Normally around this time of year each summer we head to our condo in Hilton Head Island to spend time with family and friends during our annual summer vacation. Due to the stresses inherent in traveling with an infant less than two months old, The Wife asked that we not travel to our usual vacation location this year. Being that I truly believe vacation is a necessary part of any individual’s healthy work life and the fact that I love spending time with my family on trips, I suggested we come to some sort of compromise. This year we headed 2.5 hours west of the Metro to Norway Lake in the town of New London, MN and adjacent to Sibley State Park.
Below you will find a series of photos I took with my mobile phone (I am so very disappointed that I forgot my real camera) and processed with Instagram. While the quality is definitely not the best, I believe that these five photos really capture the joy we experienced on the lake over the last week. At the bottom, I have transcribed the entry I wrote in the cabin’s visitor journal so that our friend, who was gracious enough to allow us use of her cabin for a week, could live vicariously through our photos and journal entry for years to come.
Guest Sign Inn (sic) (Who): Kim, Bill, Billy, Cassidy
Visiting from (Where): Apple Valley, MN
Date (When) arrived: 7/21/2012 departed 7/27/2012
Purpose of your trip (Why): Summer Vacation 2012!
How I (we) traveled: Two cars b/c we had so much stuff!
The weather / temperature was: Hot & humid for the first 4.5 days (90s) and cooler (70s) for the rest of the week.
What I (we) did: Read books (Bill read 4, Kim 1 + many magazines, Billy (many, many times over)), fished, swam, listened to music, cooked/ate, napped, watch the sunset (gorgeous almost every night!), played w/toys, took lots of photos, went to New London & Willmar, caught bugs.
People I met: Next door neighbor on the 1st weekend.
Places I would recommend (restaurants, favorite meals, sites, shopping, entertainment): McKale’s in New London. We’d eaten there once before in 2003 during a trip to Sibley State Park. Had breakfast there again this week. Cute diner, friendly people, inexpensive.
Favorite moments / special highlights (fun): The best things for Bill were the absolutely stunning sunsets. Two of them were breathtaking. Also enjoyed throwing Billy off the dock & watching him swim back to the ladder time & time again. Kim’s was watching Bill, Billy, & Buddy silhouetted against the sunset while the three boys watched Billy’s 1st sunset. Billy’s favorite things: Blueberries for Sal, finding a toy rake in the lake, playing w/the large selection of brooms, playing w/the vacuum, and especially swimming in the lake while admiring the many boats.
While owning a cabin of our own is a lifelong dream we hope to someday soon realize, we were so very honored and excited to be allowed to enjoy this cute cabin on Norway Lake this year. It just makes us hope & dream that much harder.
The weather was gorgeous, the cabin adorable, & the memories unforgettable!
Thank you so much for sharing your piece of paradise w/us!
Bill, Kim, Billy, Cassidy Roehl
7/26/12
Did you take a summer vacation this year or are you planning to? If so what did you do or what will you do? Do you own your own cabin? How much time do you spend there every year? Have you ever taken a week or more at a time? Part of my dream is to spend entire summers there, working while I do, to get the most out of the space. What is your dream for your summer vacation location(s)? What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re on vacation (read, relax, cook, etc)? Whatever you have to say go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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July 27th, 2012 at 9:15 am
I vetoed any longer than an hour trips this summer because I’m hot and uncomfortable at 8 months knocked up, but I’m a relaxer on vacation. I have no desire to shop or sight see or anything like that. Give me a book, kindle, nook, whatever and a nice place to sit and I’m good.
Looks like a good time.
July 27th, 2012 at 9:26 am
I still can’t get past the fact that you took two cars because you had so much stuff. I guess that is due to the new baby and all…
July 27th, 2012 at 9:28 am
My parents have a cabin. They bought the property when I was in college and subsequently built a cabin on it. They go almost every single weekend year round and plan to retire there, so it is more of a house.
I only go a few times a year and only have been there once this summer for three days. Last summer, when I was laid off, I was able to spend a week there. I always wish I would go more, but I seem to find ways to pack my weekends with volunteer gigs and parties and concerts and never get around to going.
My favorite things to do are fish, cook, and swim. My favorite food in the whole world is fresh caught lake fish. Nothing is better.
July 27th, 2012 at 9:41 am
dsw, we have a VERY small car and two car seats which take up the entire backseat. We could have made it in one very packed car without the dog but he had to come with so two it was.
July 27th, 2012 at 10:41 am
I did a big 4-day road trip through 4 ballparks in 4 cities over the 4th of July, but we aren’t taking a family vacation this summer. We’ve taken a few trips to visit my family up north but that’s it. We’re at a point with our kids where a road trip is NOT a vacation and we have no interest in flying anywhere with them.
My perfect vacation is hitting the road and packing in as much hiking and general outdoors as I can. Granted, there’s something to be said for a week in one place, but even then, I have to get out and see what’s there. Sitting around doing nothing has little appeal to me and I think I’d go stir-crazy at a cabin for a week.
July 27th, 2012 at 11:07 am
I’m not a good vacationer, never have been. We never really vacationed as a family when growing up, never enough time or money. Consequently, I don’t know how to take time off to relax now. I have ample time allowed for vacation from work, but never use it to its max potential.
July 27th, 2012 at 11:20 am
Joey,
Your twitterings of your ballpark visits were one of the better things on the twitter this summer. The seats you seemed to end up in vs. the seats you paid for was pretty funny.
lefty
July 27th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
I normally like to vacation in the winter to a warm destination such as the Caribbean or Vegas so I don’t travel much in the summertime.
However this year I took a unscheduled vacation to camp Abbott-Northwestern hospital on June 21 with a perforated bowel. I was discharged July 16th.
