Meandering About Minnesota with Marie

Sometimes computers are annoying, are they not? Serious efforts have been made by this writer to post details of a delightful journey in May to Minneapolis and my computer has always opted to dump the pictures or lose the text---so I shall try again! Here is my friend, Marie King, with whom I toured China a year ago. She is standing on a balcony at the Guthrie Theatre, overlooking St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River. We enjoyed touring the theatre as well as seeing "Midsummer's Night Dream", easily the best theatrical production I've ever seen!
Minneapolis is a wonderful city, with lots of cultural features and events, enough good restaurants to keep one eating for days (the Greek brunch Marie took me to at Santorini's took me right back to Greece!), and, blessedly, mild traffic.

Marie took me along the North Shore of Lake Superior into the part of Minnestoa the locals call "The Arrow" where we saw lots of lovely, wild, lakeshore country. The waterfalls were abundant, the forests were lush, and the air was crisp and clean. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the great iron shipping harbor at Duluth, toured interesting old lighthouses, and even saw a wolf one morning, crossing the highway, headed for the lake for a drink...just as if he went there every morning!
The little blue lady is Marie by Gooseberry Falls, formed by water rushing out of the north Minnesota hills (mountains---a little difficult for me to say, comparing them to the Rockies!)
headed for Lake Superior. (photo below by Marie)We had a wonderful hike through the woods to an area with waterfalls and a swirling pool called "The Devil's Cauldron", which is misting away in the background and I am obviously enjoying!

One overnight was at a charming Scandanavian lodge on Lake Superior---seen here at twilight. Once again, the food was wonderful and we enjoyed the breakfast as it reminded us of our travels in Norway and Sweden forty years ago.
Split Rock Lighthouse is one of Minnesota's signature places. We spent an afternoon there, touring the buildings and climbing around on the rocks along the lake front.
Of course, no trip to Minneapolis is complete without going to the Mall of America! Above you can see a view of the indoor amusement park at the Mall. Pick out the people in the foreground for perspective, please.
A lovely spring afternoon called for margaritas at one of Marie's favorite spots, "Psycho Suzie's", a sort of Polynesian bar with plenty of outside seating. (You don't have to just eat in Minneapolis---there are plenty of places to bend an elbow, too!)

Back to the Mall of America---the Lego display was astonishing! (Travis must go there someday!) Look for the man above the Gap sign to establish the size of the thing---all built with normal-sized legos.)
Last of all---here I am with a dinosaur built of tiny little legos and don't miss the green tail of another dino nearby---how many thousands?

Marie---I thank you for a great visit and I am hoping that this posting won't vanish into cyberspace as have my other attempts! I am looking forward to visit #2 in Minnesota!

Playing in Portland

Portland, Oregon was my next stop on my Spring Tour of the West, 2008. I flew there from Denver to visit my dear friend, Cynthia Francisco, who was the judge for whom I clerked in the San Juan County Courts. Here is a view from one of the city's hills, with Mt. Hood in the background. (You will have to sort of scruntch down and pretend you can see a very white mountain peak behind the skyscraper!) Cynthia had lots of delightful activities planned, and one of the first things we did was head for the coast via Ft. Clatsop, Washington, where Lewis and Clark spent the second winter of their journey. I was very happy to go there, as several years ago my students and I did an exhaustive study of their travels, including learning many details about this woodsy fort. Here I am, at the fort, with one of the trees which was being readied for demolition---it had fallen across one of the footpaths. The journals of L&C indicated they had only six days without rain, that winter, and I could better understand, after being there, what a wet, soggy existance they must have had.

Before we left for our coastal trip, we toured the Rhododendron Gardens where I saw flowers that surpassed anything I have seen before. They were utterly gorgeous! The blooms were great lush bundles of color---even one named Cynthia!
Here are some azaleas that were slipped into the garden...
Here are two more "beauties" found in the gardens that day:
Not sure why I have such squinty eyes here but you can see we were having fun!
Now---back to the coast. We went to Canon Beach, one of Oregon's most famous beaches. Here is the rock that always shows up on postcards and calendars. Our hotel was right on the beach just a few minutes from this scene and we enjoyed walking on the beach---even braving the cold Pacific breakers with our bare feet.

For some reason, this photo appears again!
Back in Portland we enjoyed shopping, sipping icy cold wine in Cynny's backyard where there were more beautiful rhodies, eating out (you could eat yourself to death in good restaurants in Portland), shopping for quilt supplies for Suzie's baby, going to see the opera "Aida", and enjoying a day at the Japanese Gardens.

Waterfalls and mist at the gardens...
It was a wonderful visit and I look forward to returning to my friend's comfortable house with the lovely flowers and a backyard that has blueberries and strawberries! Next stop: Minnesota!