Is this Lake Woebegone?
One of the things they say about this area is "If you don’t like the weather, just wait a day and it will change." Well, we’ve seen temperatures ranging from the low 50s to the high 80s - sometimes all in the same day. And this is June. We’ve had high winds that put white caps far out into the lake and surf-like waves that crash onto the beach, while other days it’s so flat calm it looks like a plate of glass. Some days, the fog moves in and we can barely see past the edge of the porch and at night there’s a hazy glow around the moon but the sky is clear enough to see several bright stars.
The weekend of June 22-24 was "guys weekend" which began early Friday (son,Craig and Eric Lehman arrived quietly at 3 am and crashed on the two couches). Friday afternoon brought Doug’s younger son, Scott, and his two long-time friends John Larson and John Fore (towing Larson’s boat behind Scott’s truck). I chose to escape to Two Harbors (about 1 ½ hours away) and leave the guys to their fun. Besides, I had some major shopping to do and wanted a pedicure.
The guys always need a project, so they proceeded to build a small bedroom (and a bed) in the back corner of the main part of the cabin. Buy the time I returned Sunday afternoon, it was finished and ready for me to decorate with new bedding and curtains. While I was gone, they also had time to split firewood, replace faucets on the bathroom sink, go to the spring to restock our drinking water, have a horseshoe tournament, do some weed wacking, visit the donut shop in Grand Marais, replace the element in the hot water heater, drink some beer, smoke some cigars, and cook some great meals over an open fire.
Sunday night, after a wonderful dinner of a seven-pound trout cooked over an open fire, Scott and his buddies built a bonfire on the beach and we sat out there for hours (it kept the mosquitoes away) and made s’mores, which surprisingly go great with red wine and other "beverages of choice". They also put on an amazing fireworks display with huge rockets and fountains they purchased in a neighboring state (where they’re legal).
The guys left Monday morning after breakfast and I changed the beds and got ready for our next house guests, while Doug went buy some fresh water herring from the local fishermen in Grand Marais. Jane and Dan Johns live about three hours away in Tower, MN on Lake Vermillion. Jane and I met several years ago (introduced by her sister-in-law, and my friend, Marietta Johns) and we later attended an "Umbrella Ministries" weekend retreat together, in Palm Springs, for mothers who have lost children. Two years ago we had a delightful visit to their home - made especially memorable by the time spent in their wood-fired sauna followed by a dive into the lake (which was a heart-stopping 20 degrees). These are hearty people who do cross-country and down-hill skiing, snowshoeing and crazy things like cutting a hole in a frozen lake and jumping in for a swim. They’ve even gone dog sledding, which sounds faxcinating.
We immediately picked up where we had left off, talking non-stop, while Doug prepared fresh herring sandwiches for our lunch. We did a little driving tour of some of the scenic spots nearby, ending at a nearby state park where we parked and hiked back to a favorite spot of ours, Devil’s Kettle. I didn’t realize how out of shape I am - guess that’s what comes of living in the flat lands of San Diego. But I wasn’t the only one - we all appreciated occasional stops (to enjoy the view of course) on the climb back out of the canyon.
Monday night, with the help of Jane, I made one of my signature comfort meals: chicken and biscuits, with a side of stewed Granny Smith apples. Lots of great conversation about the travel we’ve both done and the travel we plan to do in the next few years.
Tuesday morning, Dan and Jane suggested we go out for breakfast so we headed for the World’s Best Donut Shop. They’d read about it in "Minnesota" magazine where it was chosen as one of Minnesota’s fifty best restaurants. Well, I can heartily recommend the banana cream filled Bismark. For those not from around here (like me), a Bismark is a filled donut. This one was a raised donut, filled with banana cream and covered in chocolate frosting. Wow! Just as we were finishing our donuts, one of the third-generation owners, Stacie, came out with a mobile phone and announced that it was time for the radio call-in trivia quiz. The question of the day was: "Which state is number one (Minnesota is number two) for environmentally safe solid waste disposal? The first guess was "California," which Stacie called in a was laughed at. The next guess was "Wisconsin" which she called in and was told it was incorrect. Doug said "It’s Oregon - the only state that has more tree-huggers than Minnesota." She called it in, and it was right and they announced his name on the radio and he was told he won the prize of the day - a CD which he could pick up at the radio station in Grand Marais. Well, I guess everyone deserves their moment of fame. We were concerned that the press and locals might be in a mob outside the donut shop to interview him, but we escaped with no incident. Of course, Dan and Jane were very impressed by our local hero. After we said good bye to our friends, we found the radio station and Doug claimed his prize - from a box of used CDs of which he didn’t recognize any of the artists. What fun!
