I'm starting to think that maybe July has disappeared. I woke up this morning to yet another day of maybe 50 degrees. This kind of weather is usually typical for late September or October, but July? Really?
I'm not going to lie, this weather makes me lazy. And so this morning it took me nearly an extra hour through the snooze button, and a whole pot of coffee to finally get me up and going. But after sitting in the office and taking care of the normal phone calls, bills, and emails I found myself thinking about bed again.
But then a much better idea jumped into my head! Road trip! Nothing gets me out of a bad weather/boring day funk then a nice drive through the great land of the north. The winding path that takes you past dairy farms, woods, lakes, and quiant towns is exactly what the doctor ordered for me.
One of the best "cure all" towns for me is Vergas, maybe only 6 miles from where I live. The road is fun to drive on because you can sneak around the back roads and spy on all the people's flower beds, then you can go past Bennie's bait where they are said to have the best bait around, and then from there you follow the road down to the smelly dairy farm, take a right at the stop sign and come around the bend to meet the world's largest loon! Once you see that ol' Loon you are only seconds from what might be one of the greatest small towns in America... Vergas!
Population 311 it sits against a couple hundred lakes it seems and it honestly feels like you walk into a town that is nestled somewhere between 1952 and old tradition of yesteryear. I love this place!
I giggle every time I drive into town (just past the loon) when I pass Big Jim's. Its a drive through "eatery" where you can also buy bait. They do have some awesome cheese curds too! But this is not why I giggle. I giggle because right across the road from Big Jim's is the Vergas baseball field where 10 years ago my dad joined the Frazee Flames and hit a homerun that knocked against the wall of Big Jim's Eatery! It was quite impressive! But the best part is that everytime we have company my family always takes them to Vergas and when we drive past that great ball park my dad gets to tell his story how he knocked one "out of the park and all the way to Jim's! This is something that will always stick in my memory.
So I spent sometime in Vergas looking around the unique shops, I talked myself out of having another piece of pie at the Loon's Nest, I ventured over to Goodman's market to look at their olive loaf and head cheese....(yes, I said head cheese. It's a Minnesotan thing,) and then after accomplishing all that I could, I felt as if I could breath again. My boredom and hum drum way of thinking was lifted from the great vibe I always get in Vergas!
The night was topped off when Kathrine, my mom, and I were driving into town tonight to have supper at the Shoreham Pub in Detroit Lakes. (This place has the best sweet potatoe fries!)
We pulled up behind an SUV whose license plate read "OleLena" and I bursted into laughs! Quickly I was reminded that I must be becoming a Minneostan because I had to explain to Kathrine exactly what that meant.
So for those of you who don't know who Ole and Lena are, they are an old Norwiegen couple that millions of jokes are based upon up in this area. Jokes that are only funny because they are absolutly stupid!
So, in honor of a great day spent in small town America I leave you with this:
"Ole and Lena were at the bank one day cashing their checks when all of a sudden a bank robber came in, pulled a gun, and demanded all the money be put in his bag. He pointed his gun at everyone there and said, "if you say to anyone that you saw me rob this bank I will shoot you!"
So he goes up to the first guy and asks, "did you see me rob this bank?" The guys says "yeah."
BAM! He shoots him dead. The robber goes up to another guy and asks, "Did you see me rob this bank?" The man replies, "well.. yeah!"
BAM! He shoots him too!
So the robber walks up to Ole and asks, "Did you see me rob this bank?" Ole looks at the robber and says, "no! But my wife Lena did!"
I'm not going to lie, this weather makes me lazy. And so this morning it took me nearly an extra hour through the snooze button, and a whole pot of coffee to finally get me up and going. But after sitting in the office and taking care of the normal phone calls, bills, and emails I found myself thinking about bed again.
But then a much better idea jumped into my head! Road trip! Nothing gets me out of a bad weather/boring day funk then a nice drive through the great land of the north. The winding path that takes you past dairy farms, woods, lakes, and quiant towns is exactly what the doctor ordered for me.
One of the best "cure all" towns for me is Vergas, maybe only 6 miles from where I live. The road is fun to drive on because you can sneak around the back roads and spy on all the people's flower beds, then you can go past Bennie's bait where they are said to have the best bait around, and then from there you follow the road down to the smelly dairy farm, take a right at the stop sign and come around the bend to meet the world's largest loon! Once you see that ol' Loon you are only seconds from what might be one of the greatest small towns in America... Vergas!
Population 311 it sits against a couple hundred lakes it seems and it honestly feels like you walk into a town that is nestled somewhere between 1952 and old tradition of yesteryear. I love this place!
I giggle every time I drive into town (just past the loon) when I pass Big Jim's. Its a drive through "eatery" where you can also buy bait. They do have some awesome cheese curds too! But this is not why I giggle. I giggle because right across the road from Big Jim's is the Vergas baseball field where 10 years ago my dad joined the Frazee Flames and hit a homerun that knocked against the wall of Big Jim's Eatery! It was quite impressive! But the best part is that everytime we have company my family always takes them to Vergas and when we drive past that great ball park my dad gets to tell his story how he knocked one "out of the park and all the way to Jim's! This is something that will always stick in my memory.
So I spent sometime in Vergas looking around the unique shops, I talked myself out of having another piece of pie at the Loon's Nest, I ventured over to Goodman's market to look at their olive loaf and head cheese....(yes, I said head cheese. It's a Minnesotan thing,) and then after accomplishing all that I could, I felt as if I could breath again. My boredom and hum drum way of thinking was lifted from the great vibe I always get in Vergas!
The night was topped off when Kathrine, my mom, and I were driving into town tonight to have supper at the Shoreham Pub in Detroit Lakes. (This place has the best sweet potatoe fries!)
We pulled up behind an SUV whose license plate read "OleLena" and I bursted into laughs! Quickly I was reminded that I must be becoming a Minneostan because I had to explain to Kathrine exactly what that meant.
So for those of you who don't know who Ole and Lena are, they are an old Norwiegen couple that millions of jokes are based upon up in this area. Jokes that are only funny because they are absolutly stupid!
So, in honor of a great day spent in small town America I leave you with this:
"Ole and Lena were at the bank one day cashing their checks when all of a sudden a bank robber came in, pulled a gun, and demanded all the money be put in his bag. He pointed his gun at everyone there and said, "if you say to anyone that you saw me rob this bank I will shoot you!"
So he goes up to the first guy and asks, "did you see me rob this bank?" The guys says "yeah."
BAM! He shoots him dead. The robber goes up to another guy and asks, "Did you see me rob this bank?" The man replies, "well.. yeah!"
BAM! He shoots him too!
So the robber walks up to Ole and asks, "Did you see me rob this bank?" Ole looks at the robber and says, "no! But my wife Lena did!"
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