Escape to the North Shore

Well, Andy and I actually had two days off together, so we took every opportunity to get out of town. I surprised Andy with a mini weekend to the North Shore. A friend of mine told me about a motel that took dogs and it was cheap so I made a reservation and we were out of town. We stayed in a place called the Mariner Motel, it was a nice place with knotty pine paneling and towels as curtains, it reminded us a lot of a place that we used to go to in the UP of Michigan. It was the perfect Missi and Andy kind of place. Freddie went along for the ride and was awesome the whole weekend, he was great in the car and was great at the motel, I guess bribing him with lots of treats is key.
Andy and I started off at Split Rock. Freddie went to his first lighthouse.... he is officially a Sugden now. He played in Lake Superior and found it to be a great watering hole. It was a totally beautiful day, in the 80's and it had been raining in the cities so Duluth and the North Shore was definently the place to be. Freddie was very popular no matter where we went. Everyone wanted to meet the three-legged dog. Everyone wanted to know how he lost his leg and wanted to know what kind of dog he is. Catahoula What? a lot of people would ask, either that or what Andy and I call the Catahoula look. It's amazing how many people told us that Freddie was missing a leg. One of these days I am going to ask Freddie where he left his leg. Freddie took a little siesta in the motel while andy and I indulged at out favorite restaurant on the North Shore, Betty's Pies. 13 different pies and good home cooked food, can't beat it. The first night I had apple and andy had peach strawberry, two days on the North Shore meant two trips to Betty's Pies.
On Labor Day Andy and I went to Gooseberry Falls. As I was walking up the path to the visitor's center I had three people stop me to tell me how they couldn't believe it that there was another three legged dog up by the visitor's center. Freddie and I just had to meet this other dog. We walked right up to a harley mama sitting on a bench with her chichuahua Stormy. Stormy was a rescue dog from Hurricane Katrina and he had the exact same leg missing as freddie. He was really cute, had a little Harley vest on and everything. Freddie and Stormy were the talk of the visitor center and drew quite a crowd, most were paying attention to Stormy, but Freddie definently wasn't left out.
We took Freddie down to the falls and he walked all over the falls, drank the water and just really enjoyed himself. It was the perfect weekend, very relaxing, it was definently hard to come back to reality. Freddie is a great vacation dog, he will definently be going to the North Shore again.