Our family got a taste of cabin life in 1930 when my grandparents began renting a cabin on Big Sandy Lake in McGregor, Minn.

They later bought a cabin there in 1942. I was inaugurated into cabin life from the time I was an infant. My parents rented the same old place that my grandparents did, and then bought the cabin next door in 1959. We had cousins next door and we all grew up like one big family. Work and chores came first. before water skiing and swimming. There was an old resort next door with lots of kids and we all hung out together on the beach.

In 1979 I felt I could afford my own cabin, and began looking with the help of a local Realtor. I told him I wanted what my folks had: a level lot with a sandy beach on Big Sandy. However, I found a vertical log cabin on nearby Glacier Lake that was on a hill and had no sandy beach. It was love at first glance, and I bought it the same day I saw it.

I added a deck across the front, a hot tub and an addition in anticipation of retiring there. Last year we added another garage for storage.

I will turn 70 later this year, and my love for cabin life has not changed.

My siblings and I had so many great memories at our cabin and at grandma's growing up. Now my family and I have been building our own memories for 37 years in our cabin. We often sit around and tell stories of the fun times.

My siblings now share the family cabin, and my same friends and cousins still come to Big Sandy and have their own places. It's like going to your hometown every weekend.

Mike Kraus, Chanhassen