Sunset in Black and White

My parents gave us a gift certificate to the Trestle Inn for Christmas, so we took a drive up there to eat and check out the back roads lakes along the way.

Not a back road lake, but Lake Superior before we got to the back roads

I almost ordered the Minnesota Burger (hamburger with tater tots and cream of mushroom soup on top), but ended up getting the Fisherman's Plate with fish, shrimp and scallops instead.When we left, the sun was setting and we stopped along one of many lakes to take some photos. Barry snapped this one:

I was confused why, as I was taking pictures with my phone, the color didn't seem to be showing up. It wasn't until I uploaded them to my computer that I realized that Ollie had switched the photo mode to black and white when he was playing games on the phone. Instead of a lovely sunset, I got some spooky looking black and whites.

Full moon straight ahead

We also drove up Palisade Head to see the moon shining over Lake Superior

Spring Break: Enger Tower

After the zoo, we drove to Enger Tower, which overlooks the city of Duluth. I definitely want to go back in the summer when everything is green!

Barry and Remy walking up to Enger Tower

Enger Tower

The view from the tower

Blatnik Bridge area

Looking out across the opposite window

Along the bottom of each floor were holes for drainage. I put my camera down and took a blind picture of the city beyond.

Spring Break: Duluth Zoo

After our stop at Canal Park, we proceeded to the zoo. We hadn't been there since Ollie was a baby and Remy was 2, so neither of them remembered it. (See our last trip here.) Even though it's a small zoo, the grounds are nice and we all had a good time seeing the animals.

After we looked at some small animals inside, the first animal we saw was the tiger

Lemurs

Tamarind Monkeys

Turtle

Callimico (cutest little thing was right by the glass)

Comparing arm spans to the monkey's arm spans:

In the nocturnal exhibit, a porcupine eating lettuce

Posing on the frogs and turtle:

Nearly impossible to get 4 kids to look and smile at the same time

Jackson had fun taking pictures, too

Staredown with a goat--I guess the goat won, because we walked away

Kodiak Bear

There is a snowy owl back there, but I couldn't focus on it because the fencing got in the way

The polar bear was one of the favorite animals to see

Canada Geese wander freely throughout the zoo

Lions lounging

Kookaburra

And finally, one last look at the tiger right before we left the zoo

After the zoo, we went UP to Enger Tower to get a view of Duluth.

Spring Break: Canal Park

The kids had Spring Break last week, although the weather wasn't very springlike. We even woke up to snow on the ground one day.

Raina did her best to "think spring!"

Despite the weather, we went to Duluth one day for fresh air and family time.
Our first stop was Canal Park, where we saw several ships in the area.

It was a little chilly by the lake

Buddies

Brothers

Look at those eyelashes!

Big brother/little brother

Hat on, coat optional

The Algosoo was scheduled to pass through, so we joined the crowd and watched it pass under the Aerial Lift Bridge.

I could barely fit the whole ship in the photo

After the ship had passed, we picked up some bread and coffee at Amazing Grace. Then we were on to our next destination: the Duluth Zoo.