Jay had bidness to conduct in the North Country early this week. He had two nights in a hotel paid for so I went with him. While he worked, I hauled out my watercolors for the first time in a year and splashed about in Lief Erickson park.
So it was a working vacation for both of us.
I love Duluth.
I could live there.
Assuming of course that I got to live in a beautiful house with a spectacular view of Superior and had somewhere else to live from mid January to July.
We stayed in
Fitgers hotel. 
It's old, gorgeous, stately, luxurious and right on the Lake Walk. After checking in, Jay and I went down to the boardwalk that stretches a couple of miles along the shore and walked over to the lift bridge. It was the first day of this particular historic heat wave. We'd left Minneapolis shortly after noon and it was already in the high nineties. Up in Dulut, it was seventeen degrees cooler on the edge of the big lake they call Gitchigoomie. The air was so thick with humidity that it hung heavily over everything. The lake was gray, the sky was so low that before dinner, the top of the lift bridge had disappeared into the fog. It was gorgeous.
For dinner, we called some good friends who live in town and got their recommendation. We drove along the North shore to a place called the Scenic Cafe and made the wait staff and kitchen very happy by ordering three entrees as well as our frog's legs appetizers. I had the pork prime rib, Jay had the duck and for dessert, we split the rib eye.
That's the way to eat dinner.
Monday, Jay had meetings all day. The fog had lifted, the skies were crystal clear blue and the wind had gone away, leaving the lake mirrorlike. We were fortunate in that the Tall Ships were in town for the days we were there. They were so cool! I took tons of photos but every time I try to post my own pics here, they turn out seven feet wide and I haven't bothered to figure out how to fix that yet.
Anyway, I took my stuff down the lake walk to the park and painted all afternoon. I wasn't very good but I had no expectations so I wasn't disappointed.
Later on, Jay and I met up with our friends for dinner. We sat out on a deck overlooking the water for drinks and then moved inside for dinner. I had walleye. I love walleye.
I ate too much and I drank waay too much but we had a blast.
Back in the room, I mainlined ice water to combat what would've been a massive hangover and we watched The Adjustment Bureau. I think I liked it; I passed out before it was over.
But hey, no hangover in the morning!
Meanwhile, it was fifteen to twenty degrees warmer down in town the whole time we were up North. That's the way to do it.
Now we're home, Josie has behind the wheel, Jay is getting new tires on Katie's car, I'm trying to squeeze two weeks of work into one so I can go to NYC and Denver without missing a beat and Zack just called to inform me that he has a large following in the Ukraine.
Life is funny.
