Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Cabin

"The Cabin on the North Shore"
When first hearing this term, "the north shore of Lake Superior," I wondered why people felt compelled to make that distinction. I assumed it was like "Northern Virginia", where I lived at the time (being part of the Washington metropolitan area sets it apart from the rest of the state). But, Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes and borders on three U.S. states (Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota), plus Ontario, Canada; and if you follow a path around the lake, Michigan and Wisconsin border the south side and then the road turns to the east and you follow the north side of the lake through Minnesota and Canada, before it turns south to join Michigan again. So, in this part of the country, when someone says "the north shore" you know they’re talking about Minnesota.
To reach the Snure Cabin from Minneapolis, it’s a two and a half hour drive to Duluth and another two hours to Grand Marais. There we stop to provision before continuing the twenty minute drive to the cabin in Hovland. Mid-June is a good time to be here - it’s starting to warm up (55ยบ when we arrived) and the mosquitoes have not yet arrived (I guess they fly south for the winter?). Son, Scott, and family officially opened the cabin this year during spring break in April (they’re a hearty bunch).
Doug has been coming to this area since 1938 to stay in a 1929 vintage cabin which was later sold by the Snure family but still stands where the nearby Brule River joins Lake Superior. Doug especially remembers one glorious summer, in 1945, when he, older brother Frank, baby brother Rand and his mother, spent the entire summer at the cabin known as "Shingobe." Frank once told us of that summer: "During the days of World War II, not much was going on in Cook County so far as tourism was concerned. We had no means of transportation during those two and a half months. We walked down to a neighbor’s, Dr. Carl Fay, to use the telephone to order groceries. We then walked to Highway 61 with a wheelbarrow for the trip home to the cabin. We also walked to the other side of Naniboujou (a lodge that is still in operation today) to get our milk and cream from a farmer. Those were fun days."
Doug and his brother, Frank, began building the current log cabin, at the mouth of Carlson Creek, in 1978. It has been enjoyed over the years by many families of Snure children, grandchildren and friends.
In the summer of 1999, Doug and I came here on our own boat. The 41-foot DeFever trawler was the perfect boat for doing the "Big Loop," which is basically a circumnavigation of the eastern part of the U.S. We started on the west coast of Florida (Venice) in April, made our way across the Okeechobee Canal to the east coast and up the intra-coastal waterway to New York. We continued up the Hudson, Champlain and Richelieu Rivers into Canada. Following the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, we transited the Rideau Canal system into Lake Ontario and the Trent Severn Waterway into the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The locks at Sault Ste Marie took us into Lake Superior where we made our way along the Michigan Coast and then over to Grand Marais, MN. Several family members were there to greet us and we ended up spending a couple of weeks at the cabin before heading back to Florida, via Lake Michigan and the rivers back to the Gulf of Mexico and to our slip at Casey Key, FL. After so many years of coming here by car, it was a real thrill for Doug to arrive by boat. It was such a momentous occasion that it was written up in the local newspaper, The Cook County News Herald
Today, we had lunch at Naniboujou Lodge, which was first opened in the 1920s as an ultra-exclusive private club. Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and Ring Lardner were among its charter members. A membership of 1,000 was envisioned, but when the stock market crashed, beginning the 1929 depression, the club began to fail. The club eventually was foreclosed and sold in the mid-30s. Today you find a revitalized Naniboujou but still reflecting the aura of the 1920s. It’s now on the National Register of Historic Places and boasts Minnesota’s largest native rock fireplace which stands in the 30 x 80-foot Great Hall, which is brilliantly decorated in designs of the Cree Indians. The Arrowhead Room, a cozy sunroom with an outdoor feel, is used by guests for afternoon tea, board games and reading. There are no televisions or phones in the lodge’s rooms (and no cell phone coverage here) which generates a feel for a bygone era.
Back at the cabin, we built a fire and enjoyed curling up with our books and watching the fog creep in from the lake. Having no internet connection or cell phone coverage forces us to relax and enjoy playing cards, board games, hiking and reading. As someone once said, "How are you going to get away from it all if you take it all with you?" We have a fully equipped kitchen here. Sometimes a little too "fully" - when family members get something new, the first thought is "take the old one to the cabin." But it all gets sorted out on a rotating basis. Being here always makes us want to cook "comfort foods" like beef stew with dumplings (which Doug made last night), chicken and biscuits, chili and cornbread and hearty soups. And then there are the pies and cobblers - particularly using blueberries which grow here (unfortunately not this time of year).
This is a vertical log cabin with two porches, one off the kitchen and another facing Lake Superior and it’s rocky beach. It’s a simple, open floor plan of kitchen, dining area (with a view), living room (same view), bathroom and a ladder to the sleeping loft. The loft has a king-size bed at one end and at the other, one single and two double beds. As some family members get older there has been a desire to have a downstairs bedroom, which we hope to build during our stay here this time. Our other hope is to screen one of the porches for more comfortable outdoor seating during mosquito season. That may have to wait for a future visit. There’s an outhouse as well which looks out on the Lake and purposely has no door. That takes a little getting used to but you soon realize how private this spot is. There are cabins on each side of us but the woods between create a lot of privacy. We’re also on a cove, so boats going by (which there are few) are very far out on the Lake.
Up here, in addition to Lake Superior, you’re virtually surrounded by lakes and streams for fishing and canoeing. You can also hike through acres of unspoiled forest and enjoy one of our favorite hikes: along the Brule River to Devil’s Kettle. East of here is Old Fort William in Thunder Bay, Canada (we’re only about 20 miles from the border), where you can tour the fort and museum and enjoy one of their many summer festivals. Grand Marais now has several restaurants, (including Sven & Ole’s Pizza and Birch Wood Terrace Supper Club), art galleries, many quaint stores and boutiques and even a golf course. One of our favorite spots is the "World’s Best Donut" shop where they encourage you to get a logo coffee mug to take on your travels and send back photos of you with your mug, which they have displayed all over the shop. Their donuts are superior (no pun intended) to Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donut and may actually be the world’s best.
On to Minneapolis
After leaving the Berkshires, we had a beautiful, leisurely drive through the Adirondack Mountains - a place that is famous for it’s beautiful mountain lodges and resorts. We took the scenic route and passed through many lovely little mountain villages separated by long stretches of nothing but evergreen trees, scenic lakes and valleys.



