June 30, 2008, Part 2

Around 3 p.m. this afternoon, Kathleen and I left Leech Lake for the 5-hour drive to Minneapolis. We making the trek to pick up our son Joe and our two dogs, Marco and Elsa, who would be flying in from San Jose the following morning.

We took a leisurely drive on Hwy. 2 East to Floodwood, then headed South on Rte. 73. Along the way we saw a beautiful orange-yellow flower blooming all along the roadside. We stopped and examined the flower, although to this day Kathleen and I don't completely agree on what it was. She swears it was a member of the aster family, and I agree, suggesting it was the orange hawkweed, which is a member of the aster family. Kathleen is not convinced this is the flower we saw. Either way, the picture is below.

In Moose Lake we connected with Hwy. 35 and headed South to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. Once in Minneapolis we took a hotel room near the airport, and then made a brief visit to the Mall of America so Kathleen could go to a book store. We then went back to our room, ordered Chinese food delivered in, and just hung out.

Tomorrow we'll pick up Joe and the dogs and head straight back to Leech Lake. Even one night away from the lake makes us homesick.