As Long As We Are Together....: I can't help falling head over heels for my Minnesota!

So much so say and I don't know where to begin!!!
I went up to Lake of the Woods this past weekend. It was great! I love it so much and it makes me love Minnesota and the cold and the lakes more and more every time I go up there. We left New Years Eve morning. Before the sun was up. I planned to bring a pen and paper to keep notes of what I wanted to blog about. Well, I forgot so I just texted myself emails all weekend. I wish I would have been able to snap some pics for some of the things I saw, but my dad's not one to stop for pictures... I would like to inform everyone that the farther north you go in Minnesota, the loonier people are. I blame it on the extreme cold and the low population! So here's my list in order of appearance.

1. Forget the house, forget the hundreds of trees in the yard, let's make a new use for that satellite dish. Why not decorate a giant rusty disc of metal with hundreds of twinkly Christmas lights. Let's get festive and decorate the junk car that has no wheels with them too! Now this I really was ready to tell dad to stop to take pictures of! I think these people were off the redneck charts!!

2. The United States Coast Guard has a gigantic tower and office in Minnesota. Some of you may be wondering why. But Lake of the Woods is a pretty big lake, not near as big at Lake Superior, but huge enough. It needs coast guards because we share that lake with Canada. What I don't understand is why is it 38 miles from the lake??

3. Propane, just like gasoline, the price goes up the farther North you go. Gas price at home, $2.55, gas price at the top of MN, $2.72. Propane at home, $14 for a 20 pound thing. up north, $22 for the 20 pound cylinder.

4. This ties in sort of with number 3. On Wednesday morning, my dad left LoTW (Lake of the Woods) and dropped off 3 empty tanks at the gas station in Baudette, MN. He left them in a snow bank with a note on them. Thursday on our way up to the cabin, we stopped to pick them up out of a different snow bank full. There were probably 15 other tanks there that other people have left. Not locked up, just sitting there in the snow. People trust each other so much up there. It amazes me.

5. I don't even know what these are called.

Dad and Steve (somehow related but really close family friend) got out to get some beer and mom and I stayed in the truck. They didn't get very far before they had to stop with the MN man stance (hands in pockets feet away from each other but heads together thinking out loud to each other about how nice this works, how expensive it is, how hard it would be to put those on yourself...at least that's what I think they were talking about.) They stood there til the man came, got in and drove away. More man thoughts as the thing pulled away...

6. Wally.

I think this may be some kind of landmark in Minnesota. I saw it in a book one time. I took a pic of it just for my Ro. He saw it in July, but its a little frostier now. :o)

7. Ice fishing!!

This was before the house was warmed up, I don't usually bundle up this much to fish, I usually just have jeans a sweatshirt and boots on.

Fishing hole.

I set the rod down cuz I wasn't getting anything. Must have been a bad hook...

First fish of ice fishing season 2009-2010!!!

And this one was in the slot. 20 1/2 inches. (On LoTW you can keep walleyes up to 19 inches and then from 28 and up. We only keep "bucket fish" long enough to go over the opening of a five gallon bucket. The slot in anything between what you can catch and what you can catch...)