Why drive when you could fly????

It's a question I often ask myself... and wonder if I may be a bit crazy to do all this driving.

Then, you get a morning like today... travelling along the Interstate in N.Dakota.. hoar frost on all the trees and bushes... sun breaking through to make it look just a bit nicer that it did first thing this morning.  Took me about an hour longer to get to my first stop in Glendive MT but ... no rush.

Life is Good.

A quiet day...

Yesterday was a quiet day. Kind of windy so we just hung out at the condo, reading, playing some cards, keeping the fire burning.  We found information on what looked like an unique bar/saloon up in the woods about 20 miles away so we decided to try find it for some fine dining.

The Trestle Inn was build from old Douglas Fir logs salvaged from a railway trestle - hence the name and caters mainly to the snowmobilers in winter and hunters and fishermen in the summer. It was a fun looking place full of snowmobilers and the burgers were great.  A fun nite for our last evening up here.

Today we pack up and head back to Duluth.  It's storming there today so we hope the roads are OK as I'm doing a quick turn around and starting my long drive out west.

Life is Good.

Ending a great day with a "brisk" sleigh ride...

Such a busy day...soooo much fresh air... Jewels and I were supposed to hop into the jaccuzi tonite but she's sound asleep on the couch.... got a blazing fire going, nice and warm in here.. perfect combo for a little snooze...

Our sleigh ride was fun... 45 minutes - kinda cold but a nice way to end the day.  Tomorrow??? more snow shoeing or perhaps a gondola ride up the ski hill ... and wash some clothes as I'm heading west on Friday afternoon..

Life is good..

Lovely day for snow shoeing...

Jewels and I took a guided snowshoe hike this afternoon up Oberg mountain.  It was about 2.5 miles and the trail was blown in in many places which made it just that much nicer.  Our guide told us this was the best conditions he had ever seen on this trail... Lucky us..

I took one photo of a snow drift that curled like a wave.. was very pretty.. We're a bit tired now but have booked a horse/sleigh ride for this evening.. imagine that growing up on a farm and never wanting to get behind a horse ever again (down wind especially) and here I am booking a ride just for the halibut....

Life is Good..

Lovely morning at Bluefin Bay...

Woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise.  Nice blue sky and waves gently sliding in. I took a short walk and took pics of the shoreline in front of our condo as well as a shot of our complex (grey buildings).

We head out in about an hour for our snowshoeing excursion. Cold but calm and bright so it should be nice for a hike.  We're heading onto Oberg mountain.

Life is good....

Lutsen's own Barbara Ann Scott

Photos from last nite's skate.... she cuts a mean figure don't she????

Life is Good....

a Lynx... or a Bobcat???

Well, Jewels and I arrived at Bluefin Lodge yesterday.  It's a wonderful place and our condo is very nice. We did a bit of exploring yesterday. Our plan was to go snow shoeing today but the wind is just howling out there so we may just drive up to Grand Marais and do touristy stuff instead.

This place is really nice, in that there aren't many add-ons to the cost.  They supply, at no charge, x-country skis, snowshoes, skates etc etc.  They do free guided tours, have indoor and outdoor hot tubs and a great little skating rink.  Last nite was mild with big snowflakes falling.  We went for a skate -  which was my first time on skates since I was about 18 years old... ummmm... like almost 20 YEARS ago....... I wish..

This morning, just after we got up, we were sitting in the living room and - it was either a Lynx or a Bobcat - came sauntering right across our deck.. thru the neighbors yard, and into the woods. It was quite exciting to see up close like that.  Not very big but I think I'd stay clear.  My camera has dead batteries so I didn't get a pic of my own...

Three more nights in this lovely place...

Life is Good.

Curling in Cambridge was a blast...

Well, a photo of the dream team.  It was a fun weekend and we got a LOT of exercise.  We made it into the final game in the third event - and got bombed in the last game.

Interesting prizes - it's a "steak" bonspiel and the finalists all get a hamper with huge steaks that are about 2 inches thick.  Our team won 16 steaks to divvy up between the fab four.  Photo is our skip Rick and his wife Karen, me and then Kim on the right.

Tired tonite.  Tomorrow Jewels and I are off to BlueFin Lodge for four nights and then on Friday I hit the road to Vancouver Island.

Life is Good.

Curling weekend...

Looks like we're heading for a fun weekend.... Scott's banged up with a foot injury so I'm going to spare with his curling team at the annual "Steak Bonspiel" in Cambridge MN.  There will be 3 or 4 teams from the Superior Club attending and it sounds like this is a fun event.

Jewels and I are driving down on Friday.  She plans to drop me at the hotel in Cambridge and then head down to Cam and Cassie's to attend to her Grand Daughter - Finley's birthday.... She'll stay there overnite and join up with us in Cambridge on Saturday.

Curling at the Superior Club has been a lot of fun this year.. after a couple of years I have gotten to know a lot of the people in the club and in addition to meeting Bud Sommerville, it's been a good time for me.

We'll be heading back to Duluth on Sunday.  From there we're going up the north shore of Lake Superior on Monday to spend 4 nights at the Blue Fin Resort.  Julie has the week off and we're going to sit back and relax.. do a bit of reading... snow shoeing and hopefully we will start onto the geocaching activities that we've been looking into for some time now.  We head back to Duluth on the 22nd and then I'm heading off into the sunset for about a month.  I'm driving out to the west coast ... a  bit of work.. a lot of my special little girls in Courtenay... and a new adventure where I'm going to be doing some house sitting for a couple of weeks on the south western coast of Vancouver Island.  I've signed up to look after a home in Jordan River which is a small community between Sooke and Port Renfrew.  It's a very nice place.. I'll have a bit of company looking after the pets which will be nice, world class hiking trails, fresh halibut and salmon to cook up, and perhaps more geocaching.

OH... as of this morning, Jewels is down 30 pounds and I'm close by at 28 pounds... not a diet but a fine eating plan called Clean eating... we're feeling wonderful about it and both need to shop for new jeans to slide our slim butts into...

Life is Good....