I was born in Wyoming, grew up in southwest Minnesota, and spent the 90s in the Twin Cities doing the college and suburban living thing. Remember the Y2K scare? Well my joke is "I'm still eating the canned corn..."

We moved up in the fall of 1999 to get out of the city while the getting was good. As a Parks and Rec major at the University of Minnesota I knew how special the North Shore was for outdoor recreation and natural beauty. Two sports in particular, snowboarding and sailing, are big reasons why I'm here and loving it. As a young lad I wanted to live next to the ocean and a ski hill. Lake Superior and Lutsen Mountains check these boxes, minus the hordes of people and ridiculous property taxes.   

For sure. It's been such a pleasure and honor to host summer friends and families that come year after year to make their own special memories. They're all great, but a few stand out. 

There's the "50 dollar bill guy" who found a $50 bill out front of our office one spring. I put his name on it and said if no one claims it after 6-months, it's yours. This lucky, (honest) guy keeps coming back. The "Real Deal O'Neill" is easily one of my favorite Canadian guests. He's known for impeccable hair and fresh Persians. Mr and Mrs Santa Claus spend their summers with us when they need a break from the North Pole and keep me on the Nice List.  

Many years ago, we had a string of thefts involving camper's coolers containing alcoholic beverages that were left outside overnight. One jolly camper couldn't believe his luck when the kids left his $200 Yeti cooler full of steaks alone, but stole the styrofoam one next to it full of Miller High Life. Although relieved, he was pretty sad to be missing the high life.

Another all time favorite is meeting the crew of the trawler Mazurka on the fuel dock one foggy morning in August. They had originally reserved one of our transient slips off the end of A-dock, but when the previous guest in that slip decided to stay an extra night unbeknownst to us, a bit of confusion and delay ensued. Every morning I make the rounds on my bicycle looking for trouble, and I found it when the big 50-footer that was supposed to be long gone was still on the end of A-dock. A quick look over to the fuel dock confirmed my hope that the next boat reserved was keen enough to just park on the service dock for the night. When I knocked on Mazurka's window to help with the situation, a wonderful woman greeted me, snuggling her two year old. A couple more little ones were jumping up and down inside the salon, complete with a pack 'n play pen. Everyone was in such a great mood and not the least bit mad about not getting into their reserved spot the night before. Boaters are the best! I went back to A-dock to inform the big yacht that they would need to move. The captain inquired "how soon", to which I replied:  "well it's a family boat and they appear to be in no rush." Mazurka's owners loved this experience so much they started calling their trawler "The Family Boat" and kept coming back to the docks year after year.      

Depends on the season. If it's summer, it's definitely offshore on our sailboat. We keep it on one of the mooring buoys in the harbor, and I call my time under sail hydro-therapy. For me, there is nothing quite so free as being out on the big blue sea. In the winter, it's Lutsen Mountains, snowboarding in the trees (when there's enough natural snow). Probably not the most relaxing activities, but the beauty of the settings always calms me down.     

I do enjoy camping and when our boys were younger we took a car camping trip to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. We stopped in Grand Marais, MI at Woodland Hills park and stayed right off the beach for a couple of nights. I love that park and it's funny how often we get calls and inquiries at the Rec Park for it. Another favorite spot is Big Bay campground on Madeline Island in the Apostles. Before we had our sailboat I used to lay on the sandy beach over there and watch the boats come and go from the bay. I thought "wouldn't that be great." Now we cruise the Apostles every summer in late August and going back to Big Bay on the boat always makes me feel right. 

I gotta borrow a famous line from Twin Peaks Special Agent Dale Cooper for this one - "A yellow light still means slow down, not speed up."

My roommate in college had an old BMW 2002 that we used to bomb around town in. It was such a cool, cute, classic little car. He said buy one and watch the bees come to the honey. So I bought a fully restored 1973 in Arrest Me Red and went to a house party over at Macalester College one night with it. Turns out this nice gal was bored at the party and wanted a ride in my BMW. That nice gal is now my wife and mother of our two, wonderful boys. The only thing I'm missing today is that car. 

 

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