Hiking Oberg Mountain

Fall is the best time for hiking in Northern Minnesota.  The weather cools down, the fall colors are showing, and the long winter is just around the corner.  Oberg Mountain is near Lutsen.  The trail is 2.25 miles up and around Oberg Mountain.

The first overlook; we stopped here and ate our picnic lunch

The weather forecast said sunny, but it was definitely cloudy

Ollie the sweetheart

Sunrise, September 22

I missed the September 15 sunrise because it was raining, so I was ready to go out again this week.  I went to the marina, down the hill on the rocks where I could be right next to the water.  Up on the breakwater, the large rocks can somewhat block the view.  It was 30 degrees, so I had to find a hat and gloves to wear.  The sky was mostly cloudy.

 Looking toward North Shore Mining

Lots of waves breaking against the rocks

A Day in Duluth

We don't get to Duluth all that often, so when we do go, we often have a long list of things to accomplish.  Barry was out of town, so I packed up the kids on a Saturday earlier this month.  In May, we visited the Aquarium with Abby, Jason and Lucy.  It was less than $10 more to get a membership for a year, so our first stop was to visit the Great Lakes Aquarium.

Raina liked taking pictures of the different fish.

The divers were getting ready for a show

We watched a ship pass by

Sunrise, September 8

This week I stopped a bit south of Split Rock Lighthouse, where the Split Rock River flows into Lake Superior.  The sun rose at 6:33 a.m.  The sky was very colorful before the sun actually rose, but I missed most of the awesome color.  It was in the upper 40's, but felt quite nice.

A parking area is conveniently located on the side of the highway, with steps leading down to the beach.  The peninsula blocked most of the sunrise action.

Still nice color in the sky

Beach, lake, sky

This area of the beach has old pilings in the water

Back to School 2013

The kids started back to school this week, so it's time for the annual picture comparison:

Jackson is in high school, starting 9th grade 

 Last year, 8th grade

Raina's in the middle elementary grades, in 4th grade this year

 Last year, 3rd grade

Remy is in the early elementary grades, in 1st grade this year

 Last year, kindergarten

Finally, Ollie starts preschool next week.  (Everyone else had their backpack for school, so Ollie wanted some school supplies to carry.)

 Last year, 3 years old

Back to School, 2013

 Back to School, 2012

I watched from a distance for the bus pick them up

Sunrise, September 2

I can't believe it's September already!  The sunrise is getting later; this week it was 6:25 a.m. compared with 5:47 a.m. a month ago.  It was 48 degrees with a stiff breeze off the lake.  I continued south a bit to Iona's Beach, a rock beach with unique pinkish rocks that tinkle when the waves wash over them.  Heavy clouds surrounded the lake, so the sun was barely visible.