Random Pokes of Color

Not sure who thinks of "these rose-colored glasses" when seeing the sunset. But suddenly that is me.

I do want to talk more about my post of many colors and sounds but I must confess it was a quite a Hee-Haw related engagement!

A lot of friends are gathering photos and feedback -- and I love that we're so POPULAR  -- just hoping to share it all with you and, according to rumors, invite you to the next one if you missed it!

Like I said the other night, "We'll see you next tine on Yee-Haw!"

Yee-Haw Ha Ha!

OMG! I think that most of the descendants of the OG Yee-Haw group from 40 years ago thought "some friends" would attend Saturday Night's "revival" show. Turns out there's a pretty loyal community when it comes to Rudolph, Wisconsin!

I (and hubby) were right in the mix and loving it! 500 some attendees? We'll take credit. LOL.

Full disclosure: Jim and are not from there. But we have friends that we've joined in community fundraisers and, well, productions some people needed to resurrect after 40 years.

I know I spent too many blogs promoting the Yee-Haw show, but I'll take credit for a few extra tickets. Of course.

The best surprise for me was my twin sister coming from 4+ hours away to surprise me – and her son, my nephew Tony in Green Bay – coming over and knowing the whole time! Sneaky! 

But the show itself was amazing.

I have yet to process all the photos and videos other people took. That doesn't matter as much as the fact there were 20-30 folks on stage trying to tell the best corny jokes and sing the best songs! A standing ovation from 500 people at the end of the night might prove we succeeded. 

If we can actually share a wrap-up, I will share. I feel bad if you missed it because I often times thought people were like, "That's nice. You do your 1970 music thing." Well we did and I'm glad hundreds of people enjoyed it.

The best part really is that Jim and I – and well most of us – weren't even nervous. We had so much fun singing and telling jokes, it felt like a night hanging out with friends. 

 

Can't wait to see what images/videos shake out.

Thanks for coming, y'all!

Pork Barrel of Laughs

Tonight was our last rehearsal before tomorrow's big Yee-Haw show. If you were a fan of the original Hee-Haw show in the '70s, rest assured we tried to include at least some part of every element of the show.

Remember when some jokes were really funny – or perhaps super corny – and the animated pigs would dance across the bottom of your television screen? Well it's 2026, folks. And ours are 3-D! Actually 4-D since little humans are carrying them, ha.

So many things I'd love to share but we want the mass of humanity attending (fingers crossed) to be surprised. 

We had our final rehearsal under the big tent tonight. Even if the show is not perfect tomorrow, our large crew will know how far we've come. Tonight was a great feeling to realize we were arranged just right on stage and had enough microphones so everyone could be heard when telling their incredibly hilarious jokes. So incredibly hilarious. 😁

As a group, of course we're great singers. (And so humble.) But we have some pretty cool duets (father/daughter and uncle/niece) along with a classic solo NO ONE else in the cast could do. Plus we have this random 16-year-old phenom on the steel guitar! We've adopted him now and he can't escape.

Seriously, if you like good classic country and gospel music plus jokes that make you both groan and laugh simultaneously, stop on out. 

It's 7 p.m. Saturday at Feltz Dairy Farm outside Plover. You can't miss the big white tent!

And full disclosure: I don't make a commission on ticket sales. This is a fundraiser to benefit St. Philips Catholic Church in Rudolph (where this show originated with members 40+ years ago), the Power of 5 in Portage County (a non-profit community group that pools small $5 donations from local residents to fund families in crisis, local charities, and community projects like school supplies drives and free pantries), and the Parkinson's Foundation (in honor of the mother of half the cast).

I just can't help myself from promoting it because of how much fun we've had putting this together and really just want to share the joy. 

And give you a pork barrel of laughs. No offense to our dancing pigs! 🐷🐷🐷

A Pleasure To Have In Class

Of course my grade school teachers would write in my report cards that I was "a pleasure to have in class." Not sure I was, but it was pretty much a standard phrase they used – back in the 1900s! Was it sincere? I'm going to say sure since I have historic documents stating so. Ha.

