Minnesota Magic

Chris's Mom, Kathy, and Step-Dad, Gary, rent a cabin for a couple months each spring, summer and fall in Northern Minnesota. The cabin is at Birch Retreat on Potato Lake. It's about 3.5 hours north of Minneapolis. Last September, we went up for the Labor Day weekend. It was cool and chilly. Here is a reminder photo:



This year, we wanted to go up when the weather was sure to be warmer and it just turned out that the only time our schedule would allow us to go up was in July, during the 4th of July weekend.

It's an easy trip as we typically drive the first four hours to Minneapolis on Wednesday evening, spend the night at Kathy and Gary's house, and then drive the next 3.5 hours on Thursday morning.

As soon as we arrive, we immediately head out on the lake and get fishing. I never realized I loved fishing so much until my first trip to Potato Lake last September. It's exhilarating to feel the tug on your pole and the excitement of reeling in the first! It's like Christmas morning! You have the surprise of seeing what's at the end of your line once you've reeled it all the way in!

Nathan was our first successful fisherman. He caught a sun fish on his first cast.



He went on to catch a ton more with the help of Grandma Kathy. He even caught a few larger Rock Bass.



But I really think he was more interested in being "The Captain."



Chris caught the largest fish, a small mouth bass, just over 1 lb. Unforetunately at the same time, I was reeling in a catch and Chris's first was tossed in the live well before we could get a picture of the two of them together.

I was hoping to catch another larger Northern Pike, like I did during last September's trip, but it wasn't meant to be. I did catch a couple little Perch fish, which were a new catch for me.



When we weren't on the boat, Nate could have spent hours at Birch Retreat's cute little beach. They have a dozen different trucks perfect for digging in the sand. Nathan was in heaven on that beach!

The trip ended in a bang when we went out on Potato Lake late Sunday night to watch fireworks explode around us! It was fun to watch all the lake neighbors set off their fireworks and, boy, did they put on quite the show. Best part, there was no backed up traffic to sit in to get home to bed. We just drove the boat up to the dock and jumped in the sack.


Goodbye, Potato Lake! We'll see you next year!