My memory bank was jolted loose when I read the Best of MN section on the resorts of Two Inlets Lake. I have been spending time there every summer for 76 years. In 1938 my aunt Edith Anderson and her husband, Victor, bought an old rundown resort named Shell's and renamed it Brookside. The grounds were overgrown with weeds and underbrush, so my uncle fenced the place in and bought several sheep. In short order, the grounds were cleared.

My uncle Vic began to build new cabins to add to the original six. After the war a dining room was added to provide work for Vic's younger brother, Bob, who was returning from the service as a chef. The Brookside Dining Hall became known throughout the area for its knotty pine ambience and delicious meals. In the early 1950s the resort was sold to another war veteran by the name of Bill Bedford. Sadly, in 1955 the main lodge and dining hall burned to the ground. Subsequently (I don't recall the exact year) the resort was sold to David and Mary Jane Keller whose children bought it from their parents about two years ago.

As the kids of a Lutheran pastor who moved frequently, our children knew of only one place that gave them a sense of grounding and belonging and it was Two Inlets Lake. In 1950 my grandfather bought a piece of property between Brookside and Bear Paw resorts and built a cabin.

Upon the death of my father in 1983 the cabin became the property of my brother, my sister and myself. It was this humble beginning that created the opportunity for all four of our children to now own summer dwellings on Two Inlets. My sister and her husband now own their own place across the lake from Brookside. Because of our family connection to Two Inlets, whenever anyone would ask my children where they were from they would answer "Minnesota." It's the only place in their lives that stayed the same.

PASTOR BRUCE KJELLBERG (RETIRED), MAPLE GROVE

Tell us about your favorite hideout, be it a lakeside lodge or a primitive fire pit. E-mail your story along with photos to cabins@startribune.com or submit online at www.startribune.com/hideouts. Don't forget your name, city of residence and the general vicinity of your cabin or campsite