We took a day trip to Duluth to see the tall ships. The day could've been made into one of those "Vacation" movies with my dear husband playing the Chevy Chase/Clark Griswold character.
It was incredibly hot when we got to Duluth. When we arrived, we took an off ramp to find parking, but the police had closed down the streets to the parking lots since they were all full. Lines of people meandered around the entire city waiting to tour the ships. We asked a policeman where we could park and got the wonderful response, "Probably nowhere for at least five miles." Helpful.
I got out of the car with the sunscreen and my knitting and walked about three blocks from the off ramp to the end of the ever-growing line of people. My husband drove off with the kids to find parking.
At the end of the line I met a wonderful little old couple from Northeast St. Paul - Erv and Rosemary. Rosemary and I chatted in line, and every once in awhile she would send Erv off to get her something from their car which was parked five blocks away. I asked her how long it took her to train her husband, and she replied "Fifty-seven years." I asked her how they met, and she didn't remember exactly. I asked her if they had a big celebration on their 50th anniversary, and she said that they did, but all she remembered was being outside in a tent with a lot of people. As we stood in line in the sweltering heat, we talked about raising children, living in Wisconsin and Minnesota, marriage, real estate, farms, cats, dogs, knitting, and the weather - and that is just as partial list. Rosemary loves to talk as much as I do.
Sadly, my husband found out that the line to tour each tall ship would require hours and hours of waiting in the hot sun. We decided to bag our plans and simply take pictures of the beautiful ships and then go to the Lake Superior Zoo. So, I said goodbye to Rosemary. Erv was off fetching something from their car. I wish I had taken her picture. Talking to her was one of the highlights of the day for me.
As you can see, the tall ships were beautiful.
We had fun at the zoo even though most of the animals that were kept outside were laying low because of the heat which didn't allow for many photo opportunities. The kids still had a great time.
Unfortunately, nearly every person we came into contact with in Duluth was incredibly rude which is really too bad since Duluth is a beautiful place.
And, in the end, the kids had a great time and have only good memories of that day.
Then again, these two manage to have fun wherever they go. (They really don't look that much alike, but they sure do in this photo.)
As for me, I'll be staying close to home for awhile. And my poor husband still can't bring himself to talk about that day. I left out most of the really bad parts about the day, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
"No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one." Elbert Hubbard
J. I LOVED it!! And Kate and Joe do look just alike!!
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