The  kickoff to our Boundary Waters trip started with a cookout in Duluth.   Right along the rocky shores of east Duluth. Burgers and playing in Lake Superior, what could be better for this little bub. We camped at Jay Cooke state park for the night, then drove back to Duluth for some Duluth Grill breakfast. Had we known that we were meeting with Blake and Daniel on the far side of Duluth, we'd have stayed in Two Harbors. But I guess it worked out. Duluth Grill is still delicious. Meadow is now in her, "Why are you taking photos of me" phase. We had some time before getting to Voyageur Canoe Outfitters so stopped in Grand Marais. 

This past year Theo's best friend moved to Owatonna. When we came down last May for his birthday party I saw a sign for the Steele County Fair and knew we had to come back for it. First stop is the lemonade stand.  Then we hit up the daredevil show. After going to the RV show last February, Theo gets excited to tour campers.  They're fun to look at it or rent, but sorry bud, we're sticking to tents for the most part. You know I love a fair that is connected to the historic village.  I don't know if this is a common thing, but a few of the county fairs around here have little history centers right on their fairgrounds.

  I was back in Dallas for a day or so to shoot another college campus. After the shoot I made my way back to Bishop Arts District for some tacos at Taqueria El Si Hay . Of course Scott get sent to the cities you don't want to visit in summer. Hey, I just go where they send me. I should've got some elotes on the side. It was only 98 and humid. Just your typical Dallas summer day. I ended up finding a shady park to eat. There’s a lot, and I mean a ton, of suburban sprawl in Dallas proper. But if you look hard enough there’s some rather large areas of pre-WWII development.

Brooke and I went on a little bike date again to see some more old houses. This time for one of the tours I was most excited for, Lowry Hill.  We started with a history of the Walker Art Museum.  This house was built for the architect Frank B. Long of the notable architects Long and Kees. That's quite the roof.  Long wouldn't recognize the view from his home. These houses are bit fancy for my taste, but I learned some Minneapolis history along the way. It seemed like on this tour we had to stop at every house on Mount Curve Avenue. 

I had a brief lull a fter being super busy in the early summer. So I took the kids up to Lindstrom with me to pick up a lens and go on a little adventure. We found a cool little shop along Lindstrom's main drag, A Ghost in the Attic . Meadow wanted every little knickknack.  She did get some really cool glow in the dark alien cat earrings.  Then we went to the Franconia Sculpture Park . I used to take the kids here every summer. Feel like we hadn't been back in years. We explored for a while, but it was way too hot.

Scott had a job in Rochester so we decided to make a weekend of it and go camping. Was nice to finally get out of town with Brooke and the kids for the first time since the 4th of July.    Before we left on our little trip, Scott and I scored a deal for a porch swing on Facebook Marketplace. Our porch is my favorite room and now it looks even better with the swing. I'd like it better if it didn't have storm windows and was open air like it's meant to be. After Scott's quick shoot in Rochester we were ready for lunch. Every time I go to Rochester, I eat at Al Madina . Apparently if a Middle Eastern restaurant has that name it's good.  You also know a restaurant is good if you're the only white people there.  It was fun to share this place with the family. These kids can be super picky but are also little foodies.  You just have to know their favorites. They absolutely love gyros and falafel. We stopped at the local library quick so Scott could use the wifi. This ...