Weekend Trip to Lake Winnie

Last weekend, the boys and I headed nearly 4 hours north to visit Grandma (my mother-in-law) and lots of my wife's family at the cabin. Here's a bunch of photos and some quick stories.

We stopped at the NICEST rest stop along I35 somewhere just before the Grantsburg exit:

The "big stall" had an adult toilet and a tiny kids toilet!


Fancy for an interstate rest stop!


Not long after.


This is the 3rd trip in as many weeks where I say: driving through rural MN in summer is a treat.


The highway's getting smaller... so we're getting closer.

We stayed at a little motel about 15 minutes from Grandma's cabin called the "Gosh Dam Place" (because it's near a dam that makes Lake Winnie). It's the same place we stayed 2 years ago to start our big "state parks" trip. We had a tiny but all-we-needed room:

A double for the boys to share, and a single for Dad. (Bring your own
pillows, blankets, towels, and wash clothes because of COVID-19.)


A small bathroom and a small table.


Gorgeous views.


Loved the 2 keys.


Driving through a national forest just a mile from Grandma's cabin.


Supper time!

My wife's uncle John (neon shirt to the right) made ribs. Charlie was SURE he wouldn't like them... and then he ended up eating like 4 or 5 pieces. And that's the resort's owner in the red dress in the middle.

Some of us went out to play in the water for a bit before some fishing. I've never really driven a boat before (but I obviously know how to turn the wheel and how to make it go faster or slower), but Grandma had told me that I'd be taking her and her Mom (Great Grandma Eileen) out fishing. I was a little nervous!! Henry and Evie (his cousin) stayed back to play, and I took Charlie and Wes (cousin) out fishing on the pontoon.

Family around the big floating trampoline. That's Henry running down the slide.


Charlie and Wes being told that they'd have to get the worms.




Reluctantly helping.


Great Grandma fishing!


Lake Winnie views.


Changing fishing spots. That's Grandma Monica between
the boys, and her sister Julie giving bunny ears.


We backwards trawled the whole time, so I was always at the wheel. (Backwards
because we could keep a constant slow speed easier, and then fish off the front.)


BOYS.

Grandma Monica caught a small perch at the same moment Great Grandma Eileen caught a northern. The boys were so excited! That is, until Aunt Julie chased them around the boat with the pike:

Sunset selfie with the little fellas.


Heading in at sunset. (At top speed [17 mph], it takes some time.)


Sunset just after getting back on the docks.


I had Henry's dry clothes on the boat, so here he is in Evie's shorts with no undies. Oops.

We downed some s'mores and hit the road for our hotel. I didn't think we'd be out fishing for 2.5 hours, but we were, and we pulled in to the docks at 9 pm (our normal bed time), hung around for a while, went to our hotel, showered off, and the boys crawled into bed around 10:15 after a BIG day:

You can SEE how tired Henry is.


I showered with the lights on and came out to find Henry passed out.


7:00 a.m. the next morning.


Back at Grandma Monica's cabin for breakfast with the cousins!


Decked out in 4th of July gear!


A horrible photo of all 4 kids. #IHavePhotoSkillz


The resort gave out donuts with red, white, and blue sprinkles to dip them in.


All 4 kids on the pontoon, the "dock boy" holding
it, and Steph and Monica heading down the dock.


Grandma Monica knew of a few good bays, but it was a long ride to get there.

We went through a few bays, a channel, and then headed into a narrow channel towards a small bridge. I had to wait for 1 boat to go through the other way, and I had 3 behind me. Once we got really close, I said "our canopy won't fit under!!" and threw it in reverse. I manuvered around to go back the way we came in that narrow channel to let the other boats get through. We settled in a bay near that bridge after a 40-45 min ride:

Getting ready to fish.


Trying the ole' 1-handed putting-on-a-worm method. Shockingly, he needed help.




My fellas.


Wes had to piss again.

