I just realized that today is the 27th anniversary of the day I started at IBM. I cna think of no better way to celebrate it than by hanging out and relaxing by the lake here in Lutsen MN. We’re out her with my parents, my sister mary. herhusband john and thier kids ellery and jake, and my brother, hiw wife shaun and thier kids betsy ‘berto ,and chris. Their other two , ben and billy will be coming in Tuesday.

We got here yesterday around 1 AM.. after two flights and a 3 hour layover in the very cool Detroit airport. It has some great art installations like this ever changign light tunnel

This cool fast indoor train

And the coolest computer controlled fountain

e’re staying at the Lutsen Resort.. it’s a 126 years old collection of a main lodge and soem log cabins

Here’s our cabin

The cabin has one thing in common with the 3.2% ‘near beer’ they sell in Minnesota on Sundays

They’re both very close to water !

Diane and I woke early and drove 20 miles to Gran Marais.. the site of the nearest grocery store. The store did not open until 10.. so we spent some time wondering around the town.. We found the list of activities in the area.. it’s pretty quiet here !

Gran Marais has a nice beach front..

The town was being set up for a street fair of some sort. There were lots of food carts being set up

THere were two enterprising young kids were sellign rocks

We came across a group of folks gathering with musical intruments..

It was a church service. we stayed around for the first song.. a young guy on guitar.. His music was very mooving.. We think he said that he had a child that just died.. but we wern’t sure we heard.. .. Iv ebeen thinking about it all day…

We walked around town for another half hour or so.. We wwer checkign out the stores, the signs, the people and their bumper stickers.. like this one.

and this one.

We found a great family run donought place…

Ans d a commemerative painting of the Edmond Fitzgerald… a frighter tht sank in a gale in in75. It was commemorated in the Gordon Lightfoot song The Wreck of th Edmond Fitzgerald.

We got our food shoping done.. then came back to Lutsen. Everyonewas awake by then including our nephew Jake..

… And his sister Ellery

Shaun brougth us soem wierd food she’d found including caffinated (!) , lemon flavored potatoe chips.. Yummy max ?

Max and Jake played guitar for a while

I went over to see Bully and Shaun and their kids.. Shaun has some great bumper stickers..

Rad this one twice.. Evil but funny

How many of you get this one ? (Cosmological physics humor 🙂

We came back to find all the donoughts had been eaten but one sliver.. A Cohn traight.. no one will ever eat the last morsel. its’ like Xeno’s paradox for food !

Around 4 Diane. Mom, Dad and I went for a nice hike in the forest.. it was beutiful.. and a bit buggy.

I found red, white and blue berries !

We crossed their ‘onion river’.. Our Winnoski means ‘onion river’ in Iroquis.

We placed a SamStoen at the point we turned around.. and sat and talked about Sam for a bit. I felt him here with us all day …

On the way back we ran into a group of girlscouts who were from a camp nearbywere so cute.. They flocked together like wood eleves.. They asked us all sorts of questions..so we asked some back They were from Dulth and had been at camp for 8 weeks ! We told them Sam’s story and gave them 2 Samstones to place for us.

Thye were like walking commercial for Krocs !

When wegot home. we set up to make SamStones. Diane had orded the clay and had it shipped to here lat week. . The kids and and adults all worked throught the rest of the afternoon making SmStones. many of these folks had never made them..

Gabe and I took soem time to go prtend to be playing golf. i say pretend becae we found the glub a wedge shaped thing and the two balls in the woods. Gabe taught em how to old the thing and how ot swing.. We hit it around thie tiny course until we ran into a couple of womenwho told us we were going backwards.. we told them that we didn’t care.. but evidently they did care !

We came back to the house for dinner. Jake was on the floor playing duims.

The rest of the kids were playing board games..

And we all ate.. Max and Billy got ou their guitars and did soem wonderful jams. I’ll try to record some of them tomorrow.

I did catch Max doing his song to Dinae..’My mother the spider’

OK.. I’m really sleepy and that’s all I have for today.. gnite to everyone.. Sam.. we’re really missing you here buddy.. ‘nite
-me