Can't Figure it Out...

When I wrote posts about our niece visiting from Pennsylvania...I wrote 6 posts and added photos of where we visited in the area on those posts, like the ones that you see currently on my blog.  For two weeks I have been trying to figure out WHY those 6 posts do not show up....they were about Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry State Park, Enger Tower, Views "from the top", and the Rose Garden.  I have tried everything, I've read the help directions, etc. and just don't know what I did wrong.  Now if I search for those, or go into my edit list it shows they are "published", and if I click on one from there, it takes me to it.  So, apparently they are "somewhere"...just can't seem to see them on the front end of my blog?  Any bloggers out there have any ideas for me why this happened?  Thanks!

If I can't get them to show up, I will re-post them on a new page and they will appear at top... but don't want to do it right now, I'm afraid the ones I have showing will "drop off"...so I'll wait awhile till I think those that read my blog will have read the ones there.

Must Be the End of August....

How quickly the weather can change in Duluth, especially in August.  It seems that the beginning of August is when we finally feel summer temps here, in the high 70 and 80's.  Then by the last week of August, it cools off and starts feeling like fall in the air.  That's the way the last few days have felt.  And, we had rain last night, not a hard rain, just a nice rain.  So today we had fog, both downtown and over the hill.  And, it feels just like fall!

Lake Walk - Lake Superior, Duluth, MN

The weather here has been perfect for walks. I love to walk on our Lakewalk, but don't do it as often as I should. Yesterday I took advantage of the good weather and took a walk. This time I walked from the Eastern part of the Lakewalk instead of the part by Canal Park. And, no I did not walk the whole thing. I'm just too out of shape to be able to do that. However, when Stacie was here, I dropped her off at the eastern part and she ran the whole thing. By the time I drove down to Canal Park and parked, she was done with the run. I think it's 2 1/2 or 3 miles. On my lunch breaks sometime I go to the Rose Garden and walk... no matter what part of the walk you do, it all runs by Lake Superior, and it's beautiful! A lot of people bike it too. I believe the tourists have embraced it so much more than the locals. Once again, people that live here take things like the Lakewalk for granted, and think it is there...I can always do/or see it... there's always tomorrow...then the time goes by and they just don't get to it. I was talking to someone the other day, who said she'd never been to Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse, or even

Enger Tower (which is right here in town)!!! So much beauty here, so much to see and appreciate!

Beautiful Duluth Days/Hurricane Irene in the East

The last few days have really been what I term as "Perfect Duluth Days"....low humidity, sunny and the temperatures in the 70's!! I have to say with our perfect days we are having, I keep thinking of the weather that the East Coast and Eastern states have been getting with Hurricane Irene. I feel so much for what they are going through. I have been watching the weather channel almost constantly the last two days. Yesterday, I called my siblings and asked if they were ready for the storm. My brother told me that they brought everything in from the deck that they could, and tied down all that couldn't be moved. We have family also in Maryland and South Carolina, Virginia and good friends in New Jersey. Most of them are on facebook with me, so I have been hearing that the worst that has happened is being out of power for a time, but they were prepared for that. I talked to my sister this afternoon, they got a lot of rain and wind and lost power, but no damage, thank goodness.

I remember the summer of 1972, one of the hurricanes created a lot of damage from wind and rain in our area there in Adams and York Counties. I can't remember which hurricane that was, maybe "Hazel". The reason I remember it so well from here in Duluth, is that my brother was getting married and I so wanted to be in PA for his wedding, but we could not afford a plane ticket and hubby didn't want to make the drive. I have to thank my Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Dick from Carlise, PA. They drove out to Duluth and visited and then took our daughter, who was under 2 at the time, and me back home so that I could attend the wedding. Then, another Aunt and Uncle said they would drive us back to MN. Talk about wonderful aunts and uncles...I have them!!!! Well, we made it home for the wedding, but Uncle Bill, who was an engineer for a paper plant, was not able to leave work to drive us back, because of the damage there had been from the hurricane. So, that's why I remember!! So, how did we get back to Duluth, you ask?

My dear parents paid for a one way plane ticket back. My parents did so much for me all my life, this was just one more example. (Back in those days not everyone had major credit cards, and we did not have one...so I couldn't slap in on a credit card)... now a days, that is what I do, ha ha.

Back to Blogging - Where has the Year Gone????

