10 years ago

In late October here in Louisville fall has been rather warm. That was not the case 10 years ago when my family and lived in Minnesota. 10 years ago this weekend I headed south for the weekend, while my wife, son, and dog went north instead, past Duluth, MN, to the North Shore of Lake Superior, to Grand Marais, MN, and beyond. Despite the warmer weather in Georgia, I’ve always been a little jealous of my family, as my wife told some very entertaining stories about their visit up there.

I had found them a cute motel along the lake, with little cabins on one side of the road and on the other side, big white Adirondack chairs, next to the lake (which didn’t really have a beach). They got there late, but the motel had advertised pizza. So when my family asked for food, they pulled some frozen pizza out and popped it in a toaster oven, and that was their dinner. It was cold that night – there were already no leaves on the trees up there – and so my wife cranked up the radiator heat. The heat took a while to get going, and at 3:00 a.m. my wife woke up to our dog vomiting, because he had gotten so hot in the room. They rushed outside and crossed the road. I’ve always enjoyed thinking of that vision: Stephanie, Vincent, and Frisco sitting out in their pajamas on the Adirondack chairs, looking out at Lake Superior at 3:00 a.m.

In the morning, my family got up to watch Canadian TV about the actor who played Dumbledore dying. And then they drove on to Judge Magney State Park, where lots of hiking was in store. At one point, my wife urged them down a hill, but our son stopped, sat in the middle of the trail, and cried. It’s downhill, said Stephanie. But, Vincent cried and blurted out, “eventually we’ll have to come back up a hill” (to get back to the car). So he stayed put and Stephanie and Frisco went on.

Entertaining memories – memories of a wintry late-October Minnesota weekend – that I missed.

-Perry