Memorial Weekend

Memorial Weekend

By Allan Olson

This past weekend was a long one, jam-packed full of fun and memories. With the three-day weekend before us on Friday, we still hadn’t made any definite plans to pass the time, but looking back on Monday evening, the time rushed by in a blur.

I came home from work on Friday evening and jumped on the mower for a couple of hours before heading back to town for commencement exercises at Cass Lake-Bena. With my “new” riding lawn mower, I made short work out of a large section of the yard before heading inside for something to eat and a change of clothes before going to town.

On Saturday, we headed out to deliver copies of our Summer Fun guide to many area resorts. While some might think that would be boring, it was fun to go to all the different places, and the kids enjoyed doing some of the deliveries themselves. “I can do it, Dad, you don’t need to go with me,” they would say. “Okay,” I would just explain where to take the guidebooks, and off they went. I always reminded them to be professional and courteous, and each time they assured me that they were – my future business leaders (perhaps).

That evening, as we were heading home, we decided to drop by the neighbors to see if they wanted to join us for s’mores. At about 7 p.m. some of the kids starting showing up, and they all started playing around together. Soon we started the s’mores over our nice campfire in the backyard, complete with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey’s Chocolate or even a Lindor’s Caramel Candy – this was s’mores deluxe!

Sunday – a day of rest. Well, not really. I rested in my bed, watching TV far longer than I normally do, but once I got moving I was busy the rest of the day. The girls and I went to the Pow Wow in Cass Lake. We watched the dancers, and each of us enjoyed a large shaved ice treat. We headed home, and in the interim Mom had found a good movie for us to finally take the kids to. We had been promising to take them to a movie for some time, and we were going to make good on that promise. We got everyone ready and headed out the door. We had only gone about 5-7 miles when we saw flashing lights coming at us – it was soon obvious that it was a fire truck. “If that’s a Cass Lake fire truck, I’m following them!” I said. The truck roared by, and sure enough, it was a Cass Lake fire truck. “Follow them,” the kids said. So I did. We watched them fill up their truck from a nearby water source, and then I followed them back to the fire (at a considerable distance) and then took some photos of the structure fire (see elsewhere in this edition). After that adventure, we were late for our movie; it’s a good thing there was another show!

Late Monday morning, we headed out on a geocaching adventure. There were some geocaches along the Pike Bay Loop that hadn’t been recorded as found in a very long time – some in two years! – and I wanted to see if they still even existed. We started out on Cuba Hill; the area where the cache was supposed to be located was a mess of trees. We searched over, under and around, but had no luck.

Next up was the Pike Bay Loop. Some of those caches had recently been delisted by the cache owner due to the storm damage; that saved us some time spent searching in vain. Our first stop was successful; Mom pointed to where Nikolai was standing and said, “Look around there,” so he did, and found it nearly immediately. Most likely it was not in its original spot, since it was lying on the ground. 

We headed out again in search of another cache, and then we spotted a picnic table. Nikolai asked if we could eat there. The wife and I looked at each other and said, “Why not?” Nikolai volunteered to go back and get the cooler. While sitting there eating lunch, I was reading the cache logs and had an idea of what to look for. The only problem was the hint – it said it was behind a fallen tree. Well, since this cache has been established for several years, it didn’t take into consideration the July 2, 2012 storm. Also while we were enjoying lunch, we watched a couple bikers ride by – I knew one of them and so I said “Hi!” and the individual stopped, walked back and visited with us for a little while. 

After that we figured we better get the rest of these caches found so we can get the kids home and ready for bed and school. We searched all around for the cache and finally came up with the obvious solution: look for an old fallen long amid the new fallen logs. In the end it was Dad who made the find – an ammo box that somehow avoided being crushed by a large Norway felled by the storm last summer.

Since we enjoyed this location so much, we also decided it was a great spot for a family picture, so we took one – thanks to the picnic table, using a small twig to set the camera up and the timer function, we didn’t need the tripod or assistance from anyone else.

By the end of the day we had found seven caches and did not find (DNF) two. It was a lot of fun, and we were all tired by the time we got home, but we still had enough in the tank to make a fire (thanks, Nikolai!) and roast hotdogs and brats over the open flame in our backyard. What an awesome weekend!

In the coming week, we have a pre-school celebration and a fourth grade celebration on our calendar. I’m starting to feel old, but I’m excited, too, for my kids as they move on to the next stages of their lives.

Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for school buses on the roads; they are carrying a precious cargo – our children. Also please exercise caution when venturing out on the lakes. Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe weekend. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com