Oh my - I've been meaning to get back to my blogging. I knew I hadn't blogged for quite a while, but never thought it was a year! I see my last post was August 20, 2010..and today it is August 21, 2011! A whole year! I guess I have spent this past year on Facebook! My sister wants me to get back to blogging, as that was how she kept up with my doings here in Minnesota...from her home in PA. She does not want to do Facebook. I know a lot of people have "resisted" Facebook, but a lot of my PA relatives friends are on Facebook, and it's been really great keeping up with them. They don't call or write, but they will "facebook" me! Guess that's why I've been spending the time on that instead of my blog. But, I enjoy writing...so I am going to come back to my blog.

UPDATE from Linda in Duluth

I'm not sure if this past year was any busier than other years, or if I'm just getting older and can't keep up to doing in the evenings and weekends what I used to do.. I am sure it is the latter. I'm exhausted after an 8 hour day of work and come home and I don't have the energy to do much at all...and it's getting worse! Weekends, I have to say, haven't been as productive as they used to be either! Yeah, I am getting old. In my mind I'm not older, but physically, I am!

I can't say that you have missed anything big that went on in my or my family's life since August, 2010. Looking back, I can only say that I'm still working full time for The American Cancer Society. I am 2 days and one month away from being a year older, and closer to Social Security, and maybe, with any luck, retirement...though in this economy, I'm not sure of that. Fortunately, our family has all been blessed with good health, for which I'm very thankful. My husband is still enjoying his retirement of 5 years so far. (5 yrs., unbelievable!) I try not to be jealous, but some days I admit that I am. Our Grandson will be 22 in October, and our Grand- daughter will be 11 on Tuesday. Our daughter had her 40th Birthday a year ago, and our boys are adults, ages 32 and 29. The 29 year old, Scott, celebrated 2 years of marriage to his Sarah in April of this year. Rob still works as a Pharmacy Technican, but he has taken up a passion for cooking and finds it to be how he relaxes...and his Dad and I are the beneficiaries of that passion!

I was blessed to be able to travel back to my home, Pennsylvania in April. I spent a week there and had a wonderful time. Of course, it's hard not to have my parents there, as we have lost both of them, and a brother, but there are still 3 brothers and a sister and sister in laws and brother in law...and lots of others in our large Ebersole family for me to visit!!! And, I find each time I go home, that neices and nephews are starting to have their own families...does that age me or what! My brother, Steve and his wife are both retired now, so they invited me to stay with them. That was fun being able to spend more time with both of them.

Spring and most of the summer went by pretty quietly until the first week of this month...a real boost in my spirits, which I really needed, as I had no boost since April in PA. Our niece, Stacie, the oldest daughter of the brother that we lost to cancer at age 52, came to visit us!!! That was wonderful...I will do some posts about that visit and post pictures. I absolutely loved showing her around our beautiful city and area!! And, she was such a delight to be with!!

I see in my last post that we had a heat wave here last summer too... we had even more of a heat wave the end of July and first 2 weeks of this month. This past week we have had temps in the 70's and it's been great. Really enjoying the cooler weather, especially when it is accompanied by SUN!

So, that's the update for now....will post regularly now...so Julie, you can keep up with your sister!!! Love you Julie...you are the best sister ever!!!!

Stacie's Visit to Duluth, MN - August, 2011

Our niece from York, Pennsylvania came to Minnesota to visit us the first week of this month. She flew into Minneapolis and visited with our daughter (her cousin) and her family in Hudson, WI for 2 days, then came up to Duluth. Stacie was here with her Mother and my parents back in the early 70's when she was about a year and a half old. Of course, she doesn't remember that...ha ha.

She is a school teacher, so has the summers off. When I go back to PA to visit all my family and friends there, I always encourage everyone to come out and visit our beautiful area! It's been many years since we have hosted anyone here, so I was so delighted when she told me in early 2011 that she would be out to see us!

I took her all over Duluth and the North Shore and showed her everything. We also went shopping

at the shops at Canal Park, downtown, and our Mall (though our mall is nothing compared to the malls in the York area!) She was impressed though with the Mall of America in Bloomington! We did a lot of eating out at our great restaurants...and we all had a great time. My posts below this are of the different places that we went to. It was great fun!1


There was a 5 K Run at our Lake Superior Zoo...Stacie does running, so she participated in this and was happy with her time.