Tuesday night I walked down to the beach around sundown and, in addition to the deer foot prints, saw some bear tracks. Wednesday morning, Doug noticed a muddy paw print on the toilet seat lid in the outhouse. Then I noticed a muddy paw print on the side door leading to the kitchen. We didn’t hear anything that night, but Thursday morning we we awoke to see that a bear had torn open the door to the shed, pulled out the garbage, eaten what he liked and the rest was strewn about the yard. I guess there are some hungry bears around here. Tonight I stacked some outdoor chairs in front of the door so that we’ll hear him if he comes back and Doug scattered moth balls around the perimeter of the cabin (we used to do that around our vegetable garden in North Carolina to keep the critters away). It’s such a novelty to me to be amidst wildlife like this. Driving into town and back, I’ve seen a deer run across the road in front of my car on four occasions. They’re so beautiful and I would be devastated if I hit one.
We talked to one of the local people (actually she’d recently moved here) who was telling us about signing on to Boreal (the local WiFi service) where you can list things to buy or sell. She saw a listing for "A bag of kitty litter - slightly used". We assumed that meant that only a little had been taken out of the bag. Let’s hope! There was also an announcement: "This morning I saw a hummingbird just above my husband’s head as he was standing out on Main Street." It tells you that there’s not a lot happening here.
As Garrison Keilor says, at the end of his broadcast: "That’s all the news from Lake Woebegone - where the women are strong, the men are good lookin’ and the children are above average." (Or something like that).
One of the things they say about this area is "If you don’t like the weather, just wait a day and it will change." Well, we’ve seen temperatures ranging from the low 50s to the high 80s - sometimes all in the same day. And this is June. We’ve had high winds that put white caps far out into the lake and surf-like waves that crash onto the beach, while other days it’s so flat calm it looks like a plate of glass. Some days, the fog moves in and we can barely see past the edge of the porch and at night there’s a hazy glow around the moon but the sky is clear enough to see several bright stars.
The weekend of June 22-24 was "guys weekend" which began early Friday (son,Craig and Eric Lehman arrived quietly at 3 am and crashed on the two couches). Friday afternoon brought Doug’s younger son, Scott, and his two long-time friends John Larson and John Fore (towing Larson’s boat behind Scott’s truck). I chose to escape to Two Harbors (about 1 ½ hours away) and leave the guys to their fun. Besides, I had some major shopping to do and wanted a pedicure.
The guys always need a project, so they proceeded to build a small bedroom (and a bed) in the back corner of the main part of the cabin. Buy the time I returned Sunday afternoon, it was finished and ready for me to decorate with new bedding and curtains. While I was gone, they also had time to split firewood, replace faucets on the bathroom sink, go to the spring to restock our drinking water, have a horseshoe tournament, do some weed wacking, visit the donut shop in Grand Marais, replace the element in the hot water heater, drink some beer, smoke some cigars, and cook some great meals over an open fire.
Sunday night, after a wonderful dinner of a seven-pound trout cooked over an open fire, Scott and his buddies built a bonfire on the beach and we sat out there for hours (it kept the mosquitoes away) and made s’mores, which surprisingly go great with red wine and other "beverages of choice". They also put on an amazing fireworks display with huge rockets and fountains they purchased in a neighboring state (where they’re legal).
