Fall in Minnesota October 2008

Cannon Falls home

Lake home

It's fall, and we will be heading out soon. Fall brings on a variety of emotions for me. It makes me kind of sad yet the cool air is always invigorating. I am not sure why the sadness, although it is a changing season and maybe I am just sad that the summer is over and I will be shoveling soon. Oh, that's right, I won't be shoveling, my children will! :) I also think that it IS sad when summer is over because we love our lake home so much it's sad we don't go up there as much in the other seasons. It's also sad because I know we are leaving again and will miss the Cannon house and mostly my kids and parents. I miss all my family and friends but being in the house with Ryan and Jac and Brady for so long it does feel a little lonely when we leave. ANYWAY, on a brighter note...

We will go up to the lake next weekend over MEA and get all the things we want in the RV for our trip south. Then on Monday the 20th, I will be going to Grand Cayman with Helen for a week. When I return on the 27th...it will be a matter of how quick I can load my stuff into the motor home and we will take off. I will be keeping you posted as to where we go on this blog.

I am sad to leave our nephew Jeff, who has cancer back in his good lung and also my friend Holly who I worked with at Airborne, has also been diagnosed with cancer in a lot of places. I pray for them both and by the grace of God I hope to see them both again.

I also worry about Jane and Chuck taking care of Phoebe. She is definitely a sweetie, but I know this is a life changing experience for them. I pray for a good outcome for the whole family and hopefully Kyle will be able to take over.

Until we hit the road.........

Bailey's Harbor, Wisc. and Door County 9/17-9/21

The lighthouse..don't remember which one...:)
Julie (with camera), Carol and me on the boat.
Breakfast at Al Johnson's
They had goats grazing on top of the roof of Al Johnson's restaurant.
The boat we chartered.
The crew!
Kate at her finest!

Julie and Ken rented a stone cottage in Bailey's Harbor, Wisc. and Carol and Larry Olson joined them. John and I joined them a couple days later but brought our motor home and stayed at a campground nearby. We got there on Wednesday...they came out to the campground and we had a few "cocktails" then headed out for dinner at "Coyote Roadhouse". Had a great dinner in a very casual setting and then went back to Ken and Julie's and had a campfire out on the lake. It was a beautiful setting. Some of us had a little too much wine and scotch, someone sent her bra down the flag pole...so to speak...and someone was telling funny stories with extremely comical actions!!! Remember, what happens in Bailey's Harbor, stays in Bailey's Harbor!!! Actually it was all innocent fun !!

Thursday morning we went to breakfast at "Al Johnson's" and was surprised to see goats on the roof. They told us they bring them in for the day to graze and then they go down a ramp and back to the farm at night! This restaurant was very Scandinavian and they had pancakes that were to die for. After breakfast we shopped around town until 1:00 and then took a charter boat out on the lake. It was a really beautiful day and pretty calm on the water. The bummer of the day, and of the trip, was Julie's wedding band slipped off her finger and into Lake Michigan!!!! She was very upset..as well you could imagine. Thursday night we brought fish that my brother Dave had caught and Julie and Carol had brought goodies from their gardens and we had quite the feast! Fish, squash, beans, carrots, potatoes and topped it off with a fresh cherry pie I made.

Hard to beat that at a restaurant! We also had another lovely campfire! (Did you know Ken was an Eagle scout???)

Friday am we met Carol and Larry, Julie and Ken at another restaurant for breakfast. I think it was every bit as good as "Al Johnson's"....but I can't remember the name. After breakfast, Carol and Larry had to head home. They had Gopher tickets for Saturday and Carol had to head to North Dakota for work on Sunday. Julie, Ken, John and I went shopping. Oh boy, did we shop!!!

We found a few really cool items for John's office and got some really great ideas for the Florida home. Friday night we went to "Shoreline" restaurant in Gill's Rock. It was a way out of town, but the view was very pretty. After dinner we just cashed it in.
Saturday we decided to skip breakfast and do lunch out so we went shopping in Fish Creek for quite a while and then ate lunch at some bar. We did a little more shopping afterwards, then went home for a bit and met again at their cottage at dinner time. We decided to go the the Coyote Roadhouse again for dinner, it was close by and we all wanted to get an early start in the morning.

Sunday we left at about 8:30 and made it home by 3:00.

It was a great trip with great friends.