Back to Writing

As you all know, I have taken a sabbatical this summer from the blog. Well, September is here and I have to start writing again so here we go.

Bruce and I got away for a 3-night canoe trip with our friends Tom and Melissa. Because it was such a short trip, we decided to base camp on Saganagons. We went over Silver Falls and then Dead Man’s Portage and found a perfect camp site. With two days to relax, that is pretty much what we did. The first day we canoed into Wet Lake. The bass were biting pretty well so we got an easy dinner. The next day the guys got a northern and a couple small bass. That became dinner too. I cannot tell you how good really fresh fish tastes.

This was our first experience base camping. After a busy summer, we really enjoyed it. You are out there in the woods and can’t do a thing about any problems at home. Bruce and Tom’s big project of the day was to find the “proper” kind of firewood for our cooking fire. Bruce particularly likes beaver wood or pieces of drift wood for his cooking fire.. Melissa was able to spend two hours one night getting the perfect sunset picture. With digital cameras you can just keep clicking. The picture below shows us getting breakfast one morning.

Melissa is trying to capture the mist on the water. Bruce is our cook – oatmeal with all the fixings (walnuts, craisins, raisins, and brown sugar). As a treat we carry in one fresh orange per couple per day. I sat one afternoon and just watched the clouds go by. You can imagine how often I do that at home. It’s probably as often as you do.

Once we got home is was truly back to work. Bruce is working full time at the lodge and I am helping here and there. We always loved our day job so this is fun again. Of course, it helps that we have a really great group of managers. The one thing that we particularly enjoy doing is talking with the guests at night during dinner. So if you are here for dinner, expect to see us.
Another project has been planning for some upcoming special weekends at the lodge. For example October 23-26 is our Wine Weekend. Quite a bit of planning goes into it. This picture shows some of the early planning.

Jessica Mizia, our sales person from The Wine Company, brought a selection of wines for us to sample. Bruce and I along with Don and Marilyn spent four hours on this little project.

As with any block of time at the lodge, we had lots of interruptions. Don is a member of the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department. He got called away for an hour or so to fight a brush fire on the Mile O’Pines Road. We had a new girl working as a waitress so I tried to watch and give her directions. Then there were several homeowners who stopped in for dinner. We would talk with them for a bit. A group of four men walked in for dessert. They were going on a canoe trip and wondered if Bruce Kerfoot was still around. Bruce walked over to talk with them. Pretty soon they were talking fishing. Bruce had to go down to our house to get them a sample of the latest and greatest bait – GULP. These are artificial leeches kept in a special solution that smells great to fish. Occasionally Marilyn would have to answer computer questions from Chris at the front desk.

I am sure that Jessica thought we were crazy but such is our life. We sampled about eight different wines and talked about entrees that they would “pair” well with. Like anything else, you gotta learn the lingo for wine dinners. Pairing refers to matching wines with food. We didn’t seem to drink that much – all those bottles are still pretty full. Even so, I slept well last night.

It is good to be talking with all of you again. I’ll be keeping you current with all of the goings on at Gunflint Lake.