As the tourism season kicks into high gear, my husband Chuck and I headed out of town for a few days to celebrate our anniversary. It is really fun to visit other communities to check out different restaurants, lodging and just to see how visitors are treated. I’m happy to say that in the towns we visited, customer service was great. We encountered a lot of Minnesota nice.
We went to a concert at Black Bear Casino, which was a bit crazy. In our younger days we attended a lot of concerts, rocking out to eardrum-shattering music in smoke-filled auditoriums. Things have definitely changed—no smoked out concert hall at Black Bear. And, we weren’t as thrilled by the high decibels. But the performers were great.
We really went to see the warm-up act The Swon Brothers. Chuck and I are fans of the TV program The Voice and The Swon Brothers were finalists in that musical competition. They did a fairly mellow, semi-acoustic set that we really liked. The headliner was Parmalee, a country rock band—heavy on the rock. I had only heard a couple of songs by Parmalee and expected a modern country show. It turned out to be a country show á la Jimi Hendrix.
They were good, just not what we expected. There were some hardcore guitar solos and lots of high energy. It was fun, but our ears were ringing by the time the show ended.
We spent some time at the “Quadna Mud Nationals” in Hill City, Minnesota. There was a lot of craziness there as three ATV riders at a time tried to see who could cross the giant mud hole dug in a farm field first. It was fun to watch the slipping and spinning and mud slinging. There were more than 1,000 people watching the mud cross and obstacle course races, most of them camping at Quadna Mountain Resort, so we decided not to stay there, but instead headed down the road.
We hadn’t made reservations, so we weren’t sure where we would end up. Fortunately, it only took two stops to find a motel with a vacancy and it was a lovely little place right on the Ripple River in Aitkin. It made me think of the Grand Marais Municipal Campground in miniature. As we got our key—an actual key, not a key card!—I asked for dining suggestions. The motel clerk suggested a couple of places, including one called The Landing just a few blocks down the road.
Since I am sad that Cook County’s The Landing at Devil Track restaurant has closed, I thought it would be nice to check out another Landing. We were quite glad we did. It was a small restaurant/ bar, tucked in a minimall, but inside it was really nice, decorated with historic photos and kitsch. The food was fabulous. I had a shrimp dish with a hint of lime that was amazing, so I recommend The Landing if you ever get to Aitkin.
We spend a couple of nights at McQuoid’s Resort in Mille Lacs and that was completely like being in an alternate universe. We ate at several lakeside restaurants and happily the food was great at all of them.
And also fortunately, like Cook County there was lots to see and do everywhere we went. We did a lot of ATVing and hiking, so we were able to work off all that good food. It was a wonderful break from our usual routine and a very nice way to celebrate our anniversary.
As fun as our mini-vacation was, it is good to be home. I may be biased, but I think Cook County has the best restaurants, places to stay and customer service. It’s fun to check out other tourism communities, but there really is no place like home.
No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.
Lin Yutang
Leave a Reply