This past weekend was the first weekend in a while that both Blake (the fiancé) and myself had nothing going on… well… at least nothing that was urgent. So what should we do when we both have a free weekend off and the weather is beautiful? Well, ‘Do as the Romans do’ as the saying goes… so to “the lake” we went!
While I did have the opportunity last summer to go camping at one of the many lakes in Minnesota, it wasn’t quite the “lake” experience that I have heard so much about. This time we decided to really follow the crowd and head to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota or “DL” as the locals say. Neither of us had been out there before, but it didn’t take long for us to realize where we should be headed. Following the steady line of cars cutting through town, we eventually ended up at the main beach. I couldn’t believe it. Here we were in landlocked Minnesota (yeah, I’m not counting lakes when I say landlocked) and I was staring at a Midwestern beach town complete with sand, funky food places, and even tourist-y beach shops full of boogie boards, t-shirts, and every other knick-knack you’d find at a beach store along the coast (minus the hermit crabs and sea shells).
We found a place to set out our towels and picnic food and laid down in the sand to begin soaking up the sun and commence people watching. I was in heaven. Unfortunately, we got a bit of a late start on the day (I was feeling a little conflicted of whether I should trust weather.com’s prediction of precipitation or trust my eyeballs seeing no clouds in the sky) so we headed back to Fargo after only a few hours. When we woke up the next day and saw the sunshine, it took about two seconds to decide what we were doing for the day… to “the lake” we go for round two!
We were able to get there much earlier this time around and found a great spot. The entire day was spent much the same as the first: soaking up the sun, snacking on food, and all in all enjoying the lake. Though I wasn’t looking at the time, I knew immediately when it was about lunch time. Pontoon after pontoon (with the occasional jet ski and speed boat) pulled up straight onto the sandy shore and out hopped hungry lake-goers. The majority of the crowds headed straight the Zorbaz or one of the other nearby restaurants.
After about five hours, it was time to head home. On our drive back I finally realized exactly what all the fuss is about when people always jet off to “the lake” for the weekend. Yep, I get it now. The lakes are awesome.
