Duluth, Home Sweet Home.

We finally reached Duluth after 3 long days in the car. We arrived close to 11 pm, after having stopped at our familiar Tobey's in Hinkley for some caramel rolls for breakfast (oh how I have missed them!) , and at White Castle (Eben's choice!) for a case of sliders.And just how did we know we were just about to hit Duluth? The air changed. Not just the fresh smell of the air (and the absence of LA mold!) or the air temperature either. My nose started to drip. Seriously......if any of you remember from when we lived in MN years ago, my nose was always running. Always. Running. I'm allergic to birch, and we haven't seen birch trees in forever and a day. I am glad to say that I have finally found some good allergy meds that actually compensate for all of the birch and pollen that was floating in the air. But the air just smelled beautiful to say the least.

I have to clarify something, first of all, about this trip. It was not a vacation.

It was a work-cation. My bestest friend in the whole world (and her family) has been seriously effected by our trashy state of economy. It has forced her husband to find work in another state, and leaving my friend at home raising the kids and selling the house by herself. Geez....that sounds familiar! She asked me to come and help her pack. So that is just what I did. Between packing boxes, sorting memories over a glass of wine, and arranging a moving sale, there was very little time for visiting friends and relatives, seeing the sights, or making new memories. But we did manage to squeeze in a few little things...........like this trip out to Park Point. I was NOT, I repeat, NOT going to let another day
go by without having the Little Apple seeing Lake Superior for the first time. It was a beautiful moment, to say the least.This picture right here, makes a little tear come to my eye.....The Middle and The Big Apple came to this beach a couple of times when they were just babies. But they remembered. And went running and screaming down to the Lake's edge, as if it was a piece of them that been removed for many years. They remember.
And I remembered too.
And it felt like home.