Well vacation has come & gone again, Rob & I headed up to Duluth for a few days back at the beginning of the month. We set off around 3pm from Rob's place in Big Lake, we stopped to grab a quick bite at the DQ and we headed on our 2 1/2+ drive to Duluth! On the way up Rob couldn't resist the urge to go to the casino, so we exited and made a stop at the Black Bear Casino, being that I do not gamble alot, I have only been to the casino one other time and I only played $40 in slots and won nothing, I decided to try my luck at the penny slots... which I put in $10 and came out with $20... so I left $10 richer! Rob on the other hand... left -$25! We made reservations for the first night to stay at a hotel because we did not want to set up our tent in the dark, once we rolled into town and realized we had gone from a comfy 75+ degrees in Big Lake to a brisk 65 degrees in Duluth... brrr! We started to reconsider our camping in Duluth all together!
We got settled into our hotel, freshed up and headed off to visit Rob's friend Johnny and his girlfriend Alice. They cooked us up some dinner and we had a few beers, heard old stories about Rob and his buddies and got to know them better, they showed us some really great Duluth style hospitality! We called it a night pretty early, sometime around 11 so we could get an early start on the day in the morning!
We meet up with one of Robs other friends Jamie for a early lunch and I got a chance to meet one of the most energetic but sweetest 4 years olds I have meet, Jamie brought his daughter Jayla with him, she was a delight to have around. While Rob and Jamie caught up on old times from when they lived in Missouri, I chased Jayla all around the lake front and helped her feed the birds french fries.
After spending the afternoon with Jamie and Jayla we took a drive up the shore, stopping in Two Harbors, Gooseberry Falls and East Beaver Bay. The views were breath-taking and having Rob to share em with was just priceless. We stopped on our way back from our drive and had a drink at the resturant where Rob did his intership after college, Nokomis on the Lake. It was so fancy, nothing compared to anything in Buffalo! Rob got to go back into the kitchen and say hi to his old friends and see the owner and executive chef, he seemed to really enjoy seeing everyone again!
We decided to stay at a hotel again for the night since it was chilly outside and camping that night probably would have froze my buns off! We checked in pretty late, almost 9pm and headed to grab a late night bite to eat and a drink while catching the highlights from the Twins game, I couldnt tell ya if we won or lost though.
After a good night sleep, we enjoyed the breakfast at the hotel, Rob made me a waffle and I drank WAY too much orange juice (I got a tummy ache from it!) We checked out and headed over to see Rob's other chef friend Sam, who is an amazing artist! We hung out with him while he showed us how he blows glass... and he made Rob a gift! It was so awesome!
We headed on our drive to find a campsite somewhere warmer for our last night of our mini vacaction. We checked out the map at hotel before leaving, wrote down a few places by Brainerd that we might find some camping, Rob grabbed a magazine on the way out too... which is how we found ourselves in Crosslake at the Crosslake Recreation Center... it was beautiful! We grabbed some hamburgers a nd hotdogs for diner and I made Rob let me get some stuff to make smores! We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just enjoying the lake, Rob got to fish a little bit and I sat in the water
and read my book. We cooked dinner and spend the night around the fire, it was a little chilly when we finally crawled into the tent for bed but once all covered up it was a coozy nights sleep!
Rob made me an egg n' cheese english muffin for breakfast, we packed up and headed back home. It truley was a great break from everything down here, we got a chance to share a carefree weekend together with no worries and I got a chance to meet and hear some fun stories from Robs friends.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I do!
I am going in tomorrow so some surgery and I wont lie.... I am getting pretty nervous about it all. I am keeping close to my faith that everything will go well with the surgery and that will clear up everything. I am hoping the test results come back clear. I have had a wonderful support system during all of this scary stuff and I hope they all know how much I love them, appreciate them being there for me and giving the support to keep my head up.
Oh, since my sister has made her annoncement to everyone... I am so excited to tell you that my big sister, Julie is expecting her second baby!! Myles is gonna be a big brother! I am so happy for her, Josh and Myles! Julie is such a great mommy and hopefully Myles will be excited to have a new playmate!
Hope all is well with everyone! I will update soon!
