Where We Were

On Friday evening and Saturday, we briefly escaped to historic Red Wing, Minnesota.

We love Red Wing and have stayed in the town before. Most recently, we were fortunate enough to get away for two nights in early March. We stayed at the historic St. James Hotel right in the middle of a blizzard, and spent a couple of days feeling lazy and pampered. If you have to visit somewhere while a blizzard is raging outside, please make sure you stay in a place like the St. James Hotel.

However, the St. James Hotel does not take pets.

We spent a quiet evening reading and writing in a somewhat less luxurious hotel where Scout was welcome. We spent the next beautiful day hiking along the Mississippi River and climbing around Barn Bluff. It was warmer than we expected, and the hike wore both of us humans out. But Scout loved every minute of it. She even made a few new friends. We stopped at Pottery Place Antiques for lemonade and iced coffee before heading home that evening.

We made an impulse stop in Hastings, where classic cars were gathering for a car show. It was Scout's least favorite stop, although she did make one or two friends. She didn't like standing so close to cars revving their engines.

Once home, I finished up the evening by doing the dishes and cleaning out the ice cube keeper. For some reason, I felt a small sense of calm after getting this task done.

So, a brief getaway to a beautiful place -- and finally cleaning out the ice cube keeper -- these two things made me feel ready to face the new week.