It was nearing lunchtime when we reached Lake Placid, home of the Winter Olympics several years ago and still trading on that claim to fame. Everything looked so commercialized that we breezed right through, knowing we’d find a charming lodge nestled by a lake to have our lunch. Well, two hours later and quite hungry, we vowed to stop at the next place we came to and it didn’t look like much from the outside but in we went. It was actually very good and we had their specialty - a perfectly cooked sirloin burger on a home-made onion bun. The young owner and chef came out to chat and we learned that he caters to students from the local college nearby and has darts, pool tables, live music on weekends, and an internet juke box with thousands of songs (each time a song is chosen, it’s downloaded through the internet - a first for us). He was doing quite a business in what appeared to be “the middle of nowhere.” We continued on into Canada, crossing the border, barely showing our passports, and that night we stayed in a small town in Ontario, Canada.


Continuing on the next day, we entered the U.S. at Sault Ste. Marie, crossed Wisconsin into Minnesota and arrived in Minneapolis just before rush hour.
We’re staying with younger son Scott, his wife Raelene, and their two boys - Taylor (9) and Zach (6) at their home in Bloomington. We tend to forget what a busy time of life it is at their ages - working, taking care of a home and raising a family - especially with two very active kids who are involved in several sports. Saturday morning we attended Taylor’s hockey game and then all met up with older son, Craig and family for lunch. We spent the afternoon at Craig’s, in St. Louis Park, with wife Leslie, Michele (21), Kristina (19) and Scott (16). Sunday, we met daughter, Dawn, and her two kids - Daniel (13) and Carly (11) - for lunch; then met up with Scott and family to see Shreck III and again back to Scott’s for dinner. (Scott likes to cook, is very good at it and thinks nothing of having 20 or 30 people over for a cookout or holiday dinner.)
Monday morning I attended Zach’s hockey workshop before Doug and I set out for downtown Minneapolis to apply for our multiple-entry visas for China and for Doug to get a yellow fever vaccine (I got mine in San Diego), for our freighter trip in August. We weren’t successful with either one, but had a delightful lunch in town. That evening we attended Taylor’s baseball game - they didn’t win but it was a very close game and he did well as pitcher.

Tuesday morning Doug went to Zach’s hockey workshop. We are always amazed at how well these six and seven year olds handle themselves on the ice.

