I just got back from a week in the north woods. There’s nothing quite like it. The majestic eagles flying over, the plaintive call of the loons, even the wind in the pines—I feel myself relaxing just writing about it!
In addition to my wife and I, we spent the whole week with my mother and part of the week with my sister, her daughter-in-law and her three-year-old grandson. What a treat it was to spend time with them. The three-year-old kept us jumping, moving from the sand to the water to the boats to his trucks and back to the sand. But we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
It’s become an annual event, spending a week at Camp Balsams, our church-owned retreat just west of Eagle River. The cabins were built in the 1920s and retain much of their rustic charm. But then, we don’t spend a lot of time inside the cabins. We went kayaking almost every day and walked around the lake (a little over four miles) every other day.
This was the first time in the ten years we’ve been making the trip that we saw a black bear. But we didn’t just see one, we saw four! We saw the first two while driving back to the cabin after supper out. A mama bear and her baby ran across the road ahead of us. We saw the other two during a brief trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Saturday and Sunday. One ran across the road near us and we saw the other one outside the restaurant where we ate Saturday night (that one maybe didn’t count—the restaurant had a feeding station where its patrons could see the bear).
During that quick trip to the UP, we revisited the Porcupine Mountains where we had spent part of our honeymoon 31 years ago. It’s a beautiful area, snuggled up alongside the Lake Superior shoreline. We were treated to several beautiful vistas during our two days of hiking. The final day didn’t end so well, however—my wife fell on the homeward leg of our walk and fractured her left arm—not the way you want to end an otherwise relaxing and enjoyable vacation. Still, we were glad to go and glad for the experiences we had.
In September, I’ll be going back to Camp Balsams for a few days. I’m already looking forward to it!
