Welcome to Minnesota. Land of folk legend - Paul Bunion. Among other things.
For as long as I can remember this fish-shaped piece of plywood, with the words Evergreen Lodge hand-painted on it, has had the ability to elicit ear-shattering squeals from every child in our seven-car caravan as it came into view. This sign was the official signal that we had arrived at our beloved Evergreen Lodge.
Being here meant that all my 24 cousins and I would be able to enjoy two weeks of sweet emancipation! We would have fourteen days of swimming, minnow hunting, leech killing, and fishing off the dock; of water skiing, row boating, playing cards, burying each other in the sand, and Turtle Races in town on Wednesdays. When daylight faded all the kids would meet up at the Lodge to listen to the juke box, play some pool - some pinball, eat gobs of candy and drink Nehis until our money ran out. That vacation to Minnesota was our last hurrah before beginning a new school year just a week after returning home. It was pure bliss.
Even now as an adult – I have most of the same feelings attached to that place. I feel the same giddy anticipation all throughout the year of summer arriving so we can go back again. It’s not quite the same for me now as it was when I was a kid of the ‘70s, but when I’m there, everywhere I walk, everything I see, being in Cabin 13 - I can see so clearly all the ghosts of my past and feel I am in some way with my family again. These days only a handful of my extended family makes the trek each year, unfortunately not at the same time. Like me, they too, want their kids to experience in some way the magic we felt back then.
Being here meant that all my 24 cousins and I would be able to enjoy two weeks of sweet emancipation! We would have fourteen days of swimming, minnow hunting, leech killing, and fishing off the dock; of water skiing, row boating, playing cards, burying each other in the sand, and Turtle Races in town on Wednesdays. When daylight faded all the kids would meet up at the Lodge to listen to the juke box, play some pool - some pinball, eat gobs of candy and drink Nehis until our money ran out. That vacation to Minnesota was our last hurrah before beginning a new school year just a week after returning home. It was pure bliss.
Even now as an adult – I have most of the same feelings attached to that place. I feel the same giddy anticipation all throughout the year of summer arriving so we can go back again. It’s not quite the same for me now as it was when I was a kid of the ‘70s, but when I’m there, everywhere I walk, everything I see, being in Cabin 13 - I can see so clearly all the ghosts of my past and feel I am in some way with my family again. These days only a handful of my extended family makes the trek each year, unfortunately not at the same time. Like me, they too, want their kids to experience in some way the magic we felt back then.
The gang: Asa, Natasha, Karissa, Allysa. Not pictured: Jake
Asa with his "Big One"
Alyssa and Jake using teamwork carrying a pale of water to the dock.
One of the thousands of itty-bitty fish that Asa caught. Mom and Dad were the lucky ones to take the hook out of the thousands of mouths... for the most part.
This is the Fishing Derby in Hackensack - about a 30-minute drive from Longville. All of our gang participated. They got bags of candy for being good sports. Asa was 2nd place for largest fish caught. He got a nice bullhead, aka: catfish.