Relaxing on our porch

We went to see a show at the Teatro Zuccone one of our new theatres for live performances. My friends were in the show "The Wild Party", and one of them directed it. It was a fun evening.

Enjoying the intermission....

This is in downtown Duluth in the old Historic section of town, across from Old Hotel Duluth, that is now Greysolon Plaza.

some more photos of our fun times in following posts

Our Niece Stacie's Visit to Duluth

I will have to say that a highlight of 2011, will have to be the visit from our niece from Pennsylvania. Stacie is the oldest daughter of my brother, Jerry. We lost Jerry to cancer in 2003 and he is missed very much by all of us. The other highlight of 2011, of course was my visit home to PA and my family and friends there that I made in April. When I am home I always encourage everyone to come and see us in Minnesota (and our daughter, in Hudson, WI). It has been a very, very long time since anyone has come to see us from PA. My brother Steve and his wife, Donna came to Hudson last summer (the highlight of 2010) and visited there, our family went down and spent part of the week with them at her house. That is because Steve and Donna were in Duluth, but never down by Dawn's area. Dawn wanted to host them and we had a wonderful time.

I told Stacie to fly into Mpls airport, so that she could spend some time with Dawn and family and then we had her up here for 5 days. So, she was able to spend time and see both of our areas. She came the first week of this month, and I was able to take the whole week off work to be with her. The weather was hot when she arrived, so Dawn and Bob took her boating on the St. Croix River. Also, a trip to The Mall of America. She loved the boating and the shopping!

I loved being able to show her around our beautiful Duluth, North Shore and area. I love being a "tour guide", her visit and our time together was just the energizing that I needed. I was feeling down for some reason, all summer... pretty much sticking to home on weekends and going no where.. and I really did need some pepping up. Thank you, Stacie for coming!!!!

I took SO many pictures of our adventures that week... of the beauty of the area...and to record the fun we had. Since I have so many photos to share with you...I will have a post for each area we visited. I hope you will enjoy the photos and think of the joy we had as you read the posts and look at the photos!

More Fun - Stacie's Visit to Duluth

photo at left: Bob, Stacie, Rob and Linda out to eat!

Our niece from York, Pennsylvania came to Minnesota to visit us the first week of this month. She flew into Minneapolis and visited with our daughter (her cousin) and her family in Hudson, WI for 2 days, then came up to Duluth. Stacie was here with her Mother and my parents back in the early 70's when she was about a year and a half old. Of course, she doesn't remember that...ha ha.

She is a school teacher, so has the summers off. When I go back to PA to visit all my family and friends there, I always encourage everyone to come out and visit our beautiful area! It's been many years since we have hosted anyone here, so I was so delighted when she told me in early 2011 that she would be out to see us!

Lunch at Va Bene - downtown Duluth - wonderful Italian Food and seating on the deck overlooking Lake Superior!

Stacie loves to buy shoes - so I took her here...they do not have this back east.

Our Mall...sorry to say not much to show off compared to the Malls back east!

Out to lunch!

Look at the rest of my posts about our adventures and photos.. Duluth Harbor and Canal Park sites, Historic Glensheen, Enger Park and Tower, scenes up the North Shore and much more!

SHARE THE BEAUTY OF DULUTH!!

Our niece from Pennsylvania visited us the first week of this month (August). It has been a long time since we have had company from my family and friends in PA. I was on cloud nine that week...I took a week vacation, so I could show Stacie everything!!! My posts from now on, for a while will show photos of the places I took her. So, those who have never seen Duluth or Northern MN will want to come up here and visit us!!! I am proud of Duluth and want to share!!!

I love showing off our city, our Lake Superior, all of our sights, and our North Shore.

I love being a "tour guide", it energizes me and reminds me of the beautiful things our area has to offer to not just the tourists, but to the people who live here. It's sad, that so many people who live here never go to see the tourist spots, never see what's new, and take our area for granted! It peeves me even more, when I hear Duluthian's complain about the "tourists" that is just plain awful. They should become a "tourist" so they would know what people see when they visit here, if they did, and they saw all the shopping visitors do in our shops, and the restaurant and hotel business...they would get quiet and never complain again!!! I talked to several visitors, who told me that they come to Duluth each summer because they love it so!!! We shopped at all the shops in Canal Park on Monday and Tuesday afternoons, and there were so many people shopping, spending money, helping our economy...if there were that many on off days such as Monday and Tuesday, think of how many there are on weekends!! Everyone that lives here needs to smile, welcome and chat with our tourist and visitors. Make them feel at home, let them know we are happy to share our beautiful Lake and city and North Shore!!!

