Duluth

Reporting from Duluth tonight! We're currently nestled into a room at The Inn on Lake Superior with a view directly out to the enormous Superior. It's serene, comfy and warm inside which is great because while it was short-sleeve weather here yesterday, it is two-layer and long-john's weather here today! It's a posh room in one of the "greenest hotels in the country" apparently. They have these awesome large rock soap holder thingys that's inspired me to find some for our bathrooms (that I'll try to remember to post a photo of), and "Bare Earth" toiletries with Eucalyptus & Lemon Myrtle. Yes, I get excited about the free stuff :)

Our stay at the Northern Rail hotel was quaint and restful, but we had loads to see so we checked out a couple hours early to get a jump on the mornings activities. We headed up first to Gooseberry Falls State Park where we had the nicest hike! It was nice and cool this morning, so we didn't get too overheated walking. As expected, we've got tons of photos. There were these cute little red squirrels (which only look cute, I've heard they're actually quite mean and nasty) that I kept trying to get photos of, but the little buggers are fast! Dodgy and mating, it seemed, as they'd make these loud clicking, chattery noises while chasing other red squirrels round and round the tree stumps. I only caught a couple of photos of birds, and surprisingly, we've hardly seen any hawks the past two days. And I'm still on my quest to spy an owl, but alas, none to be seen yet.

Off to Iona's Pink Pebble Beach just up the road, which we have few photos of because it was a disappointment. In my naivete, I envisioned a glittering, sparkling beach covered in shiny, bright pink pebbles, the kind you'd like to make a necklace of. What's there is rusty-pink-ISH, dull, flat stones that are less appealing than regular ones and there were funny little bugs crawling all over them. We didn't stay there long, and my imagination again proved more wonderous than real life. Sigh.

Split Rock Lighthouse! This was awesome to finally see, even though it was completely covered in scaffolding. Originally when we were planning our wedding, I had wanted to elope at Split Rock. I'd never been there, but I love lighthouses and water, and thought it would have been so romantic to exchange vows overlooking Mother Nature's glory. We finally decided that a wedding would quite possibly be the only adult rite-of-passage for us non-breeders (besides the final rite of passage-death-which really isn't enjoyable) and figured on a celebration near home to appease the family :) Anyway, the lighthouse was amazing, but not near so much as the view. It's a massive rock overlooking the lake, which looks like liquid tourmaline and gigantic rocks all around. They had a great hiking trail and also steps going down to the shoreline where we hung out for a long while. Again, I found myself not wanting to tear myself away from my element, the sea, but it is derned cold out there. I put a finger into the water and holy caca, FREEZING! I marvel that Gretchen and I once actually swam in Lake Superior. Brrr!

By this time, the day was getting on. I'd been up since 5, John not too long after that, and it was already past lunchtime. We'd already hiked a good several miles between the two parks. Our original notion was to visit Tettegouche State Park, then try to make it up to Grand Marais for at least a swing-through. Well, it's quite a ways from Split Rock, and since we've got to get John home for work by Wednesday, and also try to relax and enjoy some down time, we opted to skip the high North and just head back to Duluth for the night. Grand Marais will have to wait for another trip, sadly. But I think enjoying your surroundings, whereever they happen to be, relaxing, having fun and not being on too-tight a schedule is crucial to a good vacation. Duluth is serene, quiet, pretty and there's actually stuff to go do which is nice for us city-slickers who bore easily.

So we're here in our room overlooking the lake, enjoying our last night of this two-day excursion, and goofing around together. We're about to head to the Green Mill for some supper (this cool-sounding place, Thirsty Pagan Brewing, is just too far for such a limited menu and we don't feel like driving any more). Maybe we'll be in the mood for a drunken podcast :)
Hope all is nice & warm at home!
Love & hugs,
R&J