Memorial Weekend

Good morning! My husband, daughter and I spent the weekend traversing the North Shore! Our adventures began in Aurora, Minnesota, took us to Duluth to one of our favorite restaurants on Lake Superior, then back to Aurora, for a night’s rest before heading way up the North Shore to Grand Marais, where we camped at Judge C.R. Magney State Park. Sofia spent her very first night in a tent and slept like a log.

The next day, we hiked up to the Devil’s Kettle (a scientific conundrum) and played in the waters of the Brule River. The water was pristine and of course my daring husband couldn’t resist jumping off the side of a cliff into the current of the river. Hooray, he made it back to shore!

In other uplifting news, I came home to a very exciting message in my inbox! My “hello lovely” cards were featured on the front page of Etsy! I could not have been more shocked or excited to come home to such great news!

I just arrived home from ten gleeful days spent in Portland, Oregon, greeted by the arrival of fall and countless raindrops.

I love the fall weather, and the fifty-cent rubber polka-a-dotted rain boots that I found over the summer while on a thrift outing. Sofia and I made our way outside to play today (as we do every day) to splish and splash in the puddles and race boats (small twigs) in the streams of water that traveled down our road.

I am feeling quite relaxed after our Oregon vacation - that overflowed with heaps of time spent enjoying my family and eating amazing home-cooked meals that were mostly made of vegetables freshly picked from the garden. (Thanks to Nana!)

While vacationing, I took a little road trip to Eastern Oregon through Mount Hood National Forest (where we took a short detour to play in some fresh snow). We spent two nights in cold and arid Eastern Oregon on the Deschutes River, where I hiked through the desert and got to be a part of some magnificent nature.

I am grateful for the amazing trip and also glad to be home with some new inspiration for life.

Here are a few of the scenes from my travels. Enjoy!

Approaching Mount Hood.

"Nana" met some friendly horses.

This horse has some crazy eyes.

If you click on the photo, you will see that Sofia has horses on her sweater.

A wild horse in an enchanted forest.

Somewhere stunning in Eastern Oregon (I forgot the name of the town).

Intriguing Desert Flower.

Sofia at the Portland Art Museum.

Sofia picking raspberries and taunting Leeloo.

Red lanterns.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

I recently returned home from a trip to Portland, Oregon and Cannon Beach, Oregon. It was little Miss Sofia's first time playing at the ocean and she was in LOVE. I have never seen any one roll around in the sand with such joy and contentment. When we arrived at the Pacific Ocean on the cold and breezy day she ran ahead of us and we had to stop her from running into the cold, powerful waves.

There was a small inlet of water left behind by the tide that Sofia played in after we enjoyed a perfect sea lunch (a whole crab and clam chowder). We filled our bellies and the sun came out to greet us at as we splashed in the water and frolicked in the sand.