Naturally Optimistic

Steve & I always like to try to get up the shore around our anniversary. We often dream of a multi-night getaway from everything (kids, house, mice, house projects, etc) but those don't always happen. This year we drove up for the day & it was spectacular! We hiked at Oberg Mountain which is a spur trail off the Superior Hiking Trail. It is just a few miles north of Tofte. 2.3 official miles (although my pedometer tracked us for just over 3 miles), it's a rocky & rough trail (in places) with dramatic views of Lake Superior & the surrounding forests. Maple, aspen, everygreen - they're all present & we hit it on the peak weekend. It was stunning. Simply stunning. The trail was packed with others out enjoying the beautiful fall day & colors. In fact I'm not sure I've ever seen so many people on the trail. It makes me quite happy to see so many out enjoying the beauty of the North Shore. Dahlia & August were constant recipients of comments re...

This weekend went too fast, as usual, but what can ya do... On Friday I found out that not only does Dahlia have a cold, but she also has an ear infection in both ears! Ugh! She's now on her first dose of antibiotics. Hmph. I think she's starting to feel better, although yesterday she was CRABBY. So.....who knows. Hopefully it'll continue to get better. We went for a hike in Hartley which was nice. I hadn't hiked that section of the Superior Hiking Trail for quite a while! Saturday we biked down to watch the marathoners come in. It takes about 5 minutes for us to get to London Road where we watched most of the half-marathoners come in, the wheelchairs and the elite runners. It was HOT out. I felt really bad for those runners. It hasn't been hot here YET and that was the day. They considered canceling the race because of the temps & humidity...but they temps leveled off and the humidity dropped. The half-marathoners took the brunt of it. It was cool to see the el...

Wow - what a weekend. Busy busy busy...but quite good. Thursday (not technically the weekend, but whatever) - Steve & I went to the Duluth premiere of FRESH DULUTH which is a documentary about how awesome Duluth is. My friends at Pro Video produced this film and I was excited to see it. It was really good - made me so proud to live here. It was a fun night with a great turn out. I'm really happy for them! Afterwards we went to the Red Star for martinis...well, I had martinis, because we had a BABYSITTER ON A WEEKNIGHT. It was awesome. Friday night my friend Sarah came in from Minneapolis - SPECIFICALLY so we could go see SEX AND THE CITY together, on opening night. I so rarely get to the theater these days to see a film, I was thrilled that this happened! We were going to go to the 7pm showig but it was sold-out so we opted for the 9:50 (way past my bedtime) showing instead. Beforehand were were back at the Red Star for more martinis. It's only fitting. I have never seen so...

Another weekend come & gone...do I start all my weekend updates that way? Quite possibly. I have some photos, but forgot the camera at home, so those will come later. Friday night...Hmmmm, what did I do Friday night. I can't remember. Probably nothing too exciting. Oh, I think we started watching STARDUST but didn't get very far into it because SOMEONE wouldn't go to sleep. That's all I remember from Friday. Saturday I ran some errands and got my haircut. Whohoo. I LOVE scalp massages. Seriously it is not even funny. LOVE IT. I could have that done for hours. The rest of the day was spent putzing around the house, trying to not have my husband FREAK OUT over all the STUFF we have and how unORGANIZED we are. He gets sort of cranky about it. It's true...but we just have to keep working little by little to get things where they need to be. It doesn't help to have a heart attack over it. I also did some sewing and read my book. Exciting, eh? Yesterday more putzi...

Yesterday was gorgeous (as was today) and Steve & I decided to go for a walk. Well, he wanted to do some trail maintenance on his adopted section of the Superior Hiking Trail and I was more up for a "stroll." So...we went to Hartley Nature Center together. I dropped him off at one end of the park. And I parked at the other end. I spent the next hour strolling at my own pace on flat trails taking lots of pictures; while Steve cleared sections of his trail and put up new "foot traffic only signs." It was nice to be out, exercising in the fresh air. But I do miss actually HIKING with my husband.

Ah the beginning of summer. A day to be savored, appreciated and enjoyed. Unfortunately I spent most of it inside but I did get to enjoy the evening. It was lovely. Steve & I decided that we would go for a hike and take along a picnic. We decided to hike on the Superior Hiking Trail – a section that starts at the foot of the Spirit Mountain ski hill and goes upward through old(er) growth forests comprised of birch, aspen, oak, maple, thimbleberry, large-leaf Astor and probably a million other things I’m missing. This is a relatively new section of the trail (couple years old?) and it is fairly un-traveled and gorgeous. There are creeks & streams, wild flowers, deer, birds, butterflies, porcupines (okay, I saw one last summer and it was HUGE) – I’m sure the unmentionables are there too (aka: snakes) and many others. We packed a picnic supper and found a spot on the way up to come back to on our descent. The trail is rugged, which is why I like it, and cut expertly into the hill...