Wordless Wednesday

(We love hiking "Oberg Mountain" in Lutsen)!  

Photo taken fall of 2013

I'm moving up in the world...

So, here's what happened (without too much detail), 

One day last week, I was in a hurry to go to the bathroom and..... well, 

my (ancient) flip-phone fell from my back pocket into the toilet,

 the rest is history!

I've held off a L-O-N-G time on getting one of those new fan-dangled "smart phones", 

so after "the accident", I felt now was probably a good time to give-in 

and get-up-to-speed in the "phone department",  ha ha

Rick and I did a little checking around and decided to stay 

with our current phone provider, so I renew my contract and ended up with a smart phone. 

Here's the conversation with the Sprint employee...

Me: "I dont need anything fancy, I wont be downloading music or movies, I don't want to spend a lot of money, so just the "basic" smart phone will due"

Sprint lady: "If you're a MAC user you might like the iPhone 5C, it's only $35.00"

Me: "Really....35 dollars?"  OK!!!

Some facts about me and the iPhone...

~I am not glued to it all day! 

~I do not sit at a restaurant or public place playing with my phone 

while my husband sits across from me twiddling his thumbs. 

~I do not walk down hallways looking at my phone, oblivious to my surroundings.

~It stays in my purse at church (unless I'm referencing the Bible). 

~I have no audible bells or whistles for facebook or instagram notifications 

(I really don't want to be distracted with all that)

Things I have used it for that I couldn't with my flip phone.....

~Mobile coupons at Target....save $5.00 the other day.

 (I was proud of myself for figuring it out)  :)

~Looked up phone number for Sam's club to check on their hours, as I was running late at Walmart.

~Found the closest coffee shop in Winona with the phone GPS.

~Had some "facetime" talks with Gavin...so nice when I haven't seen him for a few days!

~It's been fun talking photo's with my new phone, I'm getting better figuring out all the options.

~Talk to text is the best thing since sliced bread... I speak into the phone, it types my message for me,

 ( I don't have to reach for my readers to type/read a text message... 

that alone is worth a million buck, but I only paid 35 dollars)

I'm still learning how to use this beast,

 so far it's a good thing  :) 

My favorite color is October...

We knew the colors were nearing peak here in southern Mn,

 so we ventured out yesterday to see what we could see...

Destination Winona!

Hwy. 14E is such a scenic way to travel to Winona, versus the faster route on I 90.

As we traveled the winding roads past Lewiston, 

I made Rick pull over on a curve with no shoulder so I could photograph this beautiful sight. 

I risked my life for this photo...Ha  :)

My Husband LOVES Hardees "Frisco breakfast sandwich". 

Rochester has not had a Hardees for years, so first stop was his favorite 

Fast Food restaurant for a little morning goodness  :)

After we got our "Hardees fix", we visited this neat little shop in downtown Winona. 

I picked up a couple of fall decorations for my dining room, such a fun place to browse.

Did you notice the lady in the 3rd window from the left?

 The glass had been removed and this was a painting.

You cant go to Winona without stopping by Bloedow's Bakery...yum! 

 Down by the campus of Winona State, by the lakes.

I was glad the "colors" had waited for us... such a spectacular site.

Then there's Garvin Height's...

 If you haven't been to Garvin Height's lookout in the fall, 

you haven't seen this breathtaking view... 

 ...and this is only a hint of what you see until you take your eye away from the camera's view-finder.

 Winona State University campus (center)

My daughter attended college here, such a beautiful setting!

 The East Lake apartments where my daughter lived the last two years of her schooling

(Located a few blocks east of the campus)

We got our fill of pretty, in this quaint little town of Winona.

Oh My Heart

Our youngest granddaughter is now 3 1/2 months old, 

she is such a little charmer. We love our visits and time spent getting to know her.  

 Baby toes

Thursday we got to babysit, so her mommy & daddy 

could have an anniversary date.  

 All went well!  Grandpa's working his magic

Brice and Jenny live in a beautiful neighborhood, 

we went for a walk while baby napped, 

it was so quiet, peaceful and most of all beautiful with all the turning leaves.

 It was quite spectacular!

"FOOT-LOOPS"

Chasing the sun...

Went out for a little drive tonight...chasing the sun  

Wordless Wednesday

Fall flowers.... 

More highlights from our North shore trip....

If you ever get to Grand Marais, you must check out Artist point

 It's an easy hike, with beauty everywhere you look!

The enchanted forest...I expected to see little fairies (no such luck)

My guy

  

 The bay area in Grand Marais

 Looking back on Grand Marais from Artist's Point

The clouds were descending over the town, 

which put a damper on the fall colors in the hills 

~ ~ ~ 

After our morning hike we had some lunch then headed south about 25 miles to 

Temperance River for some more hiking....we love this area. 

 This is only about 5 miles from the place we stay

The park is full of falls and gorges...just beautiful 

We could site here all day 

 Just pretty

hiking along the river was lovely!

~ ~ ~

The Sun did not make much of an appearance this year, 

on our trip to the North Shore but low and behold,

 it came out for us Friday morning... the day we left

I was thankful for the little bit sunshine

Just south of Duluth on our trek back to Rochester we ran into this......

SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW... 

you know I was beyond glad!!!

A climb well worth it...

It's a cool breezy morning here on the North shore. 

Rick and I are on our annual autumn get-away, a little piece of heaven on earth. 

This is the view from our sofa, as I sip on my Irish Cream Latte,

 and listen to the roar of lake Superior, it's quite breath-taking!

Yesterday we arrived in Tofte, MN about noon. 

Our lodge is basically in the heart of the Superior National Forest. 

We have many options for hiking, this time we decided to try a trek we had never done....

Carlton peak

The peak is 1526 ft above sea level and is part of the Sawtooth Mountain Range which boarders Lake Superior from Beaver Bay to Grand Marais.

Before I go on about our adventure....

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.

Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities, 

His eternal power and divine nature. 

So they have no excuse for not knowing God.  Roman 1:20 NLT

This did not happen by chance....amen

 Never a dull moment with this man...he's the best!

We know we are on the right trail by the blue marking on the tree....whew  :) 

It was a bit of a challenge, but nothing I wasn't up for 

The summit

 Yay, we did it!!! 

Lake Superior in the background, it's so hard to capture the dimension on camera, 

just take my word for it....we were Wayyyyyyyy up there.

 Of course, there had to be a golf swing (with my walking stick)

Perched on the summit of Carlton Peak

 Pure beauty

Today the forecast says, 100% rain 

 We may have a day of R&R, or we may venture into Grand Marais and do some shopping, 

either way we are happy to be doing what ever our little hearts desire.