Steph and I (we aren't fishermen) got the kids fishing as Monica did some pole adjustments. Steph happened to leave more space between Henry's bobber and his bait than the other kids - we were in about 6' of water, and Henry's bobber was set so his jig was about a foot from the bottom. And wouldntchaknow... he started catching the most fish. Soon we moved EVERYONE'S bobber farther up their line so they were fishing the bottom.

Henry's first catch!


Monica enlisted Wes's help to land this monster.


Evie's fish.


She was the only kid to take off the fish! NICE!


Steph and Wes watching perch play with his bait.


Charlie's first fish.


A swim break before moving to a different spot.
(I had just hopped back in after peeing...)


A swim race around the pontoon.


CANNONBALL!!!!!


Henry's biggest perch.


My boys at the new spot.


Evie kissed one of hers.


Wes caught the biggest fish: this beautiful bluegill!


A pic from Steph: random craziness on the boat.


While going slow in a "wake free" area in a channel.


Charlie helping me out for a while.


Snuggled in with Grandma for the ride back.


Henry and Wes on the ride back.

We had a late lunch of like 8 different flavors of brats! Here we were set up outside of Aunt Julie's trailer:

Charlie giving my wife's cousin's kids rides.




Face tattoos from Aunt Marla.


A lot of the gang out in the water. This is ALL our crew. #TanLinesEverywhere


Charlie going down the side.


Nick and Nathan chuckin' kids! I posted this on Instgram saying:
"Possibly the greatest fun he’s ever had. Possibly child abuse."


Then they threw Charlie and he lost a shoe.




Henry had "burns" on his lower cheeks from his life jacket pushing on his face so much.


A wacky video we sent my wife later in the day. I swam away from
Charlie in the last 10 seconds, and I love his final line. Direct link.


Playing at the splash pad before heading back to our motel.


8:20 p.m.: looking pooped, sun-kissed cheeks, watching some TV.

I was awake at about 2 a.m. (it's always common for me to sleep hard the first half of the night when with the boys, and then sleep light for the middle of the night), and as I was still awake sometime around 2:20, I heard a huge **THUD** and knew Charlie had fallen out of bed. I helped him back up, and of course, he remembers nothing of it.

7:00 a.m.


Back at Grandma's for breakfast.


I cooked breakfast: sausages and a dozen scrambled eggs.


The kiddos with Grandma.


Henry and I went back to pack up our motel room. Bye Gosh Dam Place!


Hunting for crayfish skeletons in the rocks.


By the time they were done, each of the 4 kids had a baggie full of grossness.


Aunt Julie showed off her stand-up-paddle-board skills.


Evie took to it quickly!


My wife's cousin Nathan, niece Evie, and Julie with Wes!


Nathan asked if Charlie wanted to go out! YES!




Julie and Wes heading back.


Charlie and Nathan.






Now Julie's grandkids came down too!


Nathan and Wes!


Julie and one of her grandkids way out there!

Time for one last meal before heading out. Steph went back to help Monica prep as I watched the kids during the paddle boarding. Monica was in charge of tacos, so Steph and I brought stuff for the "spread." I may have turned my wife's family on to squirting limes on your tacos (I brought limes that got quartered so you could squirt them - they'd never done that before).

The taco table.


At the end of this, he had tacos in his shoes. Really.


Oh yeah, I forgot to say how HOT IT WAS during our trip.


This was the scene quickly after leaving.


More beautiful rural MN summer driving.


The farm boy in me is a sucker for bales in a field.
The storm clouds rolling in made me stop for the pic.

We made one stop on the way home. Back in February, the boys and I stopped at Moose Lake State Park to get our stamp (we're getting a "passport" stamp from every state park in MN), but the park was basically closed. So we stopped there on our way home last weekend to ACTUALLY experience it. It had a great swimming beach:

I love this pic of the boys.


Echo Lake.


A fair number of people swimming back there.

Thanks for the fun trip, Grandma Mon!! :) We had a blast.