Fascinating Homes

 

Grand Marais and the North Shore feature many unique homes. A wander on Minnesota 61 towards Silver Bay leads one past two interesting properties, both having changed hands last year. The first is Spirit of Gitchee Gummi on your left, south of Little Marais town hall. The other is a Geodesic Dome house. Located on Rieder Memorial Drive on the hill, it overlooks Lake Superior on the South and abuts the cemetery on the North.

Spirit of Gitchee Gummi abuts Superior and has gone through several transformations. A motel near the highway was torn down. Some houses near the lake were sold off. What remains is hill and shoreline previously owned by Jennifer Marabella and Wayne Frame. It was a B & B until they upped and moved to Pine Island near Cape Coral and Fort Meyers, Florida, for the winters. Wayne is a numbers guy. Jennifer is a woman of many parts. Nurse, family counselor, massage therapist and B & B host are part of her resume. She is an interesting conversationalist and Wayne loves to listen with us. The “For Sale” sign is gone.

I would have loved to have stayed there for space as well as hosts. At least four comfy bedrooms are on the second floor. Downstairs was a coffee bar leading to a large dining room and great room. Next door was a little shop decorated in the North Woods style. Much of the contents of that little store were found at Wunderbar. Several of those log shelves held excess books beginning Wunderbar’s library. Mystery novels and American political history dominated the selection, highlighted by a complete set of Great Books that belonged to my energetic, teacher Grandmother Ruth Alden Aldrich.

The Manahans have succumbed to the lure of easier winters in Florida. The owner, a fascinating retired sea captain from Duluth, found another lawyer’s son to take over right away.

The house has neat spaces and was the scene of memorable winter Equinox parties for most of the eight years. Upstairs we ate and drank a marvelous potluck in a sunporch, dining, and living rooms. Huge triangular windows gave a clear view of the Lake from a house heated entirely by a small wood stove and couple of space heaters. It is really tight. Deer come by regularly, particularly if corn is careless dropped near the garage.

The porch has a balcony where two floor mop Terriers greeted visitors with enthusiasm. A stair leads up from living room to a large mezzanine bedroom and office with even higher views. Downstairs are multiple bedrooms where it is rumored that Equinox partiers stayed overnight to avoid driving in the dark and winter weather.

The house is intriguing and the Manahans are at least as interesting as the residents of the Spirit. Jim is my long-time family, criminal, and injury law colleague and friend and was rated as of the top lawyers in the country before he semi-retired up here. After Harvard college and law school, he practiced in Mankato until they moved to Colorado and then up here in 2012. He has had a column on legal matters related to Lake County in the local newspaper until it folded.

His wife is even more interesting. She has wonderful stories of her life and met Jim in Chile while both were single. Jim was teaching law school in Chile (in Spanish!). Vivacious with several languages at her disposal), she has three lovely daughters.

I love listening to the wives converse. That was the role for Jim, Wayne and me when we were in the same room. Myrna and I miss both couples as will the group of “Adventurous Ladies Who Lunch” they were part of. The only redeeming feature of their moves is that now we have friends to visit when the ski snow has melted and the golf course is not yet playable.

Steve Aldrich is a retired Hennepin County lawyer, mediator, and Judge, serving from 1997-2010. He and his wife moved here in 2016. He likes to remember that he was a Minnesota Super Lawyer before being elected to the bench. Now he is among the most vulnerable to viruses but fully vaccinated. Steve really enjoys doing weddings, the one thing a retired judge can do without appointment by the Chief Justice. He officiated at a well-masked wedding this year where the “congregation” was in Grand Marais, Norway, and White Bear Lake.

Copyright Stephen C. Aldrich and News-Herald, 2021.