Summer in Minnesooooota

I've been trying to wait until I have photos to post, but that seems to create quite a lag time in posts. So let me tell you about our week with a photo from the internet (see left)

After a horrendous week at the office last week, and after a week-long business trip I had planned was cancelled, I decided to join Josie and Cory on their long-planned trip to northern Minnesota. They had planned to go for a week to visit gramma and grampa while I socked away billable hours in preparation for our trip to Hawaii, but I decided I couldn't bear to be without them for a week, and I joined them. We all went to Lutsen, Minnesota, which is the home of the Caouette summer cabin (at least for the last few years) where Mick and Carol (aka gramma and grampa or "baba" and "baba") ("baba" is also the word for mama and, often, the dog) spend July each year. It's a beautiful cabin that sits on a secluded part of Lake Superior, a stunningly beautiful place. Lake Superior is also largely pointless in my book, since it is 35 degrees year round and thus is too cold for even short swims. And really, what is the point of a large body of water if you can't swim in it??

So, for water fun, Carol, Cory and I went on a 7 mile canoe trip up Clearwater Lake, a lake in the famous boundary waters of Nothern Minnesota. There were loons yelling at each other, but otherwise we were largely alone on the lake in our ginormous aluminum canoe (see photo left). (no, that's not us, that's another stock image from the internet - but pretend it's us in the canoe and you get the idea). It was just what the doctor ordered after months of long hours in the office or cooped up in the house with the baby (poor Cory). Cory noted that it would have been something that our buddies and fellow bloggers Wes and Christine would have loved. Speaking of Wes, I owe you a call.

Also went on a long hike in the mountains with Josie in the backpack where there were lots of views of the lake around each bend in the trail. Here's a photo of a nice british man modeling what we use with Josie (see left), who, as you know, is much much cuter than the baby in the photo. A constant topic of debate - what exactly is that land on the horizon of the lake? Answers: Maybe it's Michigan (no, that's too far away!) Maybe it's the Apostle Islands (no, they're too far south); Maybe it's clouds (No, that's definitely land). I'm sure those of you with families have had similar conversations about different topics. Once we had said variations on those seven sentences approximately 100 times each, we headed down the hill for some lunch.

Anyway, it was a wonderful, wonderful trip and we had a ton of fun. Cory and Josie are still there, leaving me very sad and very lonely without them. I came home to a refrigerator that may have been off since we left. I plugged it into another plug and it started humming again. I'm sure the food in there is perfectly fine. I'll let Cory check to be sure when he gets home.

photos to follow.