We had been to the Farmer's market on Lyndale this week to do our weekly veggie purchase and I just couldn't resist but pick up these beauties...they are so gorgeous- my camera wouldn't do justice clicking them. They all are saying something to each other...some of them have such an attitude- they wouldnt even pose for my pictures...
but I love them all :) Look at them!
Oh my! they are blushing now
My cotton candies
I think that's enough promoting their vanity!
It is drizzling outside and you can feel the chill in your bones- it is not yet raining hard.
This moment, I feel like I am in a hill resort...this early spring, when the grass is lush green, the trees are just beginning to bloom and the sky is the color it always ought to be-time has stopped for me-everything seems alright and I feel so at peace.
I hold a book in my hand , sit in the patio and sip a hot cup of tea...
I can't step into the kitchen on Sundays. Period.
This sunday was no different and we set out to go to our favorite haunt "Udupi Cafe" aka Nala Pak in Columbia Heights.
While we were in Bangalore, we used to regularly hunt out new dining experiences -especially vegetarian ones. But here, due to the lack of Indian vegetarian restaurants we restrict ourselves to the 2 veggie places-Udupi and India Cafe for dining and Bombay deli for chats.
So when we saw this sign board "The Vegetarian" about on Central avenue-we had to check it out. But we had no clue if it was a restaurant or just a shop by looking at it.
Anyway,we were determined to venture in. So what if it was located in a spooky place. So what if there have been recent shootings around that area...so what?
We ordered malai kofta and rotis...cos our romance started with malai kofta three years back at Fortune and that is something no one can go wrong with.
Food...though it did'nt taste awesome, it felt homely BUT they could do better - infact way ,way better in terms of cutlery and probably someone needs to tell them about dishwashers.If you're charging $9 for a malai kofta, we come to expect clean knives and plates along with it.The glasses had lip marks on them and the plates seemed so ancient with so many scratches from umpteen uses ( did I say that this restaurant was opened only last month ?)
!!!
They could do some help with interior decoration too-and not pick up some odd chairs and tables bought out of garage sale.
I dont think we would be going there ever again unless there is a need to remind ourselves how good Udupi is.
As a natural instinct, on saturday- we got into the car and were aimlessly driving around when we decided to go to some mall different from the usual.We vaguely remembered passing by an outlet mall when we went to Duluth and decided to venture in that direction. The condition I put down was that we will travel a maximum of 50 miles and if no shop was spotted, turn around and get into a movie theatre. I have been waiting to watch A Good Year ever so long since I saw the trailers didn't want to postpone it to another weekend.
So....around the 43rd mile of our drive on 35N, we did see a board that read "bargain hunting at its best"- Tanger serves you with over 35 shops...I was thrilled with my husband's sense of "distance" and direction.
We naturally assumed that we should reach there in the next exit but that was not to be. After about 10 miles later, we did find this mall and then of course, shopped till we dropped dead. We got additional discount too as it happened to be Veterans day There was no energy left after that to watch any movie and we headed back home with our big hunts.
We have been consistently traveling long distances over the past few weekends and decided it was time to take it easy and travel closer home. So we picked out the 34,000 acre St Croix state park located in Hinckley. This also happens to be the largest state park in Minnesota.
If you want to rest your tired feet and yet see some place, this would be it.
We took the 12 mile drive along the rustic road inside the heavily wooded area to see the fall colors. It was past peak and many of the leaves had already fallen or had turned brown. The entrance to the park (which was a good 4 mile) displayed the best colors. 
Thro' the forest green 
autumn comes to a close
I wouldn’t say, it was even half as good as Lutsen, but we can’t crib, can we.
We got up the 136-stair steep Fire tower for a scenic overview of the forest around us. There is a small landing on top of the tower to observe the whole forest and can accomodate a maximum of six people. I was very scared to climb up initially but somehow managed and it was truly worth the effort. 
