While driving up north you leave the busyness of the city and daily routines behind, and life slows down. The scattered lakes among evergreen trees, blue skies, fresh air, loon calls and the full, super moon reflecting on the water…
Morning has broken…offering an easy, peaceful feeling.
…all its natural beauty reenergizes and restores…and it feels a little closer to heaven.
So, when I saw a coaster with the saying “Heaven feels a little closer at the lake” I immediately purchased it for my friend. Every year she invites me to her cabin on Daggett Lake, near Crosslake, Minnesota, and every year it does seem we are a little closer to heaven while we are there.
And so it was again, this past week, up at the lake.
I’m delighted to be up on the north shore of Lake Superior. We are in our happy place. I’ve been anxiously waiting for our time to check in, relax and be renewed in this very special place.
My happy place.
The drive up was gorgeous…many golds and yellows leaves along the highway, interspersed with evergreens. The beautiful sunny sky and warm October day added to our pleasure.
Beauty along the highway.
We made our usual stops along the way: Canal Park in Duluth…
Duluth’s aerial bridge.
The light house at Canal Park.
A ship coming to port in Duluth.
…Gooseberry Falls State Park for a picnic lunch, Black Beach and then Tettegouche State Park for a quick hike before arriving at our beloved rental cabin on the shores of Lake Superior.
Gooseberry Falls.
Black Beach.
Once we unpacked and settled in we were looking through the books at the cabin and one stood out in particular… we laughed that this book was in our cabin. The title? Outwitting Squirrels. This adds to our reading pleasure during this 2020 squirrel capturing season.
The book we found in the cabin…how appropriate for our squirrel adventures this summer.
Over the weekend we were with my 92-year-old uncle. Uncle Bob is my dad’s youngest brother. He’s never been in the hospital; he’s never been in a car accident. He lives with his wife of almost 70 years (August 2020) in their own home near Brainerd, MN. My Auntie Joyce will be 90 in April. Bob sometimes gets his dates confused but Joyce will chime in with the correct ones. They have had their share of hardships over the years but they have weathered them well together. What a joy to be with them…in their beautiful home up north.
Trees line the driveway up to Uncle Bob’s home.
Gary and I went for a walk with Uncle Bob (Joyce stayed back). It was a slow, leisurely walk. As we walked I thought about leisurely walks with our two-year-old granddaughter up north last fall. Those walks with grandchildren are precious in a different way…they are slow walks because of their curiosity and exuberance.
92…2: opposite ends of the spectrum…both slow, leisurely walks but for different reasons.
Uncle Bob and Gary stop on our walk to clarify something.
Although Bob is in good health he has slowed down a lot (but he’s happy he doesn’t need a walker). We really enjoyed slowing down and walking with him, and visiting as we walked. My father died at age 55 and Uncle Bob tells us stories of their childhood and a lot of the kindnesses my dad showed his brother and others (and also about a few pranks he played too). Gary never met my father and has told Bob he thinks of him as the father-in-law he never had.
Uncle Bob, me, Auntie Joyce.
I am so grateful for these times together. Uncle Bob wanted us to come to visit them and talk about our upcoming trip to Norway and the family ties. Now they want us to come back after our trip to hear all the stories we’ll have. We certainly will. It’s such a gift to have Uncle Bob and Auntie Joyce in our lives.
A beautiful sky over the snow covered field on Uncle Bob’s property.
What a wonderful week we’ve had weather-wise…sunny, seventy’s and low humidity. Perfect for being anywhere, especially up in northern Minnesota. I was on the Whitefish chain of lakes with a friend, staying on her porch, with a cabin attached. Our days were relaxing, and among other things we did some boating and a lot of reading.
Looking out in front of the cabin.
We went out on her pontoon which was a highlight for me. We left the jet skis docked this year, and my cell phone in the cabin. In previous years we’ve taken out the jet skis and had some…let’s say…complications. Then there was the year my iPad fell off the dock into the drink during early morning quiet time. So I tried to avoid any type of fiascos this year. Success!
Getting ready for a pontoon excursion.
The evenings were still and cool so we slept on the large porch listening to the loons calling as we fell asleep.
A lot of loon activity on the lakes.
Before I left home for the cabin I had fifty pages left to read in my latest political thriller. So when we arrived at the cabin Sunday afternoon, after unpacking the car, we immediately got out some lawn chairs, set them up near the lake and started to read. I quickly finished the book. I brought along three non-fiction books so I had plenty additional reading material.
One morning’s sun reflecting on the lake that looks like clear glass. Beautiful.
When it was time to leave the cabin four days later, I had fifty pages left in one of the other books I had started reading up there. However, when I arrived back to our house in Northfield things changed… I no longer felt I could just sit down and finish the book right away….there was unpacking to do, laundry to throw into the washing machine, email and catch-up conversations, plus weeding flowers and so forth. So instead of sitting down to finish my book I did chores instead. I felt I needed to get something accomplished before enjoying more reading time.
Daggett Lake, a lake on the Whitefish chain of lakes.
I guess that’s why it’s always good to get away. At home we see all there is to be done (although my friend saw things that needed to be done at her cabin while we were there), but we had a delightful time on our annual trip to Daggett Lake.
