We're home again, and after some distractions, are ready to sleep in our own beds.

After a week away, it's good to be home. Not that I'm glad to have left vacation, but all of our stuff is here, including our bigger bed, computers, television, and clothes not stuffed in a bag. We don't have a pool, but there is one down the street.

I might go back and fill in the week, but in case I don't, here's the vacation skinny.

It was a great break! The cabins were neat and clean, with plenty of space and comforts, and essentially every thing we needed was already there, with the only exception of some kitchen towels. The people running the joint were super helpful and friendly. The other guests were also engaging and fun.

Our chosen cabin is a two-bedroom, with a queen bed in one room, and a full/twin bunk bed in the other. We've had good and bad luck with bunk beds, but there weren't any three-bedroom cabins available, so we threatened the kids with camping on the couch if they couldn't share. It worked out. I'm taller than a queen-sized bed is long, so we have a king at home, and the difference was noticeable, but we managed. The kids did work out their arrangements, with hit and miss ease, depending on how close we were to the window of easy bedtime, and factors related to fatigue and comfort.

The rest of the cabin was spacious and clean. The three-season porch got more use than the inside, as the temperature was incredibly comfortable, even as it peaked in the 80s. Almost always a comfortable breeze tripping through made keeping the big doors open to the porch the right move. There is a table out there, so we took meals "outside," without threat of bugs or heavy winds.

Most frequented, other than sleeping in the cabin, was the pool. A decent size for the swimming the kids were doing, we visited two or three times a day, for an hour or more each time. Even on the day we visited the Headwaters, the kids hit the pool before and after dinner. The pool opened at 10AM, and save the day we went to the Headwaters or participated in the fishing competition, we were there within minutes of the clock chiming. We'd break for lunch, and return again, and break for dinner, with a possible return after, depending on fatigue or events.

We arrived after dinnertime on Saturday, and essentially unpacked and spread out, and settled in for the evening. Kid squabbles and fatigue, and restlessness made turning in a little bit of a chore, but everyone settled in and started snoring pretty quickly.

On Sunday, after a hearty vacation breakfast of pancakes and eggs, we wandered through the nearby town of Park Rapids, both for a little look-see, and also to pick up a couple of things we thought we'd need but didn't bring or find at the cabin, like kitchen and bathroom towels. It was at this moment that I realized how close we were to my pal's cabin, where we've motorcycled for the weekend a couple times over the last few years, including a weekend in 2020. I thought it was close by the map while we were driving, but my pal and I have been in the town during each of our visits; it's just a couple over from where his cabin sits. We wandered the few blocks of "downtown," or main street, or whatever they call it. We were happy to window-shop most of the stores and make note of the restaurants,. We did stop at all four of the candy stores, and the popcorn shop (which while intriguing, did put us off with its odor of salted caramel garlic dill popcorn...not a flavor all in one bag, but heavy in the atmosphere). The rest of the day was spent in the pool or resetting in the cabin.

We chose the cabin for its proximity to the Itasca State Park, so we could take the kids to the Mississippi Headwaters. We visited on Monday, to kick off the week. It's a quirky kind of neat, as it's really a trickle of water from a lake to a stream over some rocks; they have a webcam in case you can't make it in person. I don't recall being there before, although it's the kind of thing I could see either of my sets of grandparents taking us to. The kids went with, because they're mostly well behaved. They groaned to be back in the car for the (wait for it) 20 minute trek. I did miss a turn, so we traveled an extra few, but I also got to be the only one to see a black bear as it ducked into the woods along the side of the road. They put up with us as we showed them the plaques at the entrance to the headwaters, and took a little interest at the interactive diorama that showed the path of the Mississippi from its start near where we were to the Gulf of Mexico; they were a little disappointed because we hadn't brought our water bottles from the car, and so we couldn't pour water into the "lake" and see it flow to the "gulf." We walked a few minutes down the path to the pond that is the headwaters. They were a little impressed, and walked across the rocks and sandy stream, and swam in the knee-deep (on me) waters of the Mississippi, but passed on swimming in the lake. We all splashed a little, walking in the waters that would continue flow and pass through Minneapolis before we returned. On the way back, we stopped for lunch at the Douglas Lodge Restaurant. The kids were passing through hungry, tired, and bored, so it wasn't an awesome time sitting on the deck in the woods; there was also a generator or pump or other noisy machine running for much of our time, which was exacerbating the attitude. After, we returned for some down-time, and hit the pool. For dinner we thought to burn some steaks on the grill. The grill was like any Char-broil you might expect, and seemed to have about a half tank of propane. It wouldn't break 300 degrees, though, so we slow-baked the steaks and potatoes for a long time, and ate them a little more rare than usually prepared (but thoroughly hot enough as shown on the surprise find of a meat thermometer in the cabin). Another little pool visit after dinner, because vacation, and everyone tucked in for a quick pass into sleep.

Tuesday was pretty much all pool and meals. A little bit of resting in the cabin just to be out of the sun for a bit, but it didn't last long when it happened. After dinner, we connected with another family who was burning some wood on a fire by the lake. We shared s'mores fixings and stories with the adults, while the kids all ran around in the early darkness. Amazingly, there were practically no mosquitoes. I credit the huge swarms of dragonflies, who are human-harmless, cool-looking, and darted around like airborne sharks feeding all around us.