At 10:30 we left to take Daniel and Carly to the Science Museum in St. Paul. We had a great time seeing all the exhibits and viewing an I-Max type movie on the Australian outback.


We returned them in time for Carly to attend a birthday party (she’d already had golf camp that morning). Daniel is also a golfer. That evening we enjoyed Zach play baseball and were pleased that he got to play his favorite position - catcher.



Wednesday morning we left for the cabin feeling a bit exhausted - not from anything we’d done but just from watching how busy everyone is with all their activities.
The Berkshires
Richard and Pauline Nault are long-time Honeywell friends and a couple we have enjoyed traveling and visiting with for many years. It’s always fun to be with them, either at one of our homes or theirs (they currently have a winter home in Dunnellon, Florida and on Lake Buehl in eastern Massachusetts (the Berkshires). After living in several homes in the area, they decided to renovate the old family cottage on the lake and this was our first visit. Actually, we had booked a room at a local B&B since they had just moved in three days earlier and were still getting settled but they insisted we stay with them and it worked out well.




Their cottage is so charming which is a result of their decision to retain as much as possible of the original structure: the living room, kitchen, and screened porch; and converting the two tiny bedrooms to a bathroom and walk-in closet for the master bedroom they added. Off the kitchen, there’s a covered walkway that leads to a guest bedroom and bath, which is where we stayed, and beyond that a garage. The cottage is just steps away from the lake on a nice wooded lot and we enjoyed watching the wildlife including water birds and an occasional rabbit.
The first evening, we drove into Stockbridge, and had a delightful dinner at a historical landmark, The Red Lion Inn. This is such a beautiful part of the country with its charming colonial towns and villages - I felt that I’d taken a step back in time and could picture our country’s forebears planning the formation of the colonies, rebelling against the king and signing the declaration of independence. The next day, we did a bit of a walking tour of Great Barrington and enjoyed lunch at one of their favorite cafes.
Pauline’s dinner was of course wonderful (she’s such a good cook), but the most memorable event took place after dinner. It was a beautiful, clear night and, as we sat and talked after dinner, Richard asked if anyone wanted to go for a swim in the lake. Assuming the water would be icy cold, I hesitated but said I might. The next thing we knew, Richard was stripping off his clothes and jumping in the lake. He said it wasn’t cold at all, so I decided to go for it. Well, it was surprisingly a very moderate temperature and I felt I could have stayed in for hours. The next morning Richard thanked me for joining him in the lake and said he’d been coming to that lake for 75 years and it was the first time he’d gone skinny dipping. We’ll have to make that a tradition each time we return to Lake Buehl.
We got an early start, on June 5th, for our two-day drive to Minneapolis to spend time with kids and grandkids.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Finger Lakes, New York

The Finger Lakes

Seneca Lake
It was a beautiful drive through the spring-time mountains of Pennsylvania. The Amish farms are so neat and we passed through several small towns where we had to slow down for horse and buggy to share the road. It’s amazing that so many people in this part of the country stay with the old fashioned ways of life - still wearing the traditional suits and plain dresses that they have for over a hundred years, with no make up or adornment - very plain, and homes with no electricity and farms still tended with a horse and plow. It makes one wonder if we aren’t missing something by having so much.
We entered New York State and made our way past Watkins Glen up the west side of Seneca Lake to Dundee until we saw the sign for “Scottish Glen” which is the B&B owned by our friends Fiona and Bob Taylor. Fiona was born and raised in Scotland but has lived in England before marrying Bob and moving to the U.S. in the late 80's. I met Bob in Washington where we both worked in international marketing and were involved in the export of aerospace and defense products overseas. We last saw Bob & Fiona on the Queen Mary cruise earlier this year.

Again, we arrived in time for happy hour (this is becoming a pattern) and made our way down the steep wooden stairs to their original cottage which sits right on the edge of Seneca Lake. This is where we first visited them in 1992, before they built the B&B which sits on a high cliff overlooking the cottage and the lake. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon and we sat on Adirondack chairs at the end of their dock and watched the water birds and fish all around us. Fiona prepared a lovely dinner which she served by candlelight on the deck, under a starry sky and we enjoyed catching up and learning of future plans. They live here year round but typically spend January through April traveling to warmer climes. After the cruise in January, they spent several months this year in the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. Next winter, they’re talking about spending a month or two in the Canary Islands. They have a Christmas tree farm and also make and sell Christmas wreaths so are very busy in November and December and then again May through October with the B&B.
In the morning we enjoyed the Pennsylvania sticky buns, which were just like I remembered them). Later we visited a very interesting farmers market with lots of hand-crafted items, fresh produce, baked goods, plants and wine. This is wonderful wine country and there were several booths set up for tasting. We made another stop at Glennora Winery (one of my favorites) where we bought a few bottles to take to our hosts at the next stop. In the afternoon we took the boat out on the lake and visited Miles Winery, the only winery accessible by boat (but not very good wine so we didn’t buy any there). We had planned to continue on to Watkins Glen for dinner but we could see a storm moving in so headed back to the dock and got the boat out of the water before the rain started. Again, we had a nice dinner at home and continued to “swap lies” and drink wine until we ran out of both (not really).