View from Firetower
It was almost 5:30 pm by the time we completed the trail and we wanted to go canoeing down the St.Croix River but it was closed for the day.
You can take a canoe trip ranging from one to four hours through the National Scenic St croix riverway and it costs anywhere between $30-$40. Check this website for further details. We plan to do this sometime soon.:)
towards the evening
I have just been looking at various websites for this week's peak fall color locales. When it is fall, you cannot obviously go anywhere else, can you?
According to Explore Minnesota beautiful fall color can be found at cascade river, grand portage, Itasca, St. Croix and Savanna Portage state parks- the same as given in Star Tribune.
I dont think we can travel more than 80-90 miles this weekend :-) and we have already seen the North shore side...so Grand Portage and Cascade river are ruled out.
lemme see...Itasca- DNR reports state that this is going to be an early fall season here
but distance: 227 miles! out of question
St Croix state park is about 87 miles from Minneapolis, check out here for further details.It states that last week was a better time to go :-( hmmm
Savanna Portage state park is still close to peak color with very less leaf loss and is about 125 miles...
I think it's either going to be Savanna portage or St Croix this weekend...or maybe we will discover some new place closer home
We woke up early in the morning and walked down the lane right opposite to our motel which led us straight to the rocky shores of Lake Superior.
Faraway from us, this endless ocean of water merged with the blue skies above to form the single magical line called Horizon over which the sun broke loose from the chain of clouds, blessing the cold land with sunshine and waves thundered in joy along on the shores and we sat there awed by this spectacular art called nature .
On the shores of Lake Superior
Soon, it was time to check out of our motel and move on with our plans for the day. Our first stop was Sugarloaf cove.Located on Highway 61, this place was home of log rafting operations in olden days (not too very old, if you ask me :). We took the trek down to marvel at another breathtaking view of Lake Superior and the beautifully formed cove and we set off our next destination: Temperance River and hidden waterfalls.
At the Sugarloaf cove
The road separates the trail into two. Hiking south towards Lake Superior, the river forms a gushing waterfall before emptying into the Lake but on the other side is the hidden waterfall. This second part of the trail was pretty difficult with a lot of rock climbing to do and so we took two different routes to reach the falls. Sadly, he could not see the falls while I did and he had the camera and I didn’t:(.
However, I picked this picture on the web to show you how the hidden falls looked like.
Hidden falls- One has to really lie flat on the rock and peep out to take this picture!
Mighty waves of Superior on the southern side of Temperance
Tall maple trees crowned over us and set the forest on a fire. It was a visual treat for the eyes and has left a lasting impression on us. I do not have words to describe their beauty.
For latest information on north shore you could visit http://www.northshorefallcolors.com/ 
Etched in my memory forever
In the end, we were tired of taking pictures that didn’t do any justice to the richness or luminescence of fall colors and we headed back on 61 to our last stop in our trip- the Gooseberry falls.
I cannot say we enjoyed Gooseberry falls as well as other places. Firstly, we were way too tired after so much of driving and trekking and secondly, this place was far to crowded to admire the fall’s view.
Gooseberry Falls
We didn’t stay on there long and pushed off after a quick look and a small trek around the three crowded waterfalls.
We stopped by at India Palace on W Superior Street, in downtown Duluth, for our first decent meal in two days. We then energetically stepped on the gas on a car-flooded 35 S to get back home and hit the bed throughly exhausted and exhilarated with our trip.
After a good amount of research, we had decided on Thursday that we will drive out on the last weekend of September along the North shore drive until Lutsen and booked a room and car accordingly. But on Friday afternoon, when I was lazing around surfing the web, I realized that fall colors had already reached the peak in Northern Minnesota due to dry summer and may not last another week!
My hubby, a great planner and stickler to details was not very happy with this piece of information but anyhow we reworked our plan and were off on Saturday morning to Lutsen.
