Dad was promoted within his company and relocated the whole family to St. Cloud, Minn., from Louisville, Ky., in 1976. Two years later, after getting to know the Minnesota cabin culture from their many new friends, my parents acted upon a short classified ad they spotted in the St. Cloud Daily Times: Log cabin for sale, Whitefish Chain of Lakes, Pequot Lakes, Minn.
I was 8 years old and my brother was 4. As my parents retell the story, they drove to Nisswa on a Saturday morning and used the pay phone to call the Realtor. Two hours later they were following him to the property. Everyone was standing at the end of the driveway when mom told dad this was it. The main cabin, bunkhouse and firewood shed were all built from the logs of the land in the 1920s. Several additional buildings (garage, fishing cleaning house, dock house) all came along in the early 1970s.
We are the third family to own this property. There was only one TV station available when we bought it in 1978 and we are proud to say the TV still gets only one station. The memories, guest-book entries and photo albums made over the past 36 years would fill many pages. My brother and I both proposed to our brides at the cabin and now have children who have never known life without this family cabin. If all goes well, neither will their children.
JOE THOMAS, EDEN PRAIRIE
