Tom and I were in DESPERATE need for downtime so we called up Bob's Cabins, took the only opening they had and drove 3 hours to the north shore to try and decompress.
Getting out of town was a little hairy since school was supposed to start after Labor Day so we'd be getting back a day before school started. But then, they changed the start date to the Monday BEFORE Labor Day and we were leaving the Wednesday before Labor Day.
To make matters worse, 3 days before school started they changed the start time from 7:50 to 10:55. In the long run, this was good but our poor kid/dog sitter (who also worked for the school district so her work schedule got messed up too) had to deal with a bunch of last minute changes. Urhg.
The vacation was THE. BEST.
We love Bob's Cabins because they are extremely simple, clean and quiet. We both read books (Tracy 3, Tom 2) played cribbage (Tracy only won 1 game:( ) and hiked twice every day.
We were also able to see Allison and Larrie who have a cabin in Silver Bay and celebrate Tom's birthday a bit early with a trip down the alpine slide, gondola ride, hike and awesome dinner/presents. Including a bottle of Old Monk we gave THEM when we moved to Toronto in 2012... That tells you how good it is.
We were also able to see Chandra and Bob and have a great hike and patio lunch. They live in Duluth and are also dear friends from India.
All in all. A good glimpse at retirement, being empty nesters and relaxing....
Ahhh....
Bob's, you can literally touch the ceiling
Everything you need, nothing you don't
View from our bedroom
View from our front step 
Gorgeous nights 
Lots of time spent reading on this swing 
Perfect 
Hikes follow with amazing scenery 
You HAVE to had smoked fish when you are on the north shore 
Alpine slide! 
This is where Tom lost the car keys on the hike. We almost ended up doing the whole hike twice looking for them but, then another hiker said a guy in a blue shirt has them. We tracked him down and only ended up doing 1/2 of the hike a second time. People are SO NICE. It was a little concerning when we realized we lost them too because there is ZERO cell coverage up there....
The water is so blue and clear, but its hard to get a photo that does it justice 
A working fishery
Happy early birthday! 
ewwww
Lots of time on the Superior Hiking Trail 
Hoping our neighbor kids can tell us what kind of caterpillar this is 
She was not at all worried about us 
My friends Dad (whose from Duluth) used to yell "Look at the size of that cock!" everytime they drove through Two Harbors as a kid;) 