But this summer as I was a "teacher" of sorts, my star pupil was definitely a true pleasure to have on our writing team. I mentored a college-aged intern again and she was amazing! 

It happened that I've known this "tiny dancer" and her parents for years, but that didn't automatically get her the position. She had to – and did – rock her way through all the interviews! It wasn't the summer we promised her since we were working remotely for half of it. But she enjoyed it. We made it work.

Since tomorrow is her last day already (sob, sob) that means today had to be Trifle Thursday! Naturally.

I texted her mom for ideas of flavors and was pleased to hear she liked chocolate (who doesn't?) and mint, too. My favorite!

For this delicious concoction: Bottom layer is crumbled up brownies. Pudding layer is white chocolate pudding with a touch of mint extract and green food coloring. Crunchy layer is crushed Thin Mints. With a little Cool Whip layer. Repeat. Then garnished with Andes Mints, naturally. So good.

My mom would be so proud of how often I use her rolling pin! Never for pie crust or anything as domestic as that. But I have crushed a lot of cookies for my trifle crunchy layers! Just put them in a gallon Ziploc bag and vent your frustrations. Trifle making is 100% therapy!

When I texted the picture of my completed masterpiece to Jim last night. He happened to be golfing against my intern's dad. He said, "She better be bringing some of that home!" So like a good mentor, when I realized there was about one large serving left in the early afternoon (they go fast), I got her a to-go container and told her "You better scoop up the rest and take it home to your dad!"

Not only was she a quick learner and very professional, she's obviously very considerate. 

(You're welcome, Mr. G. Enjoy your trifle!)

The Land of the Lost

I could have titled this blog "Land of the Lost" or "Somebody Moved my Cheese" and both would have been appropriate.

First, the 6:20 a.m. alarm is jarring after setting it to 7:25 a.m. to walk across the hallway and login at 7:30 a.m. for 6 weeks. Secondly, weather conditions were strange.

I feel like I was literally trying to find my way back to the office. And Mother Nature was saying, "Why? Just stay home." LOL. Wishful thinking.

My new digs. Of course it looks impressive. We happened to open it just before COVID. It's modern and also so foreign in layout that I felt everyone was quite lost finding our way around – from where to park, how to enter the building and how to set up our work station to where are the meeting rooms and what's the cafeteria like.

Summary: Confusion overpowered Productivity today.

Also our is on the 6th floor so my fear of heights/falling ramped up any time I was in a meeting or near the ground-floor indoor "courtyard" area. Uff da. I gotta buck up for the next 4 years. Feeling grateful we share a desk with someone so we're only in office every other week for this transition period!

Look up to stay positive about change. Don't look down! 😆

The Return

On the one hand, the "return" happening today was my golf league foursome finally starting our league at SentryWorld!

Obviously with a large company combined with this stellar course, there are a ton of employees signing up for league! So our group gets the 4:40 p.m. time slot for 8 weeks. And everything is at the peak of bloom!

My game wasn't, but who really cares?

Especially because it was a pretty good distraction for us – tomorrow is the first time back in the office in 6 weeks. I might add "the office" is a temporarily a different one than I've spent the last nearly 9 years. So it's like the first day of high school or something... and this girl will probably sleep 4 hours!

I couldn't even finish our 9-hole round because I had simultaneous obligations. Let's just say announcing your score when you know you only did 8 holes is so much more satisfying! 

We are just days away from our grand production of Yee-Haw so practice was happening in Rudolph, which was thankfully a pretty straight shot from Stevens Point. Missed a good chunk of it, but the songs I needed practice on were after the "intermission" segment anyway. The timing worked out.

