Tag: Cabana

The North Shore 2022

Our trip to the north shore proved to be a lot more colorful than we were expecting.

We had already started seeing pockets of beautiful fall colors on our drive up, so I started to get a little excited…and then the colors began to pop out everywhere…with wonderful contrasts to the evergreen trees. 

Caribou Lake (1)
Caribou Lake (2)
Caribou Lake (3)

The weather also turned out better than I had hoped for, with warmer temperatures and some nice sunshine and blue skies (and one cloudy day). We had packed clothes for colder weather.

Carlton Peak (1)
Carlton Peak (2)
Looking inland from the Tofte overlook, on a spur trial off the Carlton Peak trail. (1)
Looking inland from the Tofte overlook, on a spur trial off the Carlton Peak trail. (2)

We followed our annual routine of balancing cabin time and lake time with hiking and local drives.

Sun rise over Lake Superior.

We watched the sun rise over the big lake and had a camp fire on the rocks. We stopped in Hinckley and Duluth on the way up, and stopped in Grand Marais one day. It’s all so familiar, yet all so refreshing, relaxing, and restorative… and so much fun!

The cabin lit up at night.
Our campfire set up, on the rocks.
Lake Superior was mostly calm.
A leaf-covered hiking trail through the forest.
Lake Agnes

The colors were breathtaking…everywhere we went. It was spectacular to see and hard to photograph with my iPhone.  

Birch trees.

But it was enough to witness the colors and breath in the fresh air, smell the different whiffs of pine scents, lake water, decomposing leaves, feel the crisp air and to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8a).

An artistic root system…

I stand in awe of the Creator of these incredible autumn colors.

Sawbill Trail.
Gooseberry Falls State Park
Gooseberry Falls Upper Falls

And the colors were not only up north…we saw them driving home, and right here in Northfield, and outside our front and back doors!

Our neighbor’s burning bush, where our mailbox is tucked in.

Who’s Listening?

One afternoon while in Colorado, my husband and I took the grandchildren to the sandy shores of the pond near the apartment complex where they live. It was a sunny, warm day, with temperatures in the 70’s.

A morning view of the cabana’s from the shore.

After awhile we decided to rest in the shade of a cabana near the water. There were four covered areas, divided by sailcloth and each area had two lounge chairs and a small table. It was inviting, and a lovely spot for a respite from the sun.

A view of the cabana’s from the back…overlooking the water.

We each reclined on the lounge chairs, with one grandchild. We were happy and I said out loud, “It would be fun if someone could capture a picture of us.”

Lounging in the cabana.

A few minutes later a kind woman popped into our area and said, “I heard you wanted your picture taken!”

She had overheard us…she was tucked in a different cubby of the cabana. She graciously took our photos, telling us to “shake it up” for one of them. It was fun and felt so welcoming.

Shaking it up.

She was a cheerful woman who was visiting her son, who lived in the complex. But, most interesting is that her husband was on a plane to Malawi, Africa on a mission trip…Malawi is a country bordering Mozambique – we’ve been there. She said she had been to Africa several times.

The next day we were at the playground when she walked by. She told me her husband made it safely to Malawi. I introduced her to my daughter-in-love. She gave her a big hug and told her how much she loved Africa and they visited for awhile.

I was happy for this connection but felt sad knowing this woman was leaving that day to go back to her home a couple hours away. Of course she will return to visit her son, and when she does I hope she and my daughter-in-love connect again.