Need a Road Trip?

Candy: We sure needed a road trip.

So we piled into the El with Chase and took off for the "Gateway to the Pines"--Nevis, Minnesota, my hometown.

When we arrived in Nevis we spotted the boat launch and fishing pier (above) and decided this would be the perfect place for Chase to test the water. Lake Belle Taine holds a unique place in my heart, as it is the site for both my learning to swim and my almost-drowning in high school.At any rate, Chase really enjoyed the water and jumping off the boat launch. You can see the famous Nevis beach in the distance.This is my old high school in Nevis. It looks very similar to the way it did when I was in school way back when, except that a few more additions have been added behind the original building.I was also drawn to photograph the pier with its seagulls. As I was exploring it with my camera, I came across several spider webs that were lit just right by the late afternoon sun. I like this one best.We drove around town as I reminisced about my high school days and pointed out the location of my parents' first place just north of town, the place where the neighbors grew ginseng back in the day, and Danny's now-closed ice cream shop in town.

We decided to head toward Bemidji so that Tim could see what it was like. They have a huge Paul Bunyan statue and a similarly huge statue of Babe, his blue ox. Tim wanted to see it, so we took off for Akeley, the next small town to the east of Nevis, so that we could pick up County Road 64 north and take the old back roads.

As we entered Akeley, I pointed out the town's Paul Bunyan statue, and Tim rushed out of the El to pose in front of it.After sitting in Paul's hand, Tim decided he didn't really need to see the Paul Bunyan statue in Bemidji, so we headed back to Park Rapids (PR, as it's called by the locals) and from there eventually back to Albany.

Oh, I forgot. As some of you know, Minnesota is filled with towns that boast "The World's Largest _______ (fill in the blank)." Akeley's claim to fame is the statue shown above. Nevis' way to fill in the blank is this Tiger Muskie fish statue. If you look closely, you'll notice that it even has its own shelter to protect it from the elements. :)Here's a glimpse of Tim outside the El as we stopped to let Chase catch up on his business.

It was a nearly-perfect day. We had such a good time driving, talking, and looking at things we hadn't seen in a very long time. It was just what we needed.

Tim has an interview tomorrow with an insurance company in Burnsville, an opportunity that arose out of the blue this week. Not much else is new.

Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the last week or two of September. The leaves are just beginning to turn colors here and it looks as though it will be a lovely foliage season in the upper Midwest. We'll do our best to capture it with the camera and share it with you.

Take great care of yourself and enjoy the rest of your week.