Up North

The road "Up North" (what Minnesotans call driving almost to Canada) is a long one, especially when you are invited to a friend's cabin for a Fourth of July Weekend and everyone else in the Twin Cities is going there, too! You drive along Lake Superior for hours, and then you are rewarded. Ahhh...

The birch trees! Is there anything more beautiful? Perhaps the smell of the pines. We arrive at the "cabin" (i.e. beautiful log home) of our dear friends, Brooks and Karen and are rewarded by a "boozey drink"...well, that is, everyone but me, who is allergic to most boozey drinks. Here is our host, Brooks, clearly enjoying the 

early evening.

We are all tired and it is early to bed. We arise the next morning and decide to go visit some friends who were also building a "cabin." So we take off down the gravel road. Wait! Did you see what is at the side of the road?

Here's a better look. They are lupines! My favorite wildflower. They grow in glorious shades of pink, purple and violet. Have you ever read the children's book,"Miss Rumphius"? You must! She is "The Lupine Lady"!

We drive up a tall "hill" and here we are at our friend's "cabin." Hmmm....three levels, it is. 

It really is magnificent. After a tour, we go back to the our home away from home and are joined by Kath and Mike, also good friends of twenty years. That evening, Mike, Jud and I  entertain everyone with the songs Peter, Paul and Mary and all of the verses of "American Pie" (just kidding). 

What else do you do on a long weekend "Up North"?  We go to town to a little art fair and drink real malts. The athletic ones go for long hikes. We cook and eat a lot of great food, listen to CD's of our old favorites, relax in the hot tub, read, laugh, cry and talk of old times. We have a simply wonderful time. No TV. No computer. A wonderful time. 

Monday morning, we go down this gravel road again and home to the city. 

But before we leave, I take a long, long look. Then I carry the memory of the lupines home with me. 


-Suz