Also, for you non-local readers... this rock outside of Rudolph is probably painted a minimum of 50 times a year. Every IMPORTANT event from weddings to pancake breakfasts make it (if someone is willing to paint it, ha). Now our event is "Rudolph Painted Rock" official!

We're so cool in the corniest of ways!

I can't believe I have to conclude the blog early. But my body really has forgotten how to wake up to a 6:20 a.m. alarm clock! I'll take prayers! 

P.S. Let us know if you need advance tickets to Saturday's show. Yes, rain is predicted. But yes, there's a big ol' tent to keep y'all dry!

Barefoot Hotdog

What the heck is a "barefoot hotdog"? Well that would be a talented teenager who can waterski barefoot and be a hotdog (aka one-handed hot shot) while doing it!

Love this kid! 

This is Baby Aiden ... aka One of My Waterski Boys ... aka About to Start His Senior Year!

Had such a fun photo shoot tonight for senior portraits. Obviously senior pictures have moved way beyond the traditional one pose in a studio! I had the pleasure of capturing his brothers' photos and his sister's. And now it's his turn.

Of course I took some nice "portraits" but we also needed some action shots.

Beautiful night for a boat ride! Had to make sure we were facing away from the "backlit" sun while going over waves and holding my camera steady enough to capture some action shots of flips and other tricks. Looks relaxing but it was challenging that way. Can't wait to look at all the images, but I knew I for sure got that good barefooting one!

Afterward, on the way home, the sunset colors off the lake continued to be amazing in the woods, too. Just a treat for sunrise/sunset-loving me! Absolutely no filter or photo editing here! Additionally, I will not disclose if I trespassed to find a good angle. Sorry, town of Rome!

May we all find delight in childhood/teenager enthusiasm and the beautiful colors, textures, and waves in nature!

 

This Really Is My Father's World

I love this weekend each year in August because we have our "Worship in the Park" combined with our church picnic. But when I was awakened by thunder this morning, I realized this wasn't going to work out as planned. 

At the same time, of course, a lot of people were saying thank God for rain!

So we used our plan B and had worship and picnic food in the church basement – not because of the rain, but because of the lightning! When we're talking about Jesus walking on water this week... you kind of don't want to press your luck. Even if the message was all about having faith to do so!

But because we are normally in a park setting, we sing hymns like "This Is My Father's World" and " For the Beauty of the Earth."

So after eating way too much good food and having some really good visits, I decided to detour on my way home to our downtown park. 

Because of the rain, I saw a puddle for the first time in ages and captured a reflection.

And then a few more blooming flower photos... 

My conclusion was that life is not a "walk in the park" but we can purposefully take a walk in a park and find the beauty amongst the ugly.

And by weird happenstance, this was the daily quote from one of my daily guides...

So fitting. It's been a tough weekend for friends and loved ones. But even if your heart is breaking, shattering even, believe that beauty is there. Somewhere.

Oh Gosh, Forced Togetherness with Co-workers

Today was our company picnic, but it felt pretty awesome when it came to connecting briefly with higher ups.

For many events, though, we are ready to add a few administrative and random brave acts of "boldness."

Our theme for today's picnic was cowboy/cowgirl related.

Had a good time but did not win big prizes beyond a golf tournament hat. But it was so fun to get into the yee-haw spirit of things!

Surprising Accomplishment in the Kitchen

Anyone who knows me (well hubby mainly), knows I am an undomestic goddess with no/limited skills to cook up a decent meal. Thank you to boxes of mixes or frozen microwaveable food that has helped me fake it. (Side note: I was devastated when Schwan's went out of business!)

But last week, after having a deliciously spicy shredded pork sandwich at book club, I asked for the recipe and that got me on a tangent yesterday when I had to travel to Point and Plover. They have some pretty good grocery stores and meat markets.

When I got to Metro Market in Plover, I had some pork loin thoughts in mind, but then I saw all their options. Go there!! 

