Duluth couples weekend

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, and I apologize for that. Since my last post I've been out to Montana and fished the DuPuy's Spring Creek as well as the Big Horn River for a two week vacation.  Jen and I have been out fly fishing a couple of times chasing bass and pan fish.  We both acquired a bicycle and fly rod each.  Mine is still be built as of this post.  We've also had a lot of weekends with family for both good and not so good circumstances.

On our latest adventure, we booked a weekend with Chad and Sarah in Duluth, MN and had a lot of fun.  Friday we packed up our stuff in our new 2005 Toyota Highlander that we bought on Monday after too many repair bills on the Tahoe with no end in sight, and headed up to Duluth.  A quick two hours later, we jumped out of our SUV, and into Chad's with his boat ready to go.  We stopped for gas and then launched for nice evening cruise on VERY calm waters.  The view from the lake was spectacular.  You couldn't have planned better weather then what we had for the ride.

Saturday morning the four of us headed over to the Brule River Canoe Rental for a bit of kayaking on the Brule river.  And boy were they busy, as a couple of large groups had showed up on thier doorsteps pretty much wiping out all their canoes and kayaks.  Luckily Chad had reserved our kayaks the day before.  It had been a few years since I've last kayaked, but got back into the swing of things pretty quickly.  The scenery was nice, and again the weather was very cooperative.  We were greeted, or rather scowled at by a couple of eagles in the trees above.  And then we had some close-up contact with a couple of does.  I think the black flies must have driven them out as they really didn't care that we were only a couple of paddle lengths away from them. 

Further down stream we floated by an odd scene of five women doing yoga on their riverside dock.  And along the way was a C.O. that scared the crap out of me sitting on a rock stream side.  I think he was counting canoes and kayaks.  At least that would explain why he had a table in his hand that he was looking at as we passed by.  The girls ended up ahead of us and that worked out okay for us to just chat and catch up with each other.  The trip was supposed to be 4 hours, but we finished in 3.5 hours, even with the flow of the river being low.

To reward ourselves we headed back to Fitgers Brewery and dived into some great wild rice burgers smothered in mushrooms & cheese, sweet potato fries, and frosty mugs of Big Boat Oatmeal Stout beer (of which I ended up buying a growler of to take home with me).  I love that beer!  We wrapped up the day with a few other activities and then checked the weather for the next day before going to bed.

Sunday we slept in a bit.  Jen and I hadn't slept well in like five days, but the spare bed in Chad and Sarah's house fixed that both nights.  We slept very well and it was hard to tell ourselves to get up and not sleep the day away.  Eventually, we did get up and get going.  Today's agenda was to add a couple of miles to the bicycles on the Munger Trail.  Which, coincidentally, ended right at the house.  The rain had stopped, the sun came out along with a light breeze.  Another perfect day for our plans.   I recommend taking a ride/hike/run/walk or what ever on the Munger trail.  It was very nicely groomed, and if like looking at scenic views or going through what feels like old woods without too much effort, this is a must do.  The very curvy drive up to our drop off spot was fun scenic too. 

Over all it was a very relaxing time, which Jen and I really needed.

www.critters-corner.com