Great weekend, long week ahead.

Gourds at the Farmer's Market in Two Harbors, MN.

 Cavan and I went to Duluth this weekend. Even though I was (and still am) feeling under the weather, it was an incredible weekend. The hotel was pretty crumby, but it was really nice to have that space to just relax and regroup. It was so great to have nothing to do except eat and rest and be with Cavan.

It's been a while since we spent that kind of quality time together. The last few weekends have been hectic and our Sundays have to include grocery shopping and chores because we have no time to do them any other day of the week. Very little time for relaxing.

The North Shore was beautiful. Friday night we spent getting dinner and relaxing in the hotel. Cavan and I watched quite a bit of TV during our off-times, but it was totally enjoyable. That cable just sucked me in for a while and we watched a ton of wedding and HGTV shows. Cavan humored me all weekend. He seemed to enjoy it, too, but I think he just really liked being alone with me in a completely relaxing atmosphere. When I asked him yesterday what his favorite part was, he said it was spending 48 uninterrupted hours with me. I have to say that was my favorite part, too.

Saturday we woke up and went to breakfast at The Sunshine Cafe in West Duluth. The cafe is run by a very welcoming Korean woman, who treated me like I was family. It was cash only, so Cavan had to get up before we ordered to go to an atm close by. The owner asked if I liked cats and brought me "The Cat Encyclopedia" to keep me company while Cavan was gone for money. ha. I thought it was really cute and the omelet I had was delicious, too.

After breakfast, we went back to the hotel to shower and rest a bit. I really wanted to take a bath while we were in a place that I could, and even though the bathtub was pretty leaky, I was able to take a bit of a bath. When we were ready to go, we walked down to the nearby Starbucks and got some coffee for our little drive up the coast of Superior. We took the scenic route and stopped a few times with no real time limit and no real destination. I took some pictures and really just enjoyed the drive with Cavan. We made it up to Gooseberry Falls and did a little bit of a walk through the trails. We were hardly the only people there, which made it a little less enjoyable, but it was a beautiful day for a walk and the colors were just beginning to be impressive. The drive back to Duluth only took about a half an hour to 45 minutes, so we relaxed and hung out for a bit once we got there.

Saturday night we went out to Superior, Wisconsin for dinner and some drinks. Ryley recommended The Thirsty Pagan Brewery Company for beer and pizza, and that sounded welcome to us. The pizza was yummy and the beer was great. After The Thirsty Pagan, we hit up the Anchor Bar (which Cavan had been talking about pretty much since we started dating). It was yummy and cheap, but we were ready to get comfortable for the night, so we only had a drink each.

The only unfortunate thing about our trip was the really bad quality of sleep we both got both nights. I only wish we could have been more comfortable in our hotel room. Especially since it was supposedly a 3 1/2 star hotel.

Sunday morning we got up and got coffee. We took our time getting in the shower and packing up-- the only goal was to be out of there by noon which was checkout time. It was nice having a lazy morning with my partner. We don't get to do that too much anymore. Before we got on the road, we hit up the Duluth Grille and it was awesome. Little bit of a wait time and the hostess was slightly unintelligent, but the food was sustainably sourced, a lot of it was organic, and perfectly portioned, so I couldn't complain.

The drive home was a bit long, but it was good to spend that time with Cav. We got home at 3ish and Cavan got to watch some football while I rested a bit. I went alone to grocery shop, as requested by Cavan due to his not feeling so great, and we were able to get into bed by 930. I was out by 10 and up for work by 545.

Time to start a new week! We'll see if it's even close to as nice as my weekend with my Cavan was.