We didn’t get accommodation to stay over on Saturday Night but decided it was going to be OK as it was only a 4 ½ hour drive and it wouldn’t kill us to get back home the same day.
We hit off 35 N in the morning at around 9 am after a light breakfast of peanut butter-bread and fruits.On reaching Duluth, temptation got the better of us and we strayed into Scenic 23 instead of choosing the expressway.After stopping over at every scenic byway to admire Mother Nature’s lavish display, we merged into 61 with more than an hour’s loss. 
While on Scenic 23
It was almost 2 pm when we reached Two Harbours and hunger was the most prevailing thought in our minds.We headed to a Subway to grab a sandwich and were shocked by the crowd...there must have been atleast 25 people in the queue. So we pursued our next option- an unhealthy but a delectable one of eating doughnuts and chips. After a ten minute break at the gas station, we were back on track.
Our first stop was at Lutsen Mountain.. We took the Gondola ride (Tram/ cable car ride) that took us across a valley to the Moose Mountain from where we saw the breathtaking fall colors on Sawtooth Mountains and Lake Superior's remarkable coastline. We stayed on in Moose Mountain for another hour trekking along spellbound by the vivid colors of autumn where a rush of color paints each and every leaf with a stroke of a shimmering gold or a bright orange or a fiery red and the mountains and valleys are glowing to compete with sun shine. 
The Gondola ride
A bird's eye view of Sawtooth Mountain
My photos cannot justify the beauty of this place
It was around 6pm by the time we got back to Lutsen Mountains and we headed off towards Tafte to check out Caribou trail and yes,search for accomodation- as one day was distinctly insufficient. We checked each motel on our way but "No vacancy" was prominently displayed in each place lest we had any hope of staying back.
So we set off on wooded Caribou trail to see the colors of sugar maples and moose maples and reached Cascade lake so serene and untouched by the hand of man. I dont know how long we sat there with our minds so quiet and hearts feeling elated- one with nature. We left it with a touch of sorrow wondering why we ever left behind all this wilderness.
Cascade Lake
We were back on 61 heading back home dissapointed that we couldn't get accomodation and yet hopelessly checking out each motel for a vacant room when we came to Beaver Bay. Surprise of surprises, one motel did have a room available and that too a non-smoking one! We were so thrilled!
It was almost 9 pm by this time and instead of tiring ourselves hunting for a restaurant, we decided by buy a box of cereals an milk from a wayside gas station.
The day finally came to an end with a walk down the streets in the night and a million stars were glimmering over us, hiding the secrets of the day to come.
Yesterday, after a lazy cup of coffee in the evening, we decided to drive out aimlessly on 55. After driving about 5 miles, we came to Minnehaha Ave where Pergola gardens and Minnehaha falls were located.
We parked our car near the entrance and decided to take a stroll in the garden. Boy, was it cold. The moment we stepped out, the cold air started stinging thro my jeans and was hardly able to walk. But we braved the situation and didn’t need to repent it.
This waterfall drops 53 feet and is pretty small when compared to the Indian ones but then given the fact that it is not even 10 minutes drive from our place, why complain. 
We walked down to the bottom of the waterfall and took the trail following the stream of water to explore the park further. People were cycling in this crazy cold weather and there we were, wrapped up in sweaters and still feeling cold. The colors of the leaves have just begun to change and I guess another visit to this place during October is definitely on the cards.
While on our way to Minneopa Water falls, we saw a board that read “Pick your own strawberries, apples, pumpkins". We jerked our car to a stop and turned around to check out if that was really true. Driving on the path where the board pointed, we saw a whole lot of apple trees and we entered into what seemed like a farmer’s market place. We were given a basket each and sent off to the strawberry patches to pick and enjoy as much as we wanted. 
After picking more than a pound of red plump strawberries and admiring the place for a hundredth time we left it to continue our journey to the Minneopa waterfalls.
You could check out this place on the web at http://www.emmakrumbees.com/.
