And just like that we were on the road again. This time back to Duluth.
I was spending the next few days getting drone shots for the Lift Bridge Lodge. Which meant that Brooke and the kids could tag along.
As we were staying in Canal Park again, we did what tourists do.
Not cool, taggers.
Once I was done for the night we walked over the Lift Bridge to Park Point.
The weather was so beautiful, too bad we didn't get here sooner to go swimming.
Brooke more or less did go swimming.
I remember being young lovers cuddling by the Lift Bridge.
Good morning sleepies, it's time for breakfast.
My parents ended up being in Duluth this weekend too, but they were going to be in Grand Marais. Since we wouldn't see Blake we decided last minute to bring our bikes with. I had always wanted to bike on the Willard Munger Trail.
We drove over to the Willard Munger Trailhead in West Duluth.
Theo and I teamed up. He always wants to race against Brooke and, especially, Meadow.
This trail was pretty scenic.
Near Ely's Peak we chased this train.
Brooke wanted to bike all the way to Jay Cooke State Park, but Meadow, Theo and I were good with going halfway.
We took a snack break at one of cross country ski shelters along the trail.
Meadow was winning.
It's getting trickier to take 4 bikes with us.
Theo's trail-a-bike had to go up in the Yakima rooftop box.
Chelsea also happened to be in Duluth this weekend too and was staying at Blake's house while he was gone. We saw they were near our hotel and stopped to say hi.
We decided to go shopping with Brooke's family.
We followed them through the shops in Canal Park. There was this really cute Scandinavian store. Meadow really wanted this cat. I said I could try to make one for her.
Today was quite windy so no water play today.
We watched the surfers and played in the sand instead.
Theo, Meadow and I spent the next hour building sand trenches and forts.
It would have been the perfect day to go swimming had the waves not been so crazy. I went in as far as I could.
We made the best of it.
We wanted to see if our driftwood-reinforced fort would survive the tide.
Pretty cool kids.
We stayed at the beach all day.
Meadow was getting impatient with the waves. They never quite made it up to the sand fort. I told the kids we could come back later to see if the fort had survived.
Scott had been talking about getting margaritas at Little Angies so we decided to venture over for said drinks.
For dinner we decided to share a big old plate of nachos.
We had to venture back to the beach to see if their sculpture was still standing.
It was looking awfully tough.
Blake always poo poos the idea of going to Black Bear for brunch. Since it was just us we had to go. Unfortunately they still make you wear gloves at the buffet line.
I love going here, but when I finish I always say, "Never again!"
I actually did not feel good after stuffing myself too. I think it may be time to retire our favorite buffet spot.
Since we were near Black Bear we went over to Jay Cooke State Park.
Jay Cooke and Interstate State Parks have be Theo and Meadow's favorites. So many bouldering opportunities.
This is one of the kids favorite places.
Crazy to think earlier this spring the water levels were as high as the bridge.
Meadow got to try out her new hiking boots complete with pink shoelaces that I found at the Doc Marten store.
Theo loving his mama or Brooke making sure he doesn't fall in? I'm not sure.
Probably both.
Brooke and Meadow went to the bathroom, so Theo and I explored some more.
These kids are so at peace when they are near water.
Meadow enjoyed catching grasshoppers.
The view from our hotel room.
I knew that weather can be fickle, so we were here a few nights. The dreaded Canadian wildfire smoke blew in the second day. Thank gosh I got a good sky the first night.
Meadow wanted to ride our bikes on the lake walk. So we did.
We took a quick break to do some geocaching.
Quick? They disappeared for a half hour.
It was hard to find, we never did find it.
Then we continued further up the shore.
I don't know why I didn't realize how far this path goes.
We made it East Duluth High before heading back toward Downtown and Canal Park.
We promised the kids ice cream.
Luckily the Portland Malt Shoppe was right along the Duluth Lakewalk. Oddly none of us got a malt.
Sundaes and cones all the way around.
Daniel was having an art show down on one of the old docks in Duluth. So we stopped by for a quick look.
We could hear some rando saying, "They let kids at these shows now?"
This was pretty awesome.
We watched a song and then made our way out. Love ya Daniel, but we're too old for this cool of an art show/concert.
I wouldn't say too old, just out of place with our kids there.
Well that was our first and probably last time in that space as there's talks of them having to move.
We then met back up with Chelsea and company at Enger Tower.
We'd never been here at night before.
We had to go back to the beach one more time.
We'd promised the kids. To our amazement the sand fort was still somewhat intact.
While in town I got a message from my good college friend, Alex. It turned out that him and his family were also in Duluth, which was a bit of a surprise since they live near Taos, New Mexico.
We would've loved to have hung out all day, but we were just about to head home before we met up. No matter what, it was great seeing Alex and his family.
We stopped at Moose Lake State Park for lunch.
Got to make that Minnesota State Parks license plate worthwhile.
While there we did more, you guessed it, junior ranger booklets.
For some reason Theo and I had a staring contest. Something to do with impersonating animals.
We made to the ranger station 10 minutes before closing to collect our badges. I guess we were in a rush and never got a photo of their badges. I'll be adding it to their hiking packs soon.
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