Spicer is Nicer

Jennifer, Kate and I went to Green Lake this weekend. Green Lake is a beautiful lake near Willmar, Minnesota, about 180 miles NE of Sioux Falls. The small town of Spicer is right on the lake. When I was a kid, my parents would take our family (7 kids) and some of our friends to Green Lake every August for a week long vacation. Mostly we water-skied and swam for a week. We used to stay at a "resort" (think tiny cabins with running water) called Indian Beach. My folks taught me to ski on Green Lake. I remember my mother and I being in the water as she explained the finer points of getting your feet in the bindings without drowning. Getting set, making sure your knees are bent, your weight over your behind, and her telling me to yell "hit it" when all was ready. She would not let me quit, I knew better than to ask. It took a few "hit-its" but eventually the stars aligned and upon popping up on top of the water I am certain permagrin set in. This photo is taken at what used to be the Indian Beach Resort lagoon where the vacationers could store their boats while staying. There used to be an arched walk bridge over the entrance to the pictured "lagoon". The resort is gone, the Ellweine's pop machine is gone, Bunny-Land is gone, the arched walk bridge is gone, but the entrance to the lagoon is still there, as evidenced in the above photo.

The Green Lake area is a bicyclists paradise, wide roads with bike lanes on both sides most places. There is also a bike path running the full distance from Willmar to Paynesville. I made two laps around the lake on Saturday and the road was packed with 1910-1920 vintage cars including Stanley Steamers, Buicks, Fords and others, all traveling at cycling speed. Spent a few minutes passing the peloton of vintage autos noting the irony of their wooden spoked wheels compared to my steel spoked wheels, then I set out on my breakaway, dropped 'em all (25 miles). On Sunday, a triathlon was being held in the area. The cycling portion was just underway as they were heading out to the east I was approaching the start finish line heading west on the other side of the road. Riding through the crowd at the start/finish line, I heard some guy yell to me "DUDE, you're going the wrong way", then he muttered to someone else "dude, that guy is going the wrong way". Pretty funny stuff. Soon enough, I located the bike trail, hopped on it and pedaled from Spicer to New London in hopes of picking up some baked goods but the New London bakery was closed. Pedaled around New London abit, hopped back on the bike path, headed north out of New London, up to Kandiyohi County Road 2 (Regal turn-off) and back to the cabin east of Spicer (26 miles). Managed a total of 51 miles riding over the two days.