The guys left Monday morning after breakfast and I changed the beds and got ready for our next house guests, while Doug went buy some fresh water herring from the local fishermen in Grand Marais. Jane and Dan Johns live about three hours away in Tower, MN on Lake Vermillion. Jane and I met several years ago (introduced by her sister-in-law, and my friend, Marietta Johns) and we later attended an "Umbrella Ministries" weekend retreat together, in Palm Springs, for mothers who have lost children. Two years ago we had a delightful visit to their home - made especially memorable by the time spent in their wood-fired sauna followed by a dive into the lake (which was a heart-stopping 20 degrees). These are hearty people who do cross-country and down-hill skiing, snowshoeing and crazy things like cutting a hole in a frozen lake and jumping in for a swim. They’ve even gone dog sledding, which sounds faxcinating.
We immediately picked up where we had left off, talking non-stop, while Doug prepared fresh herring sandwiches for our lunch. We did a little driving tour of some of the scenic spots nearby, ending at a nearby state park where we parked and hiked back to a favorite spot of ours, Devil’s Kettle. I didn’t realize how out of shape I am - guess that’s what comes of living in the flat lands of San Diego. But I wasn’t the only one - we all appreciated occasional stops (to enjoy the view of course) on the climb back out of the canyon.
Monday night, with the help of Jane, I made one of my signature comfort meals: chicken and biscuits, with a side of stewed Granny Smith apples. Lots of great conversation about the travel we’ve both done and the travel we plan to do in the next few years.
Tuesday morning, Dan and Jane suggested we go out for breakfast so we headed for the World’s Best Donut Shop. They’d read about it in "Minnesota" magazine where it was chosen as one of Minnesota’s fifty best restaurants. Well, I can heartily recommend the banana cream filled Bismark. For those not from around here (like me), a Bismark is a filled donut. This one was a raised donut, filled with banana cream and covered in chocolate frosting. Wow! Just as we were finishing our donuts, one of the third-generation owners, Stacie, came out with a mobile phone and announced that it was time for the radio call-in trivia quiz. The question of the day was: "Which state is number one (Minnesota is number two) for environmentally safe solid waste disposal? The first guess was "California," which Stacie called in a was laughed at. The next guess was "Wisconsin" which she called in and was told it was incorrect. Doug said "It’s Oregon - the only state that has more tree-huggers than Minnesota." She called it in, and it was right and they announced his name on the radio and he was told he won the prize of the day - a CD which he could pick up at the radio station in Grand Marais. Well, I guess everyone deserves their moment of fame. We were concerned that the press and locals might be in a mob outside the donut shop to interview him, but we escaped with no incident. Of course, Dan and Jane were very impressed by our local hero. After we said good bye to our friends, we found the radio station and Doug claimed his prize - from a box of used CDs of which he didn’t recognize any of the artists. What fun!
Tuesday night I walked down to the beach around sundown and, in addition to the deer foot prints, saw some bear tracks. Wednesday morning, Doug noticed a muddy paw print on the toilet seat lid in the outhouse. Then I noticed a muddy paw print on the side door leading to the kitchen. We didn’t hear anything that night, but Thursday morning we we awoke to see that a bear had torn open the door to the shed, pulled out the garbage, eaten what he liked and the rest was strewn about the yard. I guess there are some hungry bears around here. Tonight I stacked some outdoor chairs in front of the door so that we’ll hear him if he comes back and Doug scattered moth balls around the perimeter of the cabin (we used to do that around our vegetable garden in North Carolina to keep the critters away). It’s such a novelty to me to be amidst wildlife like this. Driving into town and back, I’ve seen a deer run across the road in front of my car on four occasions. They’re so beautiful and I would be devastated if I hit one.
We talked to one of the local people (actually she’d recently moved here) who was telling us about signing on to Boreal (the local WiFi service) where you can list things to buy or sell. She saw a listing for "A bag of kitty litter - slightly used". We assumed that meant that only a little had been taken out of the bag. Let’s hope! There was also an announcement: "This morning I saw a hummingbird just above my husband’s head as he was standing out on Main Street." It tells you that there’s not a lot happening here.
As Garrison Keilor says, at the end of his broadcast: "That’s all the news from Lake Woebegone - where the women are strong, the men are good lookin’ and the children are above average." (Or something like that).
No comments:
Post a Comment