Sunday, June 10, 2007

Welcome to the Lake

WARNING: This blog post may be to some like watching Uncle Fred and Aunt Louise's vacation slide show from the cruise to Mexico. But I don't care...the pictures are cool and the weekend was great! Enjoy!

On Friday night, while enjoying some peace and quiet on my friend's (J) porch as he hosted a couple of his local friends (The Steph & E) and an out-of-town guest (A), a spontaneous decision was made to head up to J's parents' (J's Ps) house on Lake Minnewaska in beautiful and populous Glenwood, MN the next afternoon. So at about 1:45pm on June 9, 2007, 2 guys (J & E), 2 girls (The Steph & A) and a yellow lab (The Dog) hit the road in a blue pick-up and never looked back. And the world hasn't been the same since.

The weather forecast called for sunny skies in the 80s for the rest of the weekend. Of course, this is what the sky looked like as we left the traffic-clogged Twin Cities for the 2 1/2 hour drive to the county seat of Pope County:

But have no fear, the clouds and darkness cleared, and by the time we reached Glenwood, the skies were as friendly as could be:
Upon arrival at J's Ps' house, we were greeted with a happy sign overlooking Lake Minnewaska, that stated the sentiment as clearly as possible:
The sign was on the back of the boat house/garage, holding essential tools for repair if necessary on J's Ps' boat...

Upon jumping out of the truck, we unloaded our bags and ventured out to the end of the dock, where The Dog was slightly hesitant to take the plunge into the water...

But eventually, she peered over the edge, tentatively considering jumping in...
And then FINALLY...jumped in...

And doggy-paddled around...

And then terrified everyone by getting close to them with her wet-doggyness...

J's dad had gassed up the boat and prepared it for our arrival, and J lowered it and got it started...
Then pulled up alongside the dock so that we could jump in... And then two guys, two girls and a yellow lab were off for a ride on the lake... (Editor's Note AKA Note from The Steph: The following video is still being "processed" on YouTube because I just uploaded it today, so if it's not there yet, sorry, it will be soon...I hope!)



The Dog definitely enjoyed hanging her head over the edge of the boat...

And getting her wet, smelly doggyness on me...

J showed us a tower off in the distance that he had thought was the Statue of Liberty when he was a kid...

Really??????Since I couldn't quite picture it, even while trying to see the tower through the eyes of a naive, rural 5 year-old, I did a little bit of a side-by-side comparison when I got home...

Yeah. Now I see it. (Wink, wink.) After seeing the great Statue of Liberty from the lake, we continued around, spying on rich people...

And then eventually headed back to home base...

Where J very carefully and delicately pulled the boat back up to the dock...

Then we went to dinner at the famous Torgy's on the Lake. Torgy's is famous for having the best roasted chicken (I think) in Long Beach (little "suburb" of Glenwood) for over 30 years. (I think it's the ONLY place to get roasted chicken in Long Beach...but who am I to argue with the declaration of the menu?). We made the "half-mile" walk (I'm using quotation marks because it was really more like 1+ mile, and not that we minded - it was a gorgeous walk on an amazing evening around the lake, but just note-to-self, when J says "half-mile walk," multiply it by 2 or 3...) We sat on a little patio, overlooking the lake, and then asked J's second grade teacher, who was also dining at this fine establishment, to take a group picture...

(From L to R: The Steph, E, A, J; Not pictured: The Dog, who was left back at The House)

Then we headed back to J's Ps' house and sat outside, enjoying the sunset (although J did point out to me that by the time I took these pictures that the sun had already technically set...details, details...)...

And a bonfire started and maintained by J's dad...

Isn't this pretty???

As the night darkened, I thought the fire was really cool, so I took pictures of it...

Ooooooooo, pretty!!!

Then we went to bed. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast with J's dad at the local supermarket coffee shop, and hit the local historical site on our way out of town...

More specifically...

Then we all learned how Lake Minnewaska got it's name...

To finish off our trip, I took pictures of the view of Glenwood to the east from on top of Princess Minnewaska (yes, I know, it made me giggle, too)...

To the west...


Finally, a group shot of the 3 Twins Citians...

And that, girls and boys, is the story of the weekend in Glenwood. The End.

posted by Steph @ 2:49 PM

1 Comments:

At 7:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't believe I *just* read this. I want to go back, I want to go back! It sucks that 80% of life isn't a weekend at the lake, with friends as good as The Steph, E, and the A.

Can't wait to bring you back up!
-J

 

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