So this is my step-by-step of a Korean BBQ Pork with Goat Cheese Sandwich. Yes, I literally invented this last night! (Maybe??)

There were a lot of choices, but when I saw this one I was reminded how we both loved our spicy Korean "infusion" restaurant experience last year. So I decided that was a good place to start since the baking/cooking directions seemed easy enough.

Then, since we both are big fans of King's Hawaiian everything, I got slider buns, too.

The star of the show was the shredder I ordered on Amazon that just arrived on Monday. I keep getting recipe feeds on social media (do they even know me?) and many times they are using this tool. It says "chicken" shredder but I think it's just any kind of meat shredder.

Since the pork loin was much thicker than a typical chicken breast (that's me guessing) I sliced it down the middle and tried my new "twist-twist-twist one more time shredder".

That worked!

And when I had all the shredded pork in a container, I poured on any remaining juices from the oven pan.

While I piled the pork on a slider bun, I decided it needed some cheese maybe. As a new fan of goat cheese, I threw on some crumbles and nuked it a bit in that slider bun.

Oh wow. I'm not saying it was good because I came up with any of it, but it is a good combination of flavors.

P.S. I had it two nights in a row and it was perfectly delicious!

Commute and Construction Do Not Mix

There's more than one reason I haven't missed being in the office for the past month. But I was reminded today of a few more as I see the only "light" at the end of the tunnel is a fluorescent one when we return to the office next week!

Today I had a special occasion to return to Stevens Point as the mentor for our summer intern. The interns compete in a special challenge each summer – ideas they come up with as a team that could streamline or grow business at our company. So today's presentations were at SentryWorld – since our headquarters building across the street is under construction.

As I headed out after lunch, hubby asked: "Do you remember the way?"

Ha. But he had no idea how that would shape the day. While I did get to SentryWorld easily. Afterward, the state patrol had the entrance to I-39 south closed. An accident, I assume. So I went north, back to the next exit and realized traffic was backed up some 3 miles at least. Oof.

I figured I would just go south on one of the main streets and connect with Highway 10 since I had errands there. But that street was closed quickly for construction and it took me a minimum of 3 detours to get to the all-important Target store. Ugh. I realize I have forgotten my way around Stevens Point!

But I did find a few of the items I was seeking at 4 stores I haven't seen in 4 weeks. So glad they're still in business! I am so influential, you know!

The only other challenge I faced was showering, putting on my face AND curling my hair! Oh, and wearing grown-up clothes instead of shorts and your favorite t-shirts. I'm gonna have to step up my t-shirt game for the next 4 home-office days!

Just a Little Corny

Two things that go together in summertime – besides salt and my watermelon – are corn on the cob and dental flossers! If you know, you know!

Growing up out in the country, we had maybe a third-acre garden that felt like the size of three football fields when we had to weed it. But we had fresh corn on the cob, green beans, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, you name it. Very helpful with a family of 8 kids!

I was talking at lunch with 2 girlfriends the other day and wondered wasn't it weird to have Mom say "We're having corn on the cob for supper," and that was it. Our meal. We didn't grill up steaks to go with it.

We just picked it and shucked it and boiled it up for dinner. I think this picture is more like prepping Mom for her canning phase. We were not preparing to have 4-8 cobs per person for supper. Ha. 

But Mom would wield that electric knife and can bags and bags of fresh sweet corn that still tasted good in the winter! (Side note: The 3 siblings on the left of the picture all had braces at some point so she also did that cob-clearing for many meals over the years! Even the best dental flossers are no match for braces!)

And while we were talking about corn on the cob – because that's what you do at lunch when you're over 50 – my friend said she had some really good honey-dipped corn recently. I could not grasp the concept. Do they dip the cobs in honey?

No. I'm sure you can but it seems they can "engineer" the corn to have that extra sweet taste like it really was dipped in honey.

So then I was on a farmers market mission! We do buy good sweet corn from the neighborhood farm but I wanted to see what the honey hype was about.

