January 24, 2011

Cabin in the woods

Dragon’s breath poured from my mouth as I exhaled a lungful of crystal clear northern Minnesotan air into the frigid night. My body protested the indignity of being forced to step outside at this late hour after a long and fretful journey up from Minneapolis. Camera in hand I waded purposefully down through the deep snow that surrounded the little fortress of light and warmth toward the giant body of water that was Lake Vermilion. Stepping out on to the frozen snow covered mass I looked up into the night sky and thought to myself, ‘now that’s definitely worth the effort.’

Lake Vermilion, located in northern Minnesota bordering our neighboring country of Canada, has been selected as one of the top ten scenic lakes in the U.S. and I can see why.

Imagine for a moment the perfect snow covered forested middle of nowhere lake with a sparse yet very friendly population and a waterside cabin. Now imagine sitting inside that cabin with a crackling fire looking out at the lake through a giant pane glass window while sipping a mug of hot chocolate (coffee, tea, or whatever suits your fancy) and scratching at the ears of a golden retriever whose head is sitting peacefully in your lap looking woefully up into your eyes begging for just a little more love. (If you’re not a dog or an animal lover ignore that last part and insert, ‘a good book.’)

That was where I spent last weekend.

The drive up from Minneapolis, as mentioned before, was pretty harrowing. Predictions of minor snowfall had taken a turn for the worse and once out of the cities it became a battle of man vs. weather vs. bad drivers.

Why pickups dragging giant snowmobile filled trailers feel as though they can drive and react like sports cars in perfect conditions on a race track I will never know but it certainly gave us some grey hairs.

A comment by my sisters husband, who was driving, made me chuckle. As we plowed through driving snow depending on our all wheel drive vehicle to keep us steady (yeah Subaru!) he turned to me during a short lull in the storm and said, ‘you know, in most parts of the country weather like this would shut everything down yet here we are happily (and carefully) plowing through it like it was nothing but a minor inconvenience.’ I thought back to my days in Japan and how crazy it got with just a bit of rain. ‘Yeah, pretty funny.’

Standing on the dark lake alone with everything I took a deep breath and let it out. My nose hair froze, my eyes watered, and I could feel my fingertips quickly chilling, yet I continued to stand there.

The sky had cleared and the moon shone in its ¾ brilliance just above the tree line behind me illuminating the scene before me.

Despite all the stress of the last couple months since I returned to the US, despite all the crap I was dealing with in my head, despite everything that I had come up against, looking at the simple yet highly complex beauty of nature filling my view…man it’s good to be alive!