Genie and I attended the 33rd Annual Eelpout Festival on Leech Lake at Walker, MN, (a town of about 1,000 people, 214 dogs, 171 cats, 23 hamster-gerbils, two monkeys and one boa constrictor.) All the ducks and geese in the pond by the local super market had gone south for the winter along with about 125 human snowbirds.
In our drive to stay at the Palace Casino Hotel, (just west of Cass Lake) we saw a first. There were three big, green John Deere tractors just south of Duluth, along the freeway, mowing the dead, brown grass in a ditch. We think it had something to do with that “in” saying, “Go Green.”
In checking in at the Palace Hotel we were given a hearty “Welcome Back” by Brennon and Chris. Brennon told us of a new slogan at the property, “To smile or not to smile, it’s never a question at the Palace Casino Hotel.”
The following are some of the smiles we experienced:
• Rebecca stopped to tell us she had a baby boy (Isaiah) and would be coming back to work in March.
• Becky, on a medical leave, stopped to welcome us back and said she would be returning as hostess in about two months.
• Brad, the casino host, pulled some strings and got us two dinner-dance seats to the Gene Krupa show at the front table — wow!
• “Pretty Rickey, a radio DJ on the Eagle 90.1 radio station, dedicated a set of songs from the 70s and 80s to us. Rickey also is an employee at the Palace.
• Natasha let us watch her ability to dominate a guest laundry washer. It was a feat to behold.
• Awesome Heidi was her usual no holds barred “awesome” outgoing self.
• Charlie, at the room check-in, was truly an ambassador of the new smile slogan. Why? Because she always has a big smile.
We did not find any employee who was not a good example of the smile slogan. The Palace training program is fantastic. Amen.
It was a beautiful weather-wise weekend with over 10,000 attending the three-day event plus awards on Sunday. There was a live band on Thursday and Friday night. The main event Saturday was the Polar Plunge which raised in excess of $30,000 for the Walker Area Community Center. There was even an ATM on the lake along with Girl Scout cookies for sale. The estimate was each person spending an average of $100 during the event. Or in other words, $1 million changed hands during the festival, wow!
While in Walker we drove over to Brindley’s Resort on Leech to visit Arrow (our canine friend) and the father-son owners. The perch fishing is excellent; call (888) 547-5477 for reservations.
We attended the birthday party of Grace Nason Saturday afternoon at Trinity Lutheran Church west of Cass Lake. I won’t tell you her age but everybody younger than me is young in my eyes, thus Grace is young.
On Sunday morning, we attended the service at Trinity Lutheran Church. There is an ad in the Albert Lea Tribune “Get paid to go to church.” They want the impression of first-time visitors. Genie and I agree that Trinity Lutheran Church west of Cass Lake is a fine example of the initials TLC church.
The following is a true story of Dennis, one of the best deer hunters in the woods of Northern Minnesota. Dennis, a right-hander, was in his deer stand this last November. He witnessed a deer standing just so that he couldn’t get a shot right-handed. He decided to shoot left-handed but the scope was partially in the way to see the deer. He shot; the scope hit him in the eye from the recoil. A deer was still there; he shot using the other eye, the scope hit him in that eye from the recoil. Net result, two deer and two black eyes, plus a renewed MN driver’s license with two black eyes. All this can be verified by the one he must obey, namely “Betsy.”
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. This is the Hanson’s 36th summer at Beaver Lake. They leave the lake in mid-October to go south — to Albert Lea — and return in April. Bob says if you enjoy his article, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of Wisdom: There is always room for God.