A Family Vacation

 

My family was lucky! We were able  to take family summer vacations. Often we would rent a cabin in one of the rural areas in Northern Minnesota for a week. I didn’t know any other families who were as fortunate as we were.

My father had two weeks of vacation each year. We spent one week going to places in Minnesota with cabins, fishing and swimming. My mother spent days packing for these trips. We had fishing poles and worms. We brought our own food and coolers full of ice. My parents always planned to leave North St. Paul by 8:00, but usually we weren’t ready until almost noon. 

The first time we vacationed “up north,” we went to Leech Lake in Walker, Minnesota. My brother vividly remembers our Leech Lake vacation. So do I. He remembers that before we climbed into the car my mother said, “Now you kids better be good. Your father paid $45.00 for this week’s vacation.”

Walker is about 3 1/2 hours from St. Paul, on today’s highways and in today’s cars. My father was driving a 1947 Chevy.  I can only imagine how long the trip took back in 1952.

Our knotty-pine cabin was charming, surrounded by woods with a view of the lake from our front window. There was a picnic table outside and the lake had a raft with a diving board. There was a row boat on the shore ~ perfect for fishing trips on the lake.

We were excited. At first we didn’t notice the pump in the kitchen, where my mother was cooking. Obviously, our cabin didn’t have water in the kitchen but we did have an indoor toilet. No bathtub, though. That’s what swimming was for. We were ready for a week full of fun.

The first morning my Dad said he would take my brother fishing. Bob had a new fishing lure that looked like a small frog and he was eager to use it. My mother stood on the shore with my sister and me waving goodby.

My Dad took the oars. “Bring home some fish for dinner,” my Mom shouted. “Stay away from the loons.” 

Dad rowed the boat to the middle of the lake and decided that was a good place to stop and fish. Bob threw the first cast and the hook landed right in my father’s cheek. Bob was horrified as he saw his new frog lure firmly planted in the blood that was slowly dripping down Dad’s face. There was nothing to do but turn the boat around and row back to the cabin so my Mom could remove the hook. My Dad opened his first bottle of beer of the day.

Usually in the afternoon we’d go to a small grocery store up the road from our cabin. There we would buy supplies and ice cream cones. Often we’d be allowed to play shuffleboard and pinball in the back room.  One day we took a trip to Lake Bemidji, where we saw the giant statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox. At night we’d play cards until it was time to go to sleep.

Our family trip to Leech Lake was memorable for a lot of reasons. I remember playing in the lake’s cold water. I remember swimming to the raft and jumping off the diving board. But mostly I remember the leeches. They were everywhere! I’m sure I screamed the first time I came out of the water, my arms and legs covered in leeches.

My mother told me to stop screaming. My father quietly came and pulled all the leeches off my skin. Then, in a moment of sadistic pleasure, Dad put the leeches on the hot rocks surrounding the lake and we watched them fry like strips of bacon.