Summertime and the living is easy....

We arrived in Detroit Lakes , Minnesota on Friday afternoon. For the few who are not aware, DL is the center of the summer people in the midwest. For generations, families have come to this area rich in lakes and tidy cottages. Over the years, the cottages have enlarged and the numbers increased but I doubt that much else has changed. The popular beaches, bars and social season are in full swing and the golf tourneys are frequent. It reminds me of one of those good beach novels.

Guy and Judy Hatlie, of Manhattan Beach, Ca and Lake Sallie welcomed us to their delightful cottage. You can see the lake and the sun setting as a reflection in the windows. It was a splendid gathering of old and new friends.

Here are Judy, Guy , yours truly, and Lynn Marr. All of us attended Jamestown High School, (North Dakota) too many years ago....and don't we look FABULOUS???Here are Ginny Marr and Bob (the Marr's lake neighbors) .And Jean, Bob's wife, and also the resident History expert, and the briefly unsmiling Paul. It was a spectacular evening of great wines, food and lively conversation.Followed by an sunset ride in the Hatlie's luxurious pontoon boat. This picture was taken about 9 and it stayed light until almost 10 pm.
The next morning, we ventured out for a tour of the lakes. Some ingenious person invented this contraption to get boats from one lake to the other. The boat is eased up in front of this structure and the attendant on the land raises a raft that is under the boat and guides it over by cable and lowers it on the other side. Guy deftly positioned it perfectly for the carry-over. Here are the cables and tracks to guide the raft over. A crowd gathered to watch the operation.

A look at us suspended half way across. The charge is $5 round trip plus a generous tip for the guide.

After traversing the first obstacle, we had to cross under a highway. This tunnel was very low and Guy learned last year the hard way when he tried to go thru with the canopy up.... But this time , we ducked low as we went thru and came out on the large Detroit Lake.That evening we tagged along to a cocktail party. Altho we grew up in ND, we did not stay long so it has been years and years and years since we have listened to that midwestern twang. And heard the names of towns and places once so familiar. We welcomed the simple surnames of Johnson, Peterson, Olson and appreciated the beauty of the Scandanavian blondes. We ended the evening with a dinner of walleyed pike and skipped the popular whitefish livers.

And then today, we had another pleasant surprise. We learned of another classmate living on the lake and stopped by to say Hi. Judy ( Schultz )Anderson and her husband Gary who grew up in Hillsboro the same time that Paul and his family lived there......And they just bought a home in The Villages.!!! just too many coincidences for one weekend.

It was a perfect few days and we thank Judy and Guy for their generosity and wish them a wonderful European holiday this wee

And finally.....it's been too long since we've had the gratuitous grandchild picture...at least 3 days. Jon and Marybeth had a moving sale and among other things, sold this Little Tykes large plastic play set. Here is Mason watching it go away...I hope he understood.

We head for Denver today and a couple long days of driving.