first day of summer

Monday did not start out feeling much like the first day of summer. It was another dreary day (just about all of June has been rainy so far); and we can't afford to go on vacation this year, while with school having been out for a week "everyone" else was doing fun summer stuff but us. After lunch, when it was my time to work, we all got ready to go for a walk instead. Of course it started raining even more, so we got into the car and started driving. Lilly fell asleep, and so we just kept driving; down south, passed Nerstrand big woods state park and eventually, through the stormy weather, all the way to Pepin, Wisconsin. After two hours in the car, just as we arrived in Pepin, Lilly woke up and the sky cleared. We had coffee at a cute coffee shop, drove by some impressive looking houses overlooking Lake Pepin, played on the beach, then had dinner at the much-raved-about Harbor View Cafe. And it was amazing! The food and wine were excellent, though way above our budget. (The meal was covered thanks to gift credit cards from grandpa Kent (Leighton's dad) and grandma Cheryl!) And Lilly was just her sweetest little self, nibbling on the food, playing with the guests around us, smiling to the server. What a fun first day of summer it turned out to be!

We did not bring our camera, but here are a couple of photos of Harbor View Cafe from their site. (Actually, since the restaurant doesn't accept credit cards, we were told to just send a check when we got home!):

We decided to keep up the fun the following day and headed out to Lake Byllesby beach in Dakota county (which Lilly had fun wading in, even though it was filled with alga). Afterward, we strolled around in charming Cannon Falls.

When we came home, we reserved a cheap room at a motel in Duluth on Lake Superior for next Monday-Thursday. We've both been missing Greece, looking out on the Mediterranean sea from our deck at Alechos' in Drios, Paros, surrounded by his vineyard. Lake Superior is the closest we can get here in Minnesota to something resembling a sea coast. I've only visited once, briefly stopping on my way further up north, and Leighton and Lilly have never been. We'll bring a cooler with food for breakfast and lunch, and will probably have dinner out. We hope to spend just about a total of $300 though, plus gas money; a fairly affordable mini-vacation. Together with this week's summer kick-off, it should fill our vacation needs so we can buckle down for work during the month of July--with an occasional day off to go visit other towns and beaches, or just go to the pool when it's nice out and we feel like we need some time off.