"Everyone talked about going to 'The Lake.' I never saw the big deal."

I am from New England. Our big thing growing up was going to the ocean. Then I moved to Minnesota and met and married a born-and-bred Minnesotan. Everyone on Fridays talked about going to "The Lake." I never saw the big deal. My wife raved about going to The Lake.

So we started looking around for lake property. We had no luck at first but then found this place in Akeley, on 11th Crow Wing Lake.

Nice at first — we enjoyed it. We then started to have family join us with the grandchildren. What a blast. We are having so much fun. We now do the holidays at the Lake House.

I get it now. There's no place like The Lake and spending time at our Lake House. We never want the weekend to end. We never want to leave, ever. It is our slice of heaven.

Mike Trudeau, Elbow Lake, Minn.