Saturday I scored a half-dozen cobs (let's not be greedy until we taste test it) at the farmers market downtown. I shucked it yesterday and tonight after my much-needed chiropractor appointment, I cooked up a cob. (If you don't want to grill or boil, you can microwave for 4 minutes. I also learned that at lunch. LOL.)

Then I cooked up a second cob!

So sweet and good. Just a different summer treat that also doubles as a VEGETABLE!

Look at me, Mom. I had corn on the cob for supper and was completely satisfied! Miss you. Again.

It's Not Nice To Fool Mother Nature!

Some of us of a certain age recall a TV commercial for Chiffon Soft Stick Margarine in the late 1970s – one of the memorable ads with "Mother Nature" uttering her famous line, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" 

This was back in the day when you had no choice but to watch the commercials. So we all new the popular ad slogans whether it was "Madge, you're soaking in it" to "Please don't squeeze the Charmin!" And we all were intimidated by Mother Nature.

Let's just say I forgot about her power.

I've been staging a silent protest. Obviously, a fruitless one. I decided that if she doesn't do her job of giving us rain FOR 23 DAYS IN A ROW then I don't need to do my "job" (ha) of blogging.

I surrender! This is our crispy crackly yard! She wins. Dang. 

We have finally gotten a teeny tiny bit of precipitation. In fact, Friday night when I was getting steps around the neighborhood, it started sprinkling and I kept walking. It was refreshing! Also I hadn't showered in 2 days so you know... two birds, one stone.

Today in church when we heard the familiar 5 loaves and 2 fish story, I thought maybe that's a sign for a miracle. The Weather Channel does not agree. And when I went out to try to resurrect my flowers – time of death was called last week – a snake slithered under the deck. So now I have to deal with satan AND Mother Nature! 

Our couples golf league finale tonight didn't lean the way of miracles either! Still fun though! And the grass was green! 

These days that's winning.

Golf, Forrest, Golf!

I am 100% sure Forrest Gump did not engage in golf or anything we would welcome as some sort of entertainment today. But since this was my t-shirt of the day before golf league, I figured I better share it!

OMG! It was forever ago that a I bought that t-shirt and we had our vacation in Fort Lauderdale. Not sure what to even compare it to. But I feel good that we all were smiling then and were smiling again this weekend.

It was fun to eat (and buy a t-shirt) from the Bubba Gump restaurant. That was when I also learned that "Jenny and me are like peas and carrots." I heard it in the movie. But it was definitely reinforced in the restaurant. 

Thanks, Bubba Gump, and thanks to our friends Mike and Christine for making this hot trip happen!

Stretching Our Boundaries

Remember in 1988 when Tom Hanks wished to be "BIG"? Turns out you don't even need a magical Zoltar machine to make your wish come true!

If you time it right as the sun lowers in the sky, you can stretch your 5-foot-2-inch frame to 6 feet easily. And look at those long legs going on for miles!! 

Sorry, Zoltar and fake fortune-tellers, but you've been replaced by nature.

Also, once again, I am completely admitting to being a dork. We just happen to be in the midst of a "steps challenge" at work so I am out and about much more than my usual lazy ass is used to. So I start noticing weird things like shadows. And which cows at the neighboring farm acknowledge me when I say "good morning."

You know, the important things!

It's interesting that when my sister Rayna headed out from here yesterday she was going to enjoy an overnight stay in Wisconsin Dells, less than an hour from here. On the way there she visited Roche Cri State Park down the road, which we haven't done in ages. And this morning enjoyed a boat tour of the Upper Dells. I really want to do that!

Sometimes we get so stuck in our routines, we forget to stretch our boundaries – even just a little – and take advantage of some pretty cool things close to home! Also, some dorky things. But a lot are pretty neat! 

Go forth – and stretch your boundaries!

Salute! Let's Get into Hee-Haw Mode!

