Monday August 24.
This year instead of renting some cabin we are trying a resort. So far I really like it, clean, quiet, no strange decorations or questionable cleanliness.
We drove up from the cities this afternoon. The weather is perfect, warm enough for the boys to play in the lake; cool enough to sit outside if we want. The weather is supposed to be like this all week.
There are a lot of lakes in this region of Minnesota. We stayed on a different lake near here a few years ago. The main town is Alexandria and it’s only a few miles away.
All we’ve done so far is unpack, get settled, watch the boys play, and eat dinner. They have played in the lake and the sand, played on the playground, kicked the soccer ball around, and even gone kayaking.
This was another example of how they are growing up. They could both manage their own kayak. Sarah took a kayak too and all three of them went out toward the middle of the lake. She was ready to come back in but they didn’t want to. We let them stay in the kayaks but they had to get closer to shore.
Dinner was breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, potato pancakes, avocado toast, fruit. Kris made it with Erik’s help because Suzanne had a bad cold. It was all delicious. I did most of the cleanup.
I’m eager to hop on my bike tomorrow and check out the trail that goes right past the resort. Who knows, I might try a kayak or a paddle board myself!
Tuesday August 25
I woke at 5 but went back to sleep until 5:30. I was the first one up of course. I actually got my act together and by 8 I was out the door, ready to tackle The Central Lakes bike trail. I went east toward Alexandria, took a picture of Ole the Viking, and then continued on for about 10 miles, a little way past the tiny town of Nelson. It was perfect weather. A little breezy but not too hot or cold. It’s a very pretty trail! I went a little over 20 miles total. Tomorrow I’ll go west and see what it’s like that direction.
After a shower and some lunch I worked on my next crochet project, just a scarf but with some very fine merino wool that was donated to the auxiliary. I’ll put it in the sale.
The boys and Erik were kicking a soccer ball around and I decided to join them. It was fun until I lost my balance and fell. I banged up my hip and I’m sure I have a bruise on my leg. Kirby commiserated with me. “I hate to fall,” her said. “You’re a lot closer to the ground than I am”, I reminded him. “Yeah, but it’s still scary.” He’s right. I tried so hard to right myself but it was no use and down I went. I’m just glad I didn’t break anything, and I fell on my left side, not the side that had the pinched nerve!
After recovering from my fall I decided to go kayaking with Sarah and the boys. First Kirby had a meltdown because there weren’t any life jackets to his liking (which means one exactly like Leo had). Frankly I was ready to leave him behind but he finally decided he could stand to wear one of the available life jackets.
Sarah used a paddle board. We went down the shore of the lake and then turned around and went back, a few times. We only went out for about 20 minutes.
Afterwards I waded around in the water to cool off. Now I’m back on the screen porch, relaxing again.
Wednesday August 26
Later in the afternoon Marvin, Kris’s new dog, got outside. He’s a rescue, and she hasn’t had him very long, and he doesn’t listen very well yet. On the positive side, he’s in love with Kris so even though he was very excited by being loose outside, there was no way he was going to run away. But we couldn’t catch him, he was running in circles around Kris, very fast. Finally, even though Kris said he wasn’t very food motivated, I went inside and got some real turkey breast. Whoa! He was definitely interested in that!! He came to me to get a bite but I still couldn’t pick him up. So I gave him another bite, and another, and another, all the while slowly walking back to the villa until he was finally back inside. We seem to lose a dog every time we go to a cabin! This is a tradition we could do without!
Lee made dinner last night: steak, veggie burgers, ratatouille, French bread. It was very good. I was pretty tired and got to bed a little earlier, 9:30.
This morning I was up and ready to go on my bike ride by 7:30 AM. I went west on the trail, 20 miles to the little town of Brandon, and back. It was very pretty, but very windy so going west was pretty hard. Of course coming back was easier, and a lot faster too!
I got back in time to take a shower before Sarah’s brunch was ready. Scones, egg bake, fruit salad. So good! And it was all vegan too.
Today has been very relaxing. I did go on a walk later. I went east on the trail and back, 3 miles total.
The only other excitement was the boys were playing with some boomerangs and one ended up on the roof of the villa. Lee got his fishing rod and started casting. At first he didn’t have much luck but then the lure got caught on a shingle above the boomerang and he was able to use the line to nudge the boomerang off the roof! We all cheered! Lee lost a lure but he saved the boomerang!
We went out for dinner last night in Alexandria. The Garden Bar. It was pretty good. Alexandria is big enough to have some nice restaurants. Lee and I split the pastrami sandwich and a Caesar salad.
Then we went back to the villa and had a fire and s’mores. Or the boys did anyway. I had a marshmallow with a graham cracker, no chocolate. I figured out years ago that I like that better. We watched the fire and chatted for a while and then some people watched a Harry Potter movie and some of us went to bed.
And that’s it for this year’s cabin. I really enjoyed this place. I would be happy to come back here again next year, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what everyone else thinks!