Not as much fun as a normal vacation but I did lose 40 pounds while being fed by a tube for much of that time (hospital food is not much better though).
July 27th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Nurd52,
That is a bummer. Hope you have a full recovery!
lefty
July 27th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Thanks Lefty, I have my brother to thank for the amazing seats. I’m not generally one to fall out of line with my assigned seat, but he had no shame and we never did get kicked out of our seats. Sitting 5 rows behind home plate for $10 is pretty great!
July 27th, 2012 at 6:09 pm
The last time I took a short vacation (three nights) was in the fall of 2010, and the last time I took one a week or longer was in 2008 (that one was a two-week trip). I was planning on taking one this year, having finally amassed the vacation time and funds to do so, but then the fuel pump and transmission in my car decided to both die within two months of each other. So, no vacation for me this year, though I want to try to get up to Duluth and the North Shore for a weekend this fall if I can; they can certainly use the tourism money.
July 28th, 2012 at 8:10 am
Looks like a great time! We are fortunate to have a family cabin in NW Wisconsin. Our summer vacation usually consists of several long weekends at the lake just sitting around, swinging, taking the jet ski our and eating a lot.
When I was younger we also vacationed on the Outer Banks. I have many fond memories of the ocean and beach. It would be nice to go out there again when the kids are older.
July 28th, 2012 at 9:49 pm
My parents have had their cabin for about 10 years now – originally it was a small 3 season cabin, they built the current house about 5 years ago. It seems to just depend on the year how often we go up – usually at least 4 times or so a year. I do love going up there, but am not a fan of the drive with kids right now (it’s 3 hours, so not bad, but not awesome). Sometimes I prefer to just stay in the city during the summer though, because I love all the things happening in the cities during that time – festivals, farmers markets, pools open, beaches, gatherings with friends, etc. I really like going to the cabin in the fall/winter – it’s much quieter up there.
When at the cabin, my favorite thing to do is enjoy a cup of coffee on the deck, and go for sunset pontoon rides (the cabin faces east). I also love to just sit around and read – I rarely do that at home so it’s nice to have an excuse to do nothing.
I can’t see myself ever actually owning a cabin because I like to go new places when traveling and I don’t think we could afford both. I love relaxing on vacations, but tend to favor trips to cities where there is a good mix of opportunities to relax at a spa or coffee shop, sights to see, and great restaurants. My favorite trips I’ve ever taken were to New York City and London, but I did also enjoy the few beach vacations I’ve taken as well. Basically I’m not going to turn down a trip no matter where it is, unless it involves camping.
July 29th, 2012 at 9:29 am
Vacations for me and my family are infrequent…Not sure why other than neither my wife and I don’t particularly see the value in spending our money to go somewhere and do nothing. We can do that at home and it doesn’t cost us near as much. Her family was not a big vacation family. My family vacationed to the Wisconsin Dells every year until my parents got divorced, I was 7 or 8. I always wanted to start up a similar thing for our kids, but at that time we would only afford it if we did it the same way, tent camping. My wife is not a tent camper.
Our first vacation as a family ever was paid for by my then employer after I performed particularly well on a project. 6 days and nights in Orlando, all expenses paid and our kids were the perfect ages 6 and 7. Able to walk around on their own, no more diapers, eating normal food, and still to this day remember seeing the whales at Sea World, Indian Jones Adventure at Universal Studios, and the cool stuff at the Disney properties.
I’ve done a road trip with both of my boys. One to Xenia, OH with my youngest for a car show and drag race event. he had just got his license so we took shifts driving the 800 miles east. That was a good time as we got to know each other a bit more, in particular what was going through his head as he was maturing. My oldest and I took his 180k mile Crown Vic and drove to Nashville, TN so he could scope out possible job opportunities there as well as places to live. At that point in his life he had dreams of becoming a country music star, and was months from moving south. It was on that trip he started to recognize how difficult that might be, and in the end he didn’t move… yet.
As our kids are moving away I actually have been looking back at how I’ve squandered things. I’ve been a bad planner for the future, and I tended to not do things because I wasn’t interested. But I failed to take the long view. Sure I don’t need a cabin, but boy, it would be great to have one now, not for me, but for my kids to use as they start raising their kids.
July 29th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Sounds like a great time Bill and the pictures are lovely. Nice to be able to just sit and read and spend time with the family. Very nice.
July 30th, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] week while we were on vacation I received an e-mail from a local PR company helping Noodles & Company do a promotion for [...]
July 30th, 2012 at 8:48 am
Sounds like a great time.
We’re fortunate enough to have all sorts of family connections to cabins, homes in other states, etc. We take advantage as much as we can. We’ve fallen into a pattern of a 9-day road trip to SW Georgia and the FL Gulf Coast in March. We also spend time at family cabins in SW Ontario, Walker, Park Rapids, and western Wisconsin. We have family in the Denver area and Winnipeg that we visit. Next August, we’re planning a week west of Yellowstone where my uncle spends the summers (lives in a 5th wheel trailer). My plan is to drive the family out there, then rent an RV in Montana to live in for the week.
I’m with Erin — I don’t foresee having a cabin myself unless we inherit something. I’d rather have the flexibility to see different places and having visited so many incredible places already, there’s no way I could decide on one to purchase something. Thankfully my wife and kids share in this feeling — still in our 30s, my wife and I have visited almost all of the 50 states and the kids are quickly catching up. It’s just in our DNA.
To answer Bill’s other questions, when we’re at the cabin, the kids swim almost non-stop or they’re out in the woods exploring. My wife likes to read and chill. My preference is to sit on the dock in the evening and cast a surface popper and bass fish.
September 4th, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] July we took a week-long vacation on Norway Lake near Willmar. As mentioned then, our dream is to someday own a cabin of our own and spend the entire summer [...]