Since it has been a few years since I have shown Duluth off, there were places I hadn't checked out lately either, and I found so many improvements, our city's visitors/convention bureau and "Visit Duluth" organization are doing a great job in promoting and in keeping our visitor sites in good shape. I was really surprised at the Enger Tower area, that has been under restoration for the last year or so... it is really beautiful! I know that our Mayor has a priority to restore Skyline Drive that has fallen into disrepair lately...and after driving it, it certainly does need it...thank goodness that will be addressed and fixed!

So many things to be proud of in our city.... share the beauty, share the enthusiasm and encourage visitors.... and let the visitors know how much you love the area you live in!!!

More Shopping on Canal Park Drive

The shops on Canal Park Drive....

"Grandma's Saloon and Deli Restaurant" Yum, yum...best Chicken Wild Rice soup

& onion rings!

"Little Angie's Mexican Cantina"
"The Blue Heron"

Canal Park Shopping with Stacie and Lake Walk

If you are planning a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area up north, you need to check out this shop! Their bags last forever!

Ask Stacie how she liked her chocolate carmel apple!
Minnesota Slip Bridge - connecting Canal Park with The Duluth Entertainment & Convention Center Complex

Lots of shops to browse and shop in. A nice variety too.

Aerial Lift Bridge and Canal, Duluth, MN

Bridge and Canal at Sundown

The Bridge Lifted for boats/sail boats and ships to go under....
Stacie at the Canal & Bridge
Irving Ore Ship - retired and docked for tours

Vista Cruise of the Twin Ports Harbor

See the Twin Ports Harbor Duluth/Superior on the Vista Fleet Cruise
This is a guided tour. This is a must for everyone who visits Duluth for the first time.

ADuluth/Superior Harbor cruise... on one of the Vista Fleet sightseeing boats. (shown above) This guided tour will take the visitor under the Aerial Lift bridge, into Lake Superior and then back to the harbor to see the workings of our Duluth/Superior Port. They will see and be told about the ore and grain boats that take on loads of ore and grain and make their way to the St. Lawrence Seaway. You will see up close the ore docks, grain elevators and ships that are in the harbor taking on their loads. You will not understand what the ports do or the importance of them, and the history of them, unless you are out there by the sites and listening to the very competent tour guides. Stacie really enjoyed this tour, and I enjoyed seeing it again after so many years. Whenever I take someone on this tour, I learn more! When I first came here 42 years ago I did not understand the port until that July when my parents came to visit and I took them and my siblings on this boat cruise. These photos were taken from the boat cruise.

Historic Glensheen Estate - Duluth, MN

Stacie and I toured Glensheen. I have been there many times, as I show this to everyone who
visits us. It is a guided tour, and I learn more each

time and am always at awe at the beauty of this home!

The Street side of Glensheen Mansion

THE CARRIAGE HOUSE

THE LAKESIDE VIEW OF THE ESTATE:

The estate sits on the shore of Lake Superior

BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS AND GARDENS

A hallmark of extraordinary design. A businessman’s enduring legacy. A showcase of diverse interior styles. But at its very heart, a family home. Welcome to Glensheen, the historic Congdon estate. Along the shore of Lake Superior, a 7.6-acre expanse of wooded land enfolds the 39-room Jacobean Revival mansion that is Minnesota’s premier historic site. The interiors of the mansion have endured, boasting nearly all of the same furnishings and décor that graced the rooms when estate was completed in 1908. Even the formal gardens and naturalistic landscape retain much of their original design. Here, visitors are given a fascinating look at life in an affluent family home from the turn of the last century.

Glensheen is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Partner Place of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

- From d.mn.edu/glen/

Built between 1905 - 1908 - this was the home of Chester and Clara Congdon. In 1968, the estate was given to the University of Minnesota Duluth, which operates Glensheen to this day. At the time, Elisabeth Congdon (youngest daughter of Chester Congdon) was given a life estate, allowing her to occupy Glensheen until her death. It opened to the public in 1979. For years, the third floor and attic were closed to the public due to safety concerns over limited access. However, in 1992, both areas were opened to small group tours. The estate is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. - from Wikipedia.org