A perfect Minnesota weekend in pictures.

This past weekend Lee and I had the opportunity to spend a lovely and relaxing weekend at a cabin in northern MN, just living the summer lifestyle. The weather was perfect and the company impeccable. The only complaint I have is the fact that it's road construction season and the drive to and from Minnesota ended up being over 8 hours each way (including a couple stops scattered throughout). Luckily for us we looove us some good quality time, so spending uninterrupted time as a couple in the car turns out to be pretty great.

I ended up forgetting my phone at mi casa, so I was without it for the weekend. I realized I forgot it before we even left town on Friday, but made the conscious decision to leave it, and I am so glad I did. The couple of phone numbers I needed Lee either had, or had someone who had them. It was a glorious, unplugged weekend for me, and a time to enjoy the weekends' four F's:  friends, friends' dogs, family and fishing.

Some highlights of the trip:

1. Quality time with Lee's family and our gracious hosts.
2. Learning to fish and actually catching a few.
3. Swimming in the extremely clear lake. My skin says thank you.
4. Loons! So many loons! 
5. Running into some friends from Fargo who just so happened to be on the same lake at the same time we were. And in the land of 10,000 lakes, that's almost enough evidence to go buy a lottery ticket!
6. Passing through small-town, rural Minnesota dreaming of life's simple joys presented there.
7. Lots and lots of doggy playtime. 
8. Wearing my WI Badgers hat.

And now for some pictures, courtesy of my charming fiancé unless marked otherwise (no phone = no camera = I do what I do best:  mooch): 

Off for the first fishing expedition!

This does not accurately describe my freak-out sesh of trying to hold the fish for a picture.

My first fish of the trip really spoiled me! A nice large-mouth bass.

A record-setting perch on day 2! (For this year at the cabin at least...) My third species caught, too :) 

Because everyone takes a selfie with the fish they catch, right? Lee caught this bass.

Not once, but twice did a fish eat my entire hook and worm right off the line. I'm just guessing they were
so big that the line couldn't hold their weight. Here is Dean helping a sister out.

We went out on Saturday evening and it was honestly the perfect night. Here are some pictures as the sun was setting (all credited to Lee). You can even see Venus and Jupiter next to the moon! It was so fun.

Does this not just scream "Summer in Minnesota"!?

Celestial bodies on a trip back into the dock for the evening.

And here are a few from the sunrise on Sunday morning, courtesy of Dean (our gracious host). Just goes to show that God truly is the greatest artist:

One of the shorelines along which we fished
(and the only thing I caught swam away with my hook and worm).

I never thought I'd say this, but I like fishing. I didn't just put up with it because it was something that Lee enjoyed, but I actually enjoyed standing in a boat for long periods of time, casting line after line and having time to just take in being at the lake.

As I watched fish after fish bite on each of our lines, I started thinking about how stupid fish can be. Don't they see the ginormous hook sticking out of the extremely fake worm? The worm even has little colored sparkles in it. As I continued casting with no luck, I started to think deeply about how we humans aren't too different from these fish. I imagine some of these guys have even been caught and released back before, so getting hooked on our lines wasn't their first rodeo. Luckily for them we only take their measurements, maybe a picture and then send them back. They'll live to see another day.

As humans we get lured into the same traps time and time again, too. (Feel free to appreciate my pun.) I particularly thought of sin and vice, and how we can convince ourselves that something is good for us, or that it won't necessarily hurt us, even though it has before. We focus our eyes on the sparkly worm and fail to see the large pointy hook.

That was all the farther I got into that train of thought when I decided to derail and leave the deep thinking for another time. Mostly because it was an extremely beautiful night (see above photos for proof), but also because there are plenty of other opportunities to think about how fishing can relate to humanity, so I decided to bookmark it for now (and likely not return until the next time I go fishing, or ever). 

As a fairly outgoing extrovert I never thought I could enjoy quiet and stillness that fishing requires of me. But luckily I've got just enough competitive spirit in me to cast each line thinking, "THIS one will be the 4 pounder, I know it." Looks like you still can teach an old dog new tricks, and it's never too late to try something new.

Have fun trying a new hobby this summer, stories are welcome!

xoxo,

Kelsey Marie