What a fabulous time I had on my trip North this summer! Here are a few highlights:</

I flew to Seattle and took the airport shuttle North to Bellingham. Son Phil had broken his hand while removing the decking from his back deck so we had to scale back our activities a little but we still had a great time. I tried to convince him that we could all pitch in and work on replacing the wood while he supervised but I think he wants all the fun for himself once his hand heals. (?!?) We had a great walk around Lake Padden and the kids did some kayaking. I helped Phil a bit one day with some chores for work – chores for him actually, but fun for me… We had a lovely sunset dinner one night overlooking the Bellingham marina and made lots of nice meals at home, too.

I did my usual grocery shopping spree – this year pigging out on peaches and blueberries. I can’t even tell you how wonderful those peaches tasted – it had been way too long since I’d had the pleasure. I fell in love with the Bellingham Coop – buying Matcha tea and a huge (and heavy!) bag of Himalayan Salt. Next time I am going to spend more time there, I loved it!

Before I left Mexico I had set myself up on the new Telcel plan that includes calls, data, and text messagesin the US for an additional 50 pesos. It worked great for me although I found texting to be easier through WhatsApp than through regular messaging. Thankfully everyone I was visiting use WhatsApp anyway.

Granddaughter Erica was packing for her return to college after a summer working and living at home. She’s got an apartment with a couple other women this year so there was a lot of planning about what to take and also what would fit in the truck taking her there! Owen still had another week until school started but an August start sure seems early to me. After a week of fun, the family headed out to take Erica back to school and I headed back to Seattle to fly to Minneapolis to see my sister and her husband in their new home.

I love the life my sister has in Minneapolis, and I got to experience it immediately, as we took the light rail from the airport to their stop two blocks from their place in the North Loop neighborhood. I loved their condo with its loft style and gorgeous view of downtown. After a quick trip to Whole Foods (yay!) we made some pizza and sat on the balcony eating and enjoying the view. The next day she and I took off “Up North”, driving about 4 hours to our aunt and uncle’s summer house on a lake. On the way we had to buy a dozen ears of corn from a guy selling it out of a pickup truck, stop and watch the big waves on Mille Lacs (everyone calls it Lake Millax so I was totally mixed up when reading a map!) taking pictures of the giant walleye (that’s a fish), and visiting the Judy Garland museum. It was a fun – if rainy – trip.

We had a wonderful time catching up with our aunt and uncle and the next morning were treated to a bit of a local tour that included the Big Fork River (above) and the Lost Forty. The Lost Forty is some acreage (yes, 40 acres) that were platted by Weyerhaeuser as a lake instead of land so that it never was logged. This means that there’s real old growth timber and we were able to have a nice walk through those beautiful old trees. After lunch at a local spot that had side by side moose and elk heads we headed back to the city. I hope you know I am shortening this by a lot! We had a blast.

The next few days were spent walking around the beautiful Lake of the Isles, shopping at some neighborhood boutiques, making corn soup, bicycling to the Farmer’s Market, touring the sights in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and eating excellent meals at the Freehouse and Batchelor Farmer. (That’s my sister and me at The Batchelor Farmer at the top of the post.) When we took our bike ride we rented one from the Nice Ride stand for me. It worked out great until the last mile or so when it lost one gear and the seat went too low. But I love the idea and would do it again in a heartbeat.

All too soon it seemed the visit was over. Suki got up early to walk me to the light rail to catch my flight. What a great trip.

When I got home the weather had ratcheted up and up so it was quite an adjustment coming from such cool temperatures. But I am all adjusted now – well, as well as I can – and am having fun here in Mazatlan. I’ve even been out exercising in my new Nike Freeknit shoes! I still hope to work up to running, right now I am still back and forth between running and walking. But with my new KNIT shoes, anything is possible!