Wednesday we started the day with a fishing competition. The kids were given poles to use and provided with worms, and a fishing guide, to try to catch some fish off the docks. One kid nailed like five or six fish, and took all the prizes like "first," "biggest," and "most," with a couple others also getting some small fish. Our kids didn't catch any, but it was because of a lack of patience, practice, and frustration building because of a lack of immediate reward. It seems they figured the line would hit the water and a fish would immediately take the bait, and away they'd go. During fishing, a gust of wind took the bucket hat off the missus' head, right into the lake; no one else seemed to notice, and her attempts to retrieve it were unsuccessful--we probably could have jumped in to dive for it, but she waved off any suggestions, figuring the kids wouldn't swim with the weeds and fish, and I likely couldn't swim down enough (I'm positively buoyant...). After fishing, and a little early lunch, the rest of the day was spent in the pool. We set out to grill some brats and burgers, but found the tank was empty; we did cook our steaks a long time, but the flames still burned when we finished. I ran and asked for another tank, which they silently and quickly provided. The flames broiled high, and the grill hit a solid 500F, making fast work of the job. As part of that, I realized the one burner knob is about 45-degrees off, so I might have turned it too low previously, and may have left it open when I finished before, as it needed to be turned "too far" to be actually off; I don't recall it was that far off when I started, though, so maybe it got knocked off and put on askew. After dinner, there was a bingo tournament, a quarter a board each game. The big little won the last game, which was half of the amount gambled by everyone all night! She was super into winning, of course, and proudly clucked like a chicken all the way to the counter to claim her prize. She immediately had all manner of designs on candy, soda, ice cream, and video games.

Thursday I hid in the cabin for much of the day because I'd gotten pretty sunburned, and needed a little break. Ma took the kids to the pool, where I'd sat aside in the shade on Wednesday, but it still added up. The little little crashed for a short nap in the afternoon, and then rejoined the others at the playground and pool. I joined in the afternoon for some poolside sitting, and then even later after dinner for some more kids-only swimming, while ma and I played cribbage until sunset. Everyone went to bed quickly.

Friday was another busy day in the pool. The little little finally worked up to swimming far into the pool, encouraged but unassisted. He's been resisting, even though he swims (as in moves under his own power) just fine in water where he can stand. He swam the dozen feet from the shallows to the drop, and eventually even swam past my waiting arms to cling to my back. A nice close to a week of splashing and frolicking, with intermittent "swim over here" cries. We had plans to lazily pack during the day, so we could be ready to just dash after checkout in the morning. I stayed in the cabin after lunch, avoiding some sun and doing some packing. We decided to brave town for pizza. My buddy had come north to his cabin a day ahead of the rest of his family, and was going to join us, but had spent so much time doing chores in preparation of the others, that he bowed out at the last minute. We were disappointed to find the pizza shops in town were all delivery only, but in the pizza vibe, thought to hit the Italian restaurant in town. They had flatbread pizzas for the kids, and delicious pasta dishes for the parents. We took a quick wander through the street again, but everything was closed up but the restaurants. We returned to the cabin, where we did a little more light packing, but decided to leave the trailer for the morning.

We woke as early as ever, 7AM all week, and scurried around packing things, and eventually loading the Jeep and trailer, and hitching the two together. Several passes to ensure we collected everything were made, until each person conducting a pass concluded nothing was left. It took more passes than we thought. We pulled away just a few minutes before the deadline, and headed to meet my pal for breakfast. A good catching-up was had, as he'd only seen the others from afar during the last year, and we'd not gathered since a burger run motorcycle ride last August. On the way home we stopped by the large Paul Bunyan statue in Akeley, and then everyone settled in for the drive home. We knew of freeway construction, so we took the 20-minutes longer (in good traffic) highway route back; it's the preferred route for motorcycling as there are more twists and turns, and more shade. We stopped for take-away food (and restroom breaks), and made it home in the early evening. We quick unpacked the food and necessaries out of the trailer and Jeep, and I set out to fetch the dogs. The dog sitter was away, so I returned later. We'd had a vacation induced math error, and forgot we needed to pay for both dogs, so I had a little adventure trying to find an ATM to give me some extra cash, but it all worked out. Everyone's run through the shower, and while the vacation was a blast, the comforts of home very quickly set back in.

The cabins were fantastic, and the resort and lodge as a whole also fantastic. A little game room and ice cream every day, when the pool got too much for a while. A beautiful view on a quiet lake, and all the right kind of fun bugs, with few of the wrong bugs (although there were a very few seriously mean horseflies who seemed to like just a couple of the dads near the pool; I got one of them, but there were others). We did have to pass on reserving the same week next year, as our school-ending gap isn't at the same time, and we're not sure what other options might exist (sending the kids to Space Camp, or something just as awesome...), or virus or work constraints might arise. I will recommend the Eagle Bay Lodge to all of my friends (and strangers reading this far), as their success can lead to our return.

The only reservation or hesitation we have about the vacation is because of the pandemic. We showed up in town wearing masks, we worked through checking in wearing masks. We even brought masks to the pool the first few times. We wore our masks in other public places, too. We also kept some social distance, as much as possible, and kept the kids from grabbing things (until we got to the candy store...then they were literal kids in a candy store...but we made them choose a little wisely). Within days, bowing to the vaccinated adults (hopefully all), and close but very sunny outside activities, masks at the resort went by the wayside quickly. We feel like we should be prudent, and have scheduled COVID tests for tomorrow morning, so that we can send the kids to their programs with confidence after doing our diligence.

Everyone's healthy.