Land O' Lakes

I'm safely back in Portland after ten days of vacation and retreat. My time away began on Monday June 2nd when I flew from PDX to O'Hare in Chicago, where Frs. Pete McCormick and Ralph Haag scooped me up and drove me up to Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin.

Deep the in the North Woods of Wisconsin and Upper Peninsula Michigan, the University of Notre Dame's Environmental Research Center was once a summer seminary for the Congregation of Holy Cross. When we gave the expansive property to the University we were given use of the main lodge for summer fishing trips.

Entering the property, you make your way along beautiful tree lined dirt roads, passed dozens of little, and not so little lakes . . 

. . . to the residential portion of the property which is located on a little point of land jutting into Tenderfoot Lake.

As you can see, it's a gorgeous setting.  A perfectly secluded place for total relaxation. This is my fifth or so trip to Land O' Lakes, and every trip is marked by sleeping in, fishing, reading on the porch, playing cards, smoking cigars, having a cocktail, bullshitting by the fireplace . . . just great time spent in community with other Holy Cross guys.

Some of you may have wondered about all the Midwest storms and flooding and how they effected us. We did have some thunder and lightening, and a little rain, but no flooding whatsoever. The main effect of the weather at our property was the loss of fifty or so trees to the very high winds. The winds also led to one of the funniest moments of the trip.

One afternoon Pete, Tom and I thought that we could brave the wind and fish for a little while. It wasn't raining after all, and the wind wasn't that bad - sure the lake was being blown by the wind, but there weren't even any whitecaps to speak of.  However, by the time we drove down to Plum Lake, and then got all the gear into the boat, the wind had picked up considerably. As we pushed off from the dock there were whitecaps and breakers a-plenty.

We got about fifty yards from the dock and a good wave of water came up into the boat and soaked me thoroughly. Pete and I ordered Skipper Tom to turn the boat around. With all of us roaring with laughter, we made our way back to the slip, and fought the tiny boat into place at the dock.

Undaunted, we put out our lawn chairs, had a beer or two, and let the sun and wind dry us out. As you can see in this picture, the wind was blowing us around pretty well, so we dried quickly and left with a great story from our adventure.