...but not back to Door County--yet. First Rich and I divided our efforts for a little while--Rich back home to make pottery, me to the St. Paul/Minneapolis area, where I grew up, to spend time with my family and play a few last shows. I played a great house concert in White Bear Lake and a fun show at Park Square Theater, saw a bunch of my favorite relatives, and capped off the week playing at Carleton College, my alma mater, in Northfield. The weather in Minnesota couldn't have been nicer (given that it was the first week of April), and it was a great way to finish off the tour.

In case you didn't read the previous blog entry about Chicago, here's the deal: it's tricky to line up captions with photos in this blog format, so we're going to play a fun mix-and-match game with the captions (as in, you get to do it!). C'mon, I know you want to procrastinate on the Internet a little longer. Besides, they're mostly in order.

1. I got to spend lots of time with my mom's two adorable dogs, Trek and Roxy.
2. I also got to spend lots of time with my adorable mom herself!
3. It was pretty cool to drive into Northfield and see several wind turbines. I'm pretty sure when I started school at Carleton, there were none.
4. We had a great time at our Carleton gig, and it was especially fun to see this group of some of my favorite Carleton professors down at the Cave.
5. We happened upon a peace rally in Bridge Square the morning after our gig--complete with banjos and "Union Maid"!
6. Perhaps the acadmic rigor I valued at Carleton has slipped since my days as a student?
7. Northfield definitely did not want us to go--this is the hail we encountered as we were leaving.
8. After our time in Northfield, it was finally time to head home. But it's not all bad--here's the sunset we drove through on our way back up to Door County--
9. --and eventually, we finally made it home!