded awesome, but I needed a rest.  So, he went off on his own.  When he got to the trail head he texted me the address and the name of the trail.  Then he texted me every hour.  That way I know where he is and if I don't hear from him because he gets hurt I know where to send help. It makes me feel better.

Tomorrow is Rob's birthday.  He wants to play golf, but I'm afraid the weather is not going to cooperate with his plans.

Rob went to K-Mart for me after his ride.  The wind blew another tomato plant off the table and broke it.  He bought two new pots and a bag of soil.  I repotted the broken on and also reported another plant into a bigger pot.

He had a good time on his bike ride. He said it was really muddy through quite a bit of it and that I wouldn't have liked it.

He grilled some chicken and I baked baby potatoes and steamed some broccoli for dinner.  Then we watched a really cute movie with Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, and Kate Hudson called Mother's Day.  We enjoyed it.

It is really pretty outside tonight.  We didn't realize last night that they light up the bridge at night.  They do and the buildings across the way are lit up as well.  Some one was shooting off fireworks as well.  Interesting eventing.

Good night everyone, Happy Birthday Anne.  Tomorrow is Rob's 54th birthday