Canoe Races and Family Vacations

My garden is starting to produce!  So far I have harvested parsley, chives, 2 kinds of lettuce and broccoli.  The picture is of Bruce standing next to my green beans.  We are going to have a lot of them.  Next to the beans are tomatoes.  I hope to have some ripen but they don’t usually do too well for me.  Sometimes I wonder why I even try growing them.  Behind Bruce is a long bed of raspberries.  They look really  good.  Pretty soon we should start to see little red berries.

 

 

The lodge and outfitters are really busy now.  Families are here with kids and grandparents.  It is great to have them running busily around the property.  Many of the families have been with us for years.  It is fun to see kids grow up.  They surprise us every year with how much they have grown.  Soon it is time for college and weddings and grandchildren.  Life is fun.

Last Wednesday was time for the annual canoe races.  They have been held on Gunflint Lake for over 25 years.  In addition to the actual races there are sloppy joes, calico beans, hot dogs, homemade bars, pop chips, etc in the food tent.  The raffle goes all night with great stuff to take a chance on.  There is a silent auction and several live auctions.  Bruce and I got a beautiful wooden depth map of Gunflint Lake.  It is the kind of thing you never could buy in a store.

My job the last few years has been to sell raffle tickets.  There is one raffle for the various gift items and then the grand raffle for a Wenonah kayak.  You cannot imagine how busy we were selling tickets.  There were 3-4 of us working on it and people seemed to be just throwing money at us.  We could hardly keep track of who was getting what.  The smart ones are the grandmothers who bring their return address mailing labels.

When the night is over, it is time to go up and count the money.  This year we set a new record.  The Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department got about $20,000.  That is not too bad for just a little event.  Of course it takes lots of people to put in lots of time.  Chris Steele from Seagull Lake headed up the event.  He did a great job.

Pretty soon Bruce and I will go back to the lodge for Sunday BBQ.  He carves and I stand around talking.  Don smokes the ribs, salmon, and chicken over hickory from Missouri.  Tonight we have just about 150 people in camp.  There are a few clouds in the sky but it is supposed to be a beautiful night.  After the guests have eaten, we will feed the staff.  The BBQ starts on Memorial Day weekend and ends on Labor Day weekend.  When it is over, I can’t eat ribs again for several weeks.  Restaurants just don’t do them as well as Don does.