Owasco Lake
Sunday morning, Doug and I fixed breakfast - I made creamed chipped beef and he made biscuits, before leaving to visit my nephew, Randy, and family in Scipio Center on Owasco Lake (between Cayuga and Skaneateles Lakes).
Randy grew up in this area but when we was fifteen, he spent a summer with us in Virginia. He was a big help around the house and yard and my kids adored him. Eric was two and Julie was newborn that year. He returned the following summer and worked at the restaurant supply company where my husband, Glenn, worked at the time. When Randy graduated, he came back to Virginia and worked their full-time and lived with us until he got his own place. He and his wife, Michelle, moved to New York about twenty years ago (that’s hard to believe) and now have three children: Michael, Megan and Jenna, all teenagers now. They built their home on the property of Randy’s grandparents farm which Randy bought several years ago. He rents out the old farmhouse and barn and another farmer now works the land.
We enjoyed chatting about old times and getting to know the kids, before we enjoyed a wonderful Sunday dinner. Randy cooked beef shish-ka-bobs and marinated pork tenderloin on the grill and Michelle prepared salt potatoes (a favorite of mine), deviled eggs and a fresh fruit salad. Like so many people we’re visiting this year, I regret that we let so much time go by without getting together.
In addition to wanting to reconnect with Randy and family, I also wanted to visit the site where a memorial stone was erected in memory of my son, Eric, who died in July of 2000. The memorial is at the end of a long lane leading from the farm house to what was always called “the gully.” There’s also a stone for Carolyn Chamberlain (my mother-in-law), Ernest Chamberlain (my father-in-law), and Barbara Heath (my sister-in-law), whose ashes were scattered here. Glenn and other family members had visited recently and planted flowers. I brought a small holly bush and Randy and I planted it next to Eric’s memorial. We could see there was a storm moving in and the rain started as we headed back the lane. It hadn’t rained in this area for over 40 days so they were thankful it started and it also gave the little holly bush a good start.


We returned to Seneca Lake and met Bob & Fiona at a little restaurant on the water at Watkins Glen where we enjoyed some tasty appetizers and chatted with some boaters at the marina. We met a couple who give sailboat tours of the lake on their 38-foot Cabo Rico, and they invited us aboard. They eventually plan to be live-aboard cruisers and they were interested to hear about our experiences.
Monday morning, we had Bob’s famous blueberry pancakes, before saying our goodbyes, promising to keep in touch, and heading for our next stop: The Berkshires.

Visiting brother Ed

Shippensburg, PA


From Indianapolis to Shippensburg is about a nine-hour drive, so we got an early start from Indianapolis, ,and arrived, as usual, in time for happy hour. My brother, Ed; wife, Mary; and son, Scott moved here about two years ago from Springfield, VA to be closer to Mary’s family and to return to the area where they both grew up. They have a nice house in a quiet neighborhood and have enjoyed converting a large sunroom into a home theater, with multi-level seating, a huge screen and even a popcorn machine.
Ed is my younger brother, by eight years, (he’s the youngest of five) and we grew up in Greencastle, PA (about 20 miles south of Shippensburg. Mary grew up in Chambersburg (just 10 miles north of Greencastle) and they lived for several years in Los Angeles before moving to Virginia. Scott just finished his first year of college and is interested in theater, particularly backstage sound and lighting. Scott cooked a nice shrimp stir-fry dinner for us and we spent the rest of the evening talking about family and catching up on each of our lives.
This area hasn’t changed much since I moved away in the early sixties and I particularly like the unique foods that are available in this part of the country. On our way out of town we stopped at an Amish market and I purchased several of my favorite foods: sticky buns, shoo-fly pie, farmer cheese, Gibble’s chips, and dried chipped beef for making creamed chipped beef (better known as s.o.s.). Since we’re continuing to travel, I took these things to share with our friends, Bob and Fiona, at our next stop in upstate New York.

