Things To See In Northern Minnesota

If you want a simple vacation why not try northern Minnesota. Specifically, two towns we frequent often, Walker and Hackensack.
Walker, population 1200, is the anchor city. In summer time Iowans and other Minnesotans flock to our lakes area. Every Wednesday in Walker the merchants have 'Crazy Daze'. They'll bring out the junk that doesn't sell and show it on the streets. Walker has a wonderful pizza place called Benson's and you can't find a better breakfast establishment than the Northwoods Cafe. Silver dollar pancakes lap over the sides of your plate. Walker also has the best fishing store, Reid's, between here and Brainerd.
On Wednesdays, if you wish to drive twenty miles to Longville, you can watch the turtle races. It's a very popular form of entertainment. Get there early though because the betting lines are long.
Hackensack is unique. It's our hometown summer community, pop. 285. They have a library. You don't have to have a card; just take a book and sign your name. I like non-fiction books. There were exactly six books of the kind I like on the shelves. Every year you'll find new businesses and then by the following year they're history. We have an ice cream store. It's a wonderful place with all varieties of smooth and delicious flavors. I always wondered why they closed their business at 5 pm. Isn't it a special treat to take the family out for a cone after dinner? I think the reason they close is, they don't care or they fish at night.
My favorite place is Irene's Beauty Parlor and Bait Shop. Get your hair done, ladies, then grab a dozen crawlers. I'd never seen a place like this. It's one of a kind I bet.
Terry the Barber is the best ever. I still get my hairs cut in Ohio but not often just to have him perform his magic. He charges $7.00 for a cut. I tip him more than what it costs to run the shears through my hair.
There's a general store in town. When it opened I thought it'd last a week. You see, two gay guys(not that there's anything wrong with that) from California opened it. It's popular place and they're very enjoyable and welcoming to their establishment. They even let me use their wifi without buying anything. They sell a horrid brand of coffee so I buy it, leave it by my computer, then throw it away when I leave. They're nice guys.
Living "Up North" is a mindset. St. Cloud is ninety miles south of us. It's a wonderful city. Anyway, we had a carpenter working for us. When we arrived at the cabin one June he railed about the terrible winter; snow up to his eyebrows and cold spells of -40 degrees. He told my wife he and his family had had enough. They were going to move south. Lizzie asked if he was going to Florida? "Nope", he said. "We're moving to St. Cloud".
Fifteen years ago we had an electrician and carpenter working on our cabin in the month February. Well, they got in a fight and both took off never to return. It'd been nice if they'd turned off the space heaters when they left. That $500 heating bill was a killer. Maybe they went to St. Cloud, too.
"Up North" men hate dealing with women. Lizzie's pretty darned smart about everything. She runs the place and takes care of financial planning and home improvements. Regardless, our carpenter, Paul, always had to get things approved by "The Mister". Lizzie defers but writes down a list of items she wants done the way she wants. We were having our basement remodeled and Paul was going to do it. We were downstairs looking over his plans when all of a sudden I asked, "how much is this going to cost"? Paul answered, "Well, I'm pretty expensive. I charge $11 an hour". Now I thought this was pretty inexpensive but I uttered, "Oooh". Right away Paul said, "Okay, make it ten".
Oh, I almost forgot. While hitting golf balls this morning there was a local female next to me. She was middle aged, attired in Minnesota Twins shirt and pants. I have never seen a woman hit golf balls with a six ring sized lit cigar in her mouth. I only thought this happened at sundown in Key West.
Think I finished. I'm not. There's a quaint community thirty miles west of us, Park Rapids. I love their radio station. One family has owned it for years and the head honcho has an hour show in the morning bloviating about this and that. Every once in awhile a citizen will call in trying to find so and so who works at the station. If the guy doesn't receive significant calls he'll say, "well, nuthin' goin' on today. I'm outta here. There's an auto dealership called Thelan's that has been advertising on the station ever since we've been here; seventeen years. Their promotion now is, if you buy a new car they'll give you a free case of ketchup.
You just gotta love those "Up North" Minnsetoans.