The Loud Americans: September 2018

I meet these guys in the fall of 1975 our Freshman year of high school, some were also grade school friends, we have travelled together, raised families together, attended funerals but most off all we have remained friends over 40 years.

This years trip brought us to Seattle where mike has lived for the past 20 years. John and I headed out from Minneapolis while Steve travelled in from LA, after dropping his daughter at college and Tom flew up from Dallas. We spent the weekend catching up some good some no so good, had a lot of laughs and ate some great food.

We managed to get out on Friday for a great hike through the mountains and saw some awesome scenery. We adventured out on Saturday for a walking/ underground tour of old Seattle, realizing for this group quite adventurous! We caught a Ferry out to one of islands,the weather was classic Seattle but we managed to get everything done despite a few rain drops. There were as usual a ton of laughs, the obligatory trip down memory lane, and several great new memories to add to the old wise tails!

It was a great trip, catching up and enjoying spending time with great friends.

Thanks Mike for having us next stop a visit to Tom's place in Dallas...

More to come..

Tracy and Tom were able to "farm" out the kids for Labor Day weekend and headed north for the Labor Day Weekend Show the destination Bob's Cabins just outside of Two Harbors. We were looking forward to some time alone and a very relaxing book reading, hiking, gourmet food and exploring weekend.

We left late Friday morning and headed towards Duluth were we were having lunch with our friends Bob and Chandra, friends from the ol' Bangalore Days. Of course no trip north would be complete without a couple traffic delay in the middle of nowhere but we persevered and arrive around 2:00 for a late lunch at Sir Benedict's, a very nice craft beer and sandwich joint on downtown Duluth. The food was awesome and the beer good and cold. Then we joined Bob and Chandra and one of their dog, Coltrane, for a nice hike out by where they live. Their son Owen joined us however he had fishing on the brain so he headed off to give that a go. The weather was a bit humid and hot for this time of the year in Duluth however the company and scenery made up for it.

After saying or good byes we continued northward to Bob's. We choose the scenic route along the lake and were not disappointed , a quick stop at the grocery store and we arrived, to a very peaceful, small clean and comfortable cabin, right on the North Shore, fantastic!

Friday night was BBQ salmon, risotto and roasted Brussel sprouts and radishes, all done by us on the little smoky Joe and the small 2 burner, albeit gas stove top. We lived in India for two and a half years ...we got this. It was tasty.

Saturday we had a Portuguese cast iron skillet. Hash browns, onions, peppers, procuttio, Gorgonzola cheese and eggs, a great way to start the day! Then we were off to Gooseberry Falls. The place is really nice, there are of course a ton of people and scenery is fantastic! We started out and basically hiked for about 3 hours and saw most of the area. The Chimney in the middle of nowhere was a bit confusing, however the view was great. We headed down to check out Split Rock Light house, our Sunday destination to get the lay of the land.

Saturday afternoon we stopped at the local brewery, Castle Danger, had a brew and took the tour. The place was packed and we were not sure if it was because the beer was so good or the Labor Day weekend crowd. That night was burnt ends, a summer corn salad and salted kale from the farmers market. Not to mention Tracy basically sitting in Lake Superior reading her book and eating Triscuits, she was cute :)

Sunday we headed back to split rock after the rains to find the place less crowded. We did the tour, movie and hiked down the 172 steps to reach the lake and take a few pics of the light house. The light house it self is no longer in service however in its day it was the bee's knees! We did stop by Split Rock Cabins, where Tracy's mom spent many a week in her youth and we meet Eric the caretaker and got a selfie! We did manage to make a return trip to Castle Danger but were unsuccessful finding an open bakery for a late night sweet. However we did find a very cool place which is a welding/ art shop. We got into serious discussions with the owner Mike and when the dust settled, he promised to make us a pizza oven and Tom is now consulting with Mike on how to make a smoker.. Stranger Things! Then we got a tip from the local thrift shop and headed down the lake and found a confectioner and bought some awesome home candy for us and toffee for the kids!!

Monday we had an awesome left over breakfast in the cast iron skillet packed the family tricksters and headed home. But, not before one last hike at Jay Cooke State Park on the way home. We had to squeak every last minute of nature out of our trip.

We had a blast, relaxed, ate fabulous food, read books, toured the north shore and spent a great time hanging out with out the kids...more to come

Thank you to everyone that made the trip possible by watching the kids and the dog. It truly does take a village!

Gooseberry hike