Winona Weekend

Started by playing a round of golf on Saturday ... perfect conditions ... great to be with Bri again...

 Crossed the Mississippi later for dinner - Brian, Laura & Pat on the outside deck with a view of the Minnesota bluffs from a favorite restaurant in Trempaleau, WI ... "Sullivan's"...

 Cool to sit and enjoy a beer watching this huge barge make it's way up the mighty Mississippi ...

 Sunday morning greeted us with blue skies and mild temperatures ... good time for an early morning 4 mile walk on the path around Winona Lake ...

 Pat, her coffee, the lake & the bluffs - great start to the morn ...

Just when we thought we had our exercise for the day Brian & Laura then met up with us and took us to a new place - a State Park Noth of Winona with a stairway (yes, 500 steps to be exact) straight up to the top of the bluffs ... this pushed the heart-rate to it's max in the first 5 minutes! (Killer!)

 

 This is just a small section but you get the idea ...

 Pat taking a picture of Brian & Laura on top of the bluffs ... fantastic views! ...

 Our car is down by the road - yep, a mega-hike straight "up" ... but the view are amazing up there. You can even see one of the massive freight trains that roll alongside the Mississippi every so often ...

All that exercise called for a great lunch at the Acoustic Cafe before heading home ... here a local school Jazz-Combo were playing some great tunes ...

Mother's Day weekend well spent ...

Graduation Party

That evening after graduation the class all met up at a local fine dining establishment & bar which turned into a dance club at 10 pm (that was an experience all by itself!).....loads of fun actually!

Brian on the left and Kevin on the right....

More of Kevin's classmates & friends..

One of his closer friends Mallory, and her Dad from Atlanta...(by the way - Brian LOVED his ride back to the Charlotte airport since Mallory was the driver)..

The guys party "team"...

.......more friends.....

......and more friends....

Ending the night outside our cabin - leftover dinner pizza on the hood of a car - nothing better than trying to start mitigating the pending hangover....

Columbia, SC & Paris, France

Good luck Kevin...


...and Melissa...