birthday getaway

Since we couldn't do much for our birthdays (which were the week of Acquire the Fire), I was determined to do something special the weekend after. After a tip from Bernard about wanting to go for a nice walk and some help from my mom, I had a plan: take Bernard out for a walk on Friday night. What he didn't know is that I packed for the weekend, put everything in the trunk, and started driving north.
We spent the weekend on the North Shore hiking, relaxing, and taking in the beautiful scenery. We stayed at a hotel that had a water slide, so that was a bonus, too (thanks, Mom!). We toured several state parks, took lots of pictures, browsed in local shops, and ate some amazing food.
The actual "walk" was Saturday night. The MN DNR puts on candlelight snowshoe walks all over the state in the winter. Neither of us had ever tried snowshoes before, but we thought we'd give it a shot. It was so beautiful - walking under the billions of stars with candles (surrounded by ice columns) to light the way. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time!
Here are some of the pictures of the weekend. (no, none of the showshoe walk - we forgot the camera!) I guess it just means we'll have to do it again next year. Enjoy!