This year our summer vacation was spent on the North Shore with the Jacobson Family. It was interesting to see some of my old haunts through new eyes.
Their youngest, my pal Sam, liked to call my attention to every detail by saying my name twice. By the end of the long weekend I believe I heard my name 38 thousand times but it never got old. Sandy, hey Sandy… want to feed the seagulls? Sandy, hey Sandy, what is an alpine slide? Sandy, hey Sandy, let’s run on the jetties (his name for the Lake Superior lake shore). Sandy, hey Sandy, doesn’t anyone care about my Pop Tarts? (Meaning I burned them in the toaster… oops!)
It was a full weekend, and by full, yes I mean food. Five pizzas at Sven and Ole’s (I tried the Margherita pizza, yum!), 3.75 pounds of Beth’s fudge—buy one pound get a quarter pound free (yes, math friends, we made three trips to see Beth).
We tried Sydney’s frozen custard for the first time, ate a few of the World’s Best Donuts, and our one restaurant dinner was at the highly recommended Trestle Inn. Well worth the drive up the Cramer Road for burgers and walleye! The kids were surprised when the Inn appeared out of nowhere after driving through the woods for about 20 miles.
Of course we didn’t just eat… there was the memorable trip into Sivertson’s Gallery where suddenly “the bear” was wearing a jacket he had removed from a bear statue in the store. I quickly pretended not to know Sam as he asked what NFS meant on the tag. (Not For Sale, in case you were wondering.)
We walked out to the lighthouse where the Coast Guard gave a friendly toot as three crazy kids jumped off the wall… (okay, two kids and a Wayne). There was a mini golf competition in town (Gena was the clear champion) and “real” golf at the Superior National course in Lutsen.
There was a sad Sammycrash on the Alpine Slide, jumping the canyons at Temperance River, picking rocks and sea glass from the beach at Father Baraga’s Cross, and of course, standing on the Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin marker in Schroeder where Colleen Lamb and I grew up pretending to transport ourselves to other states just by jumping around the circle.
My parents taught my friend Graham to play the card game of golf and he beat us all after going 13 rounds. There were nightly campfires on the beach with s’mores and Sandy, hey Sandy Sammy breakfasts with “smashed eggs”…. not to be confused with scrambled eggs.
Deanna and Jack were excellent chauffeurs as they drove up and down the North Shore sightseeing. Ben and Paul quickly learned that backseat driving was not appreciated. I am sure they only stopped teasing because they remembered that they will be getting their driving permits next year and paybacks can be, well, you know… rough.
I believe this was one of our best family vacations. And in spite of his Alpine Slide injuries, I think Sam had a good time too. His goodbye to me was “Sandy, hey Sandy can we come here again?”
Anytime, Sammy, anytime.
Here’s to the nights that
turned into mornings with
the friends that turned into
family.
Unknown
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
Leave a Reply