It probably goes without saying that our sheltered "screen time" growing up included The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Lawrence Welk, and Hee-Haw. Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?

Even though my twin Raylene and I were NOT identical, we put on mop heads and trucker hats and pretended to be the Hager Twins on Hee-Haw many Saturdays.

Fast forward 40 some years and suddenly I'm about to perform in a Hee-Haw revival show!

I think I've mentioned a few times that hubby has long-time connections with some friends in Rudolph – just north of Rapids by about 15 minutes. This amazing family that he performs with the church "guitar choir" are descendants, I guess, of parents that presented the first Hee-Haw type variety show some 40-plus years ago.

Now we both are somehow a part of it.

Here are the details of our upcoming "variety show" for lack of a better description! Lots of songs. Lots of corny jokes. And plenty of throw backs to the Hee-Haw show. 

Since Jim and I are both "cast members," let us know if you want tickets!

We're proud to be a part of the new Yee-Haw production!

Special Night at the Club

When it's your turn to host book club AND it's your birthday month, you can do whatever you want. And tonight our friend Cindy went all out.

First, we normally just meet at a coffee shop or restaurant and the host (book picker for the month) asks questions and leads discussion. This time, though, Cindy had us over to her house (right across the street from me) and we had two special returning members. My friend Christine, who founded the club with me some 13 years ago, is back in town.

And my sister Rayna drove 225 miles from Up North just to be here for it. The book was that moving for her!

Our book was This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page. It tells the story of a young grieving wife whose husband arranged for her to receive a book a month for a year. Books he picked and accompanied with a letter revealing their meaning and why he felt she'd enjoy them, etc.

As someone who's lost her husband, Rayna connected with the main character, and didn't want to miss our discussion. That was awesome to have her there!

But it wasn't all sadness tonight. Far from it. Cindy fed us great food and she had all kinds of games – including BINGO, where we all were allowed to win once, then pick a wrapped/surprise book. I got Slow Dance and Rayna got Dreamland.

By the smiles you can see we all liked our winnings! So thoughtful and fun. Really sets the bar high for us other hostesses in the future! My book was last month so I'm off the hook for a bit.

By the way, my t-shirt of the day has the word "peace" in several different languages of countries where Carter's work company has foreign exchange students. He gave me that this weekend. Pretty cool. Did you know in Norway, "fred" means "peace"? Now you know.

Fred to you all – and be sure to keep sharing those great reads out there!

North Shore Sharing

We took a long weekend to go see our boy Carter and his girlfriend Mamie in Duluth. They've only been there a few months and hubby has never been there so I took the opportunity to share some of my favorite North Shore places and discover a few new ones!

Since the "kids" were working on Friday we set a tee time to golf somewhere in Duluth. 

Grand View had some decent far away views and it was a shorter course than we usually play so obviously, that means I had a better score than normal!

Thus my smile here. And hubby should have had a much bigger smile after chipping in for some birdies!

 

As we drove from there to our hotel, we just happened to see Mamie's workplace. She works at Maurices headquarters, which we all admitted a few months ago had no idea that was in Duluth!

Our home for the weekend was Canal Park Lodge – obviously located right in Canal Park for those of you who know.

This was my anniversary gift to hubby so I wanted a great experience for his first time up there. I got a king suite with a balcony that faced the lake! You might be surprised how many places are boasting a city view. If you book up there, pay attention!

So from our balcony we had a great view of the lake they call "Gitchee Gumee" and the boardwalk that runs clear from here down to the lighthouse and the infamous lift bridge.

And plenty of views of various watercraft. Though most were too far away to focus unless we hustled down the boardwalk a half mile or so. Which we did not.

This is the one side of the lodge that faces the water directly. We were on the third floor.

