Two Friends on a Perfect Day

Tom and I were riding our bikes today on the trail by Norway Beach when my Spotify “Quiet Biking” playlist played the song “For Forever” from the Dear Evan Hanson soundtrack. (I highly recommend this soundtrack and the musical!) The words of the chorus pretty much summed up our day:

…We talk and take in the view.

All we see is sky for forever
We let the world pass by for forever
Feels like we could go on for forever this way
Two friends on a perfect day.

With a cool breeze blowing off the lake and a paved trail through the shade of the trees, I felt like we really could just let the world pass by for forever. We rode ten miles–Tom on his new trike and me on my bike. Both of us felt like our knees were cooperating with us again. So that was good.

Earlier in the day, we had gone fishing with Leah at the Potato Islands. We did fairly well with 15 perch. Tom pulled in a 10.5” jumbo perch to make his day. Even though I’d love a little more variety in the fish we catch, perch do make for great eating! (Below, Leah tips her “Ben’s Bait” hat to Grandpa.)

Tuesday night at the lake has often been “date night” in the past. Tom and I thought we’d hit one of our favorite restaurants near Bemidji (actually in Turtle River), the Turtle River Chophouse. As we were driving back to the resort from Norway Beach, I looked up their hours and was disappointed to find they were closed on Tuesdays (and Sundays and Mondays too!). We looked up another favorite, Bar 209, owned by the same brothers as TRC, and discovered they were also closed on Tuesdays (and Wednesdays as well!).

It was beginning to look like our perfect day, and date night, were about to fall apart. Then I looked up another favorite, Tutto Bene in Bemidji. We hadn’t been there for a few years, but it used to be a date night favorite. They were open! I made reservations for 7:30 and after our showers, we were back on track for our perfect date night.

It really was a beautiful evening so we sat outside on their enclosed patio. We enjoyed delicious Italian dishes with a glass of wine before taking a lovely stroll around the downtown area. We visited Paul and Babe again, this time having our picture taken. As we walked around, taking in the views of Lake Bemidji on this pleasant summer evening, I felt like we could go on forever this way.

I’m thankful for this perfect day with my best friend.