The road trip to Des Moines, Iowa was short and sweet. Des Moines is a long way to travel for a three-day weekend and the weather was terrible.
I much prefer the sub zero temperatures up here than the in-between weather they experience down there. It was 30 degrees and sunny the first day and dropped to zero with freezing rain the next. The roads were icy and the wind pushed our vehicle sideways on the interstate. I counted 10 cars in the ditch and many of those were upside down. Pretty scary stuff especially when you are traveling with an infant. Most of the accidents were from the previous evening but it was still a white-knuckle experience all the way to Duluth.
My family was able to meet Sophia for the first time and we had a dinner party at my mother’s house with a 27-pound turkey. That fed 20 people with enough left over for some sandwiches the next day.
A few of my brothers are still living in the nest and it was nice to spend some time with all of them. Rachelle and I even managed to get them to babysit a few hours while we did some shopping. We mostly shopped for the baby but I did manage to find a remote-controlled helicopter for myself.
This might be the most annoying toy I have ever owned. I love it. Every time Rachelle enters a room the chopper is hovering at her eye level. I am sure she will treat it like a little piñata some day and bat it straight out of the sky. Naturally it was purchased at a shopping mall kiosk and it was malfunctioning right out of the box. Rachelle is going to exchange it for me before she comes home, if the kiosk is still there. They are a lot like circus carnies, traveling around selling items with short shelf lives and never staying long enough to deal with the returns.
It is nice to get away for awhile and be reminded of how the rest of the world is living. Des Moines is a growing community but you never feel like you are in a big city. I know what you are thinking, it is not a big city, but compared to the Gunflint Trail it may as well be Chicago to me.
We flipped through a real estate guide and could not believe how cheap houses are right now. Many city houses were in the 40- to 50-thousand range and nice acreages in the country were going for under 200. These same houses up here are nearly twice or even three times as much. We would not consider moving, I just like to compare real estate in different cities.
My wife and child are going to spend the next few days in the cities with her family so I have the house to myself again. I never realize how much she actually picks up for me until she is gone. It makes me feel like I am kind of a pig.
The birds are suffering the most since she feeds them all day long. The couple of scoops of birdseed that I throw them each morning does not last more than a few hours and nobody is here during the day to keep up with their big appetites. Oh well it will only be a couple more days until things are back to normal around here.
The birds and I will both be very grateful.
Cory Christianson, a graduate of the University of Iowa, has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218-388- 0315.
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