Jim and I ventured down to the water and realized the whole shoreline was rocks – and a lot of flat rocks great for skipping. Which is why we saw parents and kids by the dozen line up on shore this weekend while their kids "learned" to skip rocks. Jim was brave and took off his shoes and waded in just to experience the "refreshing" Lake Superior temperature. But the rocks were a bit much! Ouch.

Friday evening when the kids were done with work, they suggested we meet at Bridgeman's restaurant. A great diner with super huge proportions... and ice cream!!

I had their Peppermint Bon Bon for dessert even though I didn't have room for it!

But who can resist LARGE ice cream sizes? Not me!

This is their food truck outside the restaurant. I imagine it's wildly popular!

After dinner, the kids (I am sure that they hate that I call them that) walked the short distance from their apartment to our hotel patio. It was a great setting with plenty of tables and a fire pit for those who wanted it.

That's when it was revealed they stayed behind at Bridgeman's and got us some extra birthday gifts. I saw this hat and loved it! And they paid attention! 💓

On Saturday I had a North Shore agenda but the first stop was seeing their apartment. We loved it! A nice, spacious 2-bedroom with much more space than we've seen in previous dwellings.

Updated appliances and everything we'd want for them. But how unfair they get a dishwasher and I had wait until a good decade past that age?? Ha.

After that, I said, let's head to the North Shore. If you don't know where it is in relation to Duluth, just follow the signs!

My first destination was Gooseberry Falls State Park to see the great waterfalls I've seen a few times. There are three different levels to these falls – upper, middle and lower.

They're all spectacular, in my opinion. But is IS a lot steps whether you go up to the upper first of down to the lowest. You somehow have to get back to the parking lot!

 

Just so pretty though. And obviously a busy tourist attraction. So many people!

Sun finally came out. Sorry to make you squint, kids!

All these tree roots growing in rocks was also so crazy!

After Gooseberry, I insisted we go view my favorite lighthouse at Split Rock.

I call this one "This little light of mine." And I'll admit I'm a dork.

After that, it was natural progression to a favorite place of my sisters and me – Betty's Pies.

I had the best slice of Coconut Creme Pie and everyone else gave 2 thumbs up to their selection. Crazy how busy the place was but we could understand why. Yum!

When we got back to Duluth, we dropped the kids off and had some free time for napping or whatever. I finally walked down to the lighthouses. Probably only half a mile away, but it was hot that day.

I saw a bunch of "kids" jumping off this random concrete structure in the harbor there. Can any of you Duluthians shed some light what that is?

I thought they were crazy... then hubby captured me plunging into the freezing water because I was hot and needed some relief. Thank god this was from our balcony so you don't see too many details! 

Last evening, we found a place called Tavern on the Hill that had a little bit everything. The place is pretty big and located close to the two colleges so I am sure it's busy during the school year.

Everyone's portion sizes were huge so we'll see when I get around to finishing up my Hot Honey chicken!

Our Saturday evening vibe from our balcony was so serene. Loved it!

This morning we woke up and wondered who stole Lake Superior while we slept. Definitely could not see the shoreline or any water! Crazy!

So we changed our plans. We were going to go up Enger Tower to get a full view of the city, but we knew that wasn't realistic with the fog. So we we went to nearby Lester Park in search of a waterfall within the city of Duluth.

Well, we picked the wrong challenging hike. The "raging" waterfall was on the the opposite side of the park. But still, it was getting so warm and humid already that we decided that was OK for today.

Still pretty! Give it a chance!

Typical Duluth harbor view as we hit the road to head home!

Stopped for lunch in Bloomer at the Bohemian (hubby's heritage) bakery and diner where we've eaten before.

If you go, I found that just ONE of their "world famous" oatmeal pancakes with blueberries was enough. Depends on your appetite!

We got home late this afternoon to this crazy heatwave. We had plenty to do before our work week starts. But we're just smiling. We had a great weekend with the kids and we all found a place we wouldn't mind visiting again.

Just not in the winter.

Hope you all had a great weekend, too!