hiking to Ely Peak.. a Great Day!

It was a lovely day.  Overcast but warm and we decided on the way to Chester to change course and head up Spirit Mountain to hike to the Ely Peak.  We turned a 6.5 mile hike into about 8.5 miles by missing the trailhead and coping with a washed out bridge but that was just fine.

One interesting aspect of the hike was the varieties of mushrooms growing out there.  We found several  "Chicken of the Woods" mushrooms that grow on the sides of old logs.. orange in color and very pretty.  We picked a few and Annie cooked them up with a bit of garlic and they were delicious.

All in all, a nice day... Life is Good.

a bit late.. but a few July 4th pics..

We had a lovely July 4th celebration - on a rare occasion we had Julie and her brothers together and other than a few nicks and bruises, everyone survived.  The weather co-operated and was lovely and we had a nice couple of days touring around Duluth and some quiet time at the lake.

Life is Good.

Happy Canada Day...

So, after a hot summer weekend curling in a bonspiel in Blaine MN, I'm back to Duluth and we're getting ready for company this week when Tab and Annie will be visiting.

The curling was fun and we did pretty good.  There were some high profile teams there with both the men's and ladies Olympic curlers taking part.  We made it to the semi finals in the "B" event before bowing out of the action.

Anyways... home again... Life is Good and Happy Canada Day to everyone.

such a pretty flower...

Took some pics out in the flower garden this morning..  just had to share this tooolip with those who tune into my "exciting" life..

Life is Good.

Our first hike of the season... finally!

The weather was nice and the options were... hike Chester Bowl.. pull weeds in the gardens... drive up the north shore to the Knife River and do a 4.5 mile hike up there.

It was a lovely day on the Knife River.

Actually the trail itself wasn't the nicest we've been on along the shore.. but when we stumbled upon a huge beaver dam along the trail, - well - it got better real fast.  Neither Jewels or I have seen such a large beaver dam up close like this and it was absolutely amazing.

The goal today was to hike up to a small set of falls along the river.. had a nice little lunch overlooking the falls and then headed back home...

Nice nice day...  Life is Good.

Out to Scott's cabin today...

We've had company this weekend.  Cam, Cassie and the kids spent a few nights with us and it was great having them here.  Bad news was that the normally photogenic Cassie decided to show us the physically ill side of her... poor dear was in bed with various ailments most of the time and thus she didn't get to join us in our trip out to Scott's cabin to put in the dock.

It was a funny day with hot sunny weather with the occasional interruption of a windy heavy rainfall.  But, as the rest of the photos show, we had a good day.. the dock got installed and is reasonably straight and level.. and mostly safe to walk on.. it withstood the family gathering photo (with the limited members of the family in attendance)...

A nice day.. sorry you felt so crappy Cassie.... but

Life is Good!

I've been negligent ... AGAIN!

It's finally been a beautiful weekend with lots of sun and a few showers to soak the gardens.  I took some pics today of the gardens out front with our little crab apple tree that is blossoming nicely.

Julie is so very happy with the progress of the gardens.. she and Annie put a lot of thought and work into it last summer and the results are starting to show nicely.

Lilac trees are also in full bloom...  Life is Good.