#Detroit Lakes—a trip down memory lane.

 As part of our trip to Wisconsin Dells, we spent a couple of nights in Detroit Lakes in North Dakota. It’s approximately a five-hour drive from Winnipeg. Before the kids, we used to go there on a little holiday. For some reason we always went there on the ‘July Long Weekend’.

We used to stay at the ‘Fairyland Cottages’ on the north shore of the lake. They are gone now, like so many other resorts. We saw only three resorts on that street, all of them old and probably run-down. This time we stayed at the Country Inn & Suites right on Highway #10.

Detroit Lake is a beautiful lake, quite shallow, actually, and a bit weedy. Good fishing, though. We arrived in Detroit Lakes Sunday, September 7, 2014 and we spent the afternoon sitting in the grass watching a few brave souls going into the water. The water was cold, judging from the way their shoulder almost met their ears. Aside from the few bathers, the lake was buzzing with speedboats, fishing boats, pontoons, and a few one-man watercraft. It was noisy and it brought back memories of days gone by. Detroit Lakes, on the fourth of July, a big holiday in the US, was always that noisy.

I also remembered 1968, when we went on a fishing trip on the lake on a pontoon. I had a fishing rod with a broken tip and a short line. My tackle-box was a shoe carton containing a few hooks and a couple of white and red spoons, daredevils. There were other anglers on the pontoon with fancy rods and huge tackle-boxes. As it happened, we caught most of the fish with our pathetic fishing gear and limited knowledge of fishing. I had to ask a kid to show me how to put a worm on a hook.

We caught mainly pan-fish. There was a place behind our little cottage where one could clean fish. We fried them up in the kitchenette and the fish tasted great, even though they had many bones. We ate all the large ones and took three small ones home to Winnipeg where I had them mounted by a taxidermist. Don’t ask why we ate the large ones and kept the small ones for mounting. All I can say in my defense: I didn’t know any better.

Three of the sun-fish we caught in 1968. I believe they are bluegills and pumpkinseed

We didn’t go fishing this time, because they didn’t have fishing excursions anymore. You could rent a fishing boat for $125.00 US dollars for half a day. A little bit too steep for me. I do all my fishing in Manitoba and that is much cheaper.

There wasn’t much to do, so we drove around the lake and admired all the beautiful homes. It is a long drive on a good road. Some of the homes were old, some new. We were envious of the people who lived in those houses with their boats and the beautiful view of the lake, but not so much envious about the obvious noise they must suffer, especially during the weekends. There is a downside to everything.

Much has changed but the lake hasn't. It was as beautiful as 40 years ago

One thing we noticed during our trip to the USA. Gasoline is cheaper than in Canada—go figure. We have our own oil and I hate it when somebody tells me that gasoline is much more expensive in Europe. Beer and wine is also much more reasonable. Our government is much too greedy and doesn’t give us consumers a break. There is no competition when it comes to alcohol. The government has the monopoly. (I always though monopolies are against the law. I guess it’s okay if the government does it.) We bought a bottle of white Zinfandel for $6.00. We probably would have paid $15.00 here. Eating in restaurants overall is cheaper and the portions are huge and greasy. No wonder they have an epidemic of obesity in the US. We did see some large people.

Our last supper was at the #‘Speak Easy’ Restaurant in Detroit Lakes. They had a special: 2 for 1. Which meant you buy one dinner and you get the second one free. We paid $20.00 for two full racks of pork rib dinners with salad and a baked potato. We took half of the ribs home in a ‘doggy-bag’ and we had another dinner at home. I think I gained a few pounds on this trip. Time to go on a diet.