Indianapolis





Indianapolis, Indiana
It was a short drive from Columbus and we arrived in time for happy hour and a nice dinner with my cousin Pat, her husband John, and my aunt, Ginny. It’s been four years since I saw them when we drove cross country for our move to San Diego. Pat is my only cousin and the daughter of my father’s brother, George.
Ginny, George and Pat lived in Hagerstown, MD when I was growing up about ten miles away in Greencastle, PA. We didn’t spend a lot of time together but in the last few years we’ve gotten to know each other better through email messages. We spent a lot of time this visit reminiscing about what we remember (or have forgotten) about family members, and trying to piece together bits and pieces about our ancestry. Aunt Ginny turned 90 this past February and contributed some information about what she remembers about those years. Pat & John’s daughter Margaret, lives next door with her husband, Andy, and son and younger daughter. Their older daughter, Katie, and husband have a two-month-old daughter, Megan, who they brought over for me to hold and ooh and aah over. What a little cutie she is. So now there are five generations of women in that family - Ginny, Pat, Margaret, Katie and Megan. Pat & John’s son, Darren, (who owns Polaris Grill) lives with his family in Columbus.
The next day, we went on a nice tour of downtown Indianapolis and spent the afternoon touring the Indiana State (19th state in the Union) Museum, including a delicious lunch at the tea room which is an elegant recreation of the old L. S. Ayres department store tea room that operated from 1905 to 1990. I had to try their specialty, the Chicken Velvet Soup which was fantastic. The museum has exhibits depicting the Ice Age to the 21st century - from the days of the mastodon to the days of the Indianapolis Colts. The exterior is made of rough cut native Indiana limestone. Next to the canal, eight brass whistles on a steam clock mark each quarter hour with a selection from "Back Home Again in Indiana." We enjoyed learning about the history of Indiana, it’s part in the space race and some very interesting art exhibits.


Pat is a very good cook and had planned our meals in advance so that we could spend time visiting and a minimum amount of time in the kitchen. Pat and I expressed regret that we hadn’t been in touch enough over the past years and hope that we’ll now continue to spend time together when our travels and schedules allow. In the meantime, email will be a great way to communicate.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Columbus, Ohio



Columbus, Ohio
We left Annapolis and headed west to visit family in Columbus. Since we last visited, several years ago, two more families have located here. Our sister-in-law, who we stayed with, moved a year and a half ago when she lost her home in New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina. She got out the day before the hurricane hit and made the decision not to return to a city that will be under construction for the next ten years or more. She’s now happily settled in a very nice townhouse on a pretty street, convenient to shopping, church, restaurants, etc. Her friend, Phil, has also relocated here (he from Colorado) where he could no longer live due to the altitude and is enjoying it as well.
Other family in Columbus include our niece Vicki, husband Steve, son Chris and wife Chelsea, and son Tim (who is home after two tours of duty in Iraq). Also here is niece Karen, husband Jose and their two children Jacob and Mara. The day before we arrived, another niece, Linda, husband Rick and son Eric arrived from New Orleans and moved into their home in Columbus. They were also displaced by Hurricane Katrina and tried to remain in New Orleans but realized it’s no place to raise a teenager. They still have no parks or organized sports for the kids and not even a bowling alley or movie theater. The schools have suffered and have a shortage of teachers and it’s difficult to have a consistent medical doctor. Barbara’s son Todd and his family are still living in the New Orleans area but their home was not in the area that was flooded.
Our first night in Columbus, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Polaris Grill which is owned by Darren Greene who is my cousin’s son (I believe that’s my first cousin once removed?) He found time to come by our table for a chat and also sent over a fabulous desert "sampler" which we thoroughly enjoyed.
The next day Barbara and Phil gave us a great tour of the city. We particularly enjoyed an area called German Village where Tim just bought a house. That afternoon we went to Vicky and Steve’s for a Memorial Day picnic in their yard, (with all the traditional picnic foods: burgers, brats, potato salad, corn, fruit and three desserts!) and we loved catching up with what everyone has been doing. We don’t see each other often but when we do, we never run out of things to talk about.
Next stop - Indianapolis.