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Minnesota highlight

And the highlight is definitely not the heat. Today, I'm going to be outdoors for the start of a short class I'm taking, and I'm not looking forward to the heat advisory.

But I must thank the heat for the bounty it is providing in something I love: sweet corn! We picked some up from a roadside truck this weekend, along with potatoes and green beans. We've had sweet corn for every non-breakfast meal since. And, let me tell you, it is sweet.

We went for a long hike on Saturday (5 miles! With hills!), and I pulled out the crockpot to cook barbecue chicken and avoid too much heat in the kitchen. So, below, you'll see the scrumptious pulled chicken, mashed potatoes, and sweet corn we enjoyed on Saturday. For good measure, I'll throw in a pic of us at the waterfall at Nerstrand State Park.

What's your favorite local summer food or treat?

Changes

We are making lots of changes around here. We started with a little one: new drawer pulls. One of the knobs broke (the missing drawer knob), and we decided to just change them all. It is a subtle but nice change.

At the moment, we have pulled apart our bedroom. Our closets are small and not super functional, so we're putting up the wall unit we had in our last apartment. We'll see how it goes; I will check in when we're done.

Back in Minnesota

Now that the heat has broken, it is nice to be back home. Especially nice are sleeping in my own bed, snuggling my cat, and being able to work on our apartment.

Today, we took a short bike ride to go hike. We packed along the picnic below. It was great to get to finally use the picnic set we received for our wedding (unexpectedly, I might add. We had a small registry and were pleasantly surprised to see all the nice things folks gifted us). Even a simple meal of sandwiches, coleslaw, and fruit tastes better outdoors.

Has the heat broken where you live? What are you doing to enjoy summer?

Oh and

Happy fourth! I hope you had a safe night. We enjoyed fireworks, family friends, and taking the dog for two walks. Yes, my dog wanted to go for a post-fireworks walk.

Volcanoes

Matt and I went to Volcanoes National Park. I apparently added photos but never finished this draft post. We did see some crater steam and take some small walks. The coolest was going through a lava tunnel (last photo). Lava tunnels are formed when lava cools on the outside but still is hot and flowing inside. When lava stops flowing, the hot part flows out, leaving a tube.

More pics on Volcanoes later - the rest are on my nice camera.

Jul 4, 2012

No, friends, I did not meet my demise in the placid waters of Hawaii. I was having too much fun snorkeling and hiking to write. Plus, I took most pictures on my non-phone camera. We fly back to Minnesota tomorrow, and I'll try to resume blogging shortly. I have much more to share, both about Hawaii and our time in the Pacific Northwest.

For now, I'll leave you with pictures of the yummy chocolate I drank and ate with my dear friend Viola at the delicious Cacao in Portland. I think I'll need to run for a week to make up for all the eating I've done here.