Opener Eve

This is it!  The day so many have been looking forward to – Minnesota walleye fishing Opener!  While our preparations for today are different from most of you (we won’t have time to put new line on our fishing poles until sometime in June!) we are just as excited for tomorrow.   Walleye Opener means that our favorite part of the year has commenced so bring on the fishing and the tall tales in the fish house.  Bring on the sunscreen and swimming at the beach!  Bring on the return of our guests and their children who have grown a foot since we saw them last.  Bring it on…all of it…we’re ready!

I mentioned in my last blog that boat owners will have to have an AIS (aquatic invasive species) decal on their boats and trailers this summer.  However, the DNR has changed that now and will roll out new rules for 2015.  We’ll keep you updated on the requirements.

Now GO FISH!!
Jay & Kim

Directions to Wildwood Resort to avoid construction

P.S.  Hwy 169 into Grand Rapids from the south is under construction this summer.  If you need to visit WalMart, Target, Cub Foods or L & M before coming out to the resort go ahead and come into town on 169.  But at the Ground Round/Walgreen’s corner take a left on Golf Course Road.  Follow past the hospital to County Road 76 take a right and follow 76 until you get to the stop sign at County Road 63.  Take a right and follow it to Hwy. 2.  From there head west and follow the directions as posted on our webiste at:  http://wildwoodresort.net/info_directions.html.  I made a little map as well.  Call if you have questions and remember that most GPS units take you out to the boonies so please follow the directions posted on our site to find your way to Wildwood!

Some of the new offerings in the Lodge this year!

This cute hat (and a wolf and moose) are available in the Lodge this year!Some of the new offerings in the Lodge this year!

The girls have already been giving the hydrobikes a workout. (or is it the other way around??)

Docks are in the lake! Let's go fishing!!

I’m pretty sure I’m old now.  It’s not the sagging skin around my chin or the frown line between my eyes that makes me certain.  It’s the feeling I get this time of year when 3:00 rolls around and I’m desperate for an excuse to head to the house and rest my aching back.  Spring cleaning and resort-opening projects are for the young-of-back, not the young-of-yester-year.  Apparently Jay and I are firmly in the second group these days!  In spite of our aches and pains it’s wonderful to see the resort coming together.  We got docks in the lake yesterday and I accepted my role as not-the-boss with as much grace as I can manage.  I really do hate when he’s in charge.  However, getting docks in the lake lands firmly on his side of our work equation so I don’t get to be the Chief on days like yesterday.  I considered staging a coup when he made me use the tape measure to make sure we had the dock EXACTLY 96 inches from where the dock ramp lands on shore but I let it go.  The man is a perfectionist and (normally) I love that aspect of his personality.  After all, it makes him easy to tease!

Jay loves it when we have to rent the Bobcat to put docks in the lake.

For those of you who own your own boat there are new rules in effect for you this year.  In an effort to suppress the spread of invasive species through public education the Minnesota DNR will require you to display in your boat an aquatic invasive species decal.  The rule says that all boats launched on Minnesota waters must have the decal displayed.  This rule does apply to out-of-state boats, too.  We will have decals here at Wildwood this summer if you haven’t managed to pick one up before coming up for vacation.  Here is more info on the rules from the DNR website:  http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquatic_qa.html.

Have you planned your early season fishing trip?  Maybe you are thinking of a Memorial Weekend get-away?  We still have some Memorial Day openings as well as some great June weeks open.  You can check out our availability on our website at:  http://wildwoodresort.net/VacationMaster/vm.html.  We would love to talk with you about our summer openings!

Until next time…

Kim & Jay

Oh my - look at that beautiful site. Truly the "Land of Sky Blue Waters"

Spring is my second favorite time of the year.  That’s because it is the season where I anticipate my first favorite time of the year – summer!  In northern Minnesota we prize our spring and summer because they are so brief.  The first warm, sunny day of the year we all suddenly remember why we tolerate the long and (sometimes) dreary winter.  The sky seems bluer than we remember and the air is sweeter.  Even though we still don’t have any leaves on the trees we are excited by the buds that we see on the trees and bushes.  We know one day soon we’ll be in the car on the way to town and all of the sudden realize that the trees have leafed out.  The new green of the leaves is so beautiful against the dark green of the pines that I take almost as many pictures of trees in the spring as I do sunsets over open water.  Ok – well maybe not…I have thousands of pictures of sunsets.  I just can’t stop taking them.  Each one seems so unique, ya know?!

Here is my annual spring cleaning photo. At this point in the cleaning process I always remind myself that it's "darkest before the dawn."

It’s not just the weather that amps up our anticipation of summer, either.  We love getting into the cabins to get started on our projects.  We can finally put into action all the plans we had during those winter trips to Home Depot to look at flooring, vanities, windows and doors.  (I think I may have mentioned before that we always end up in Home Depot on our date nights!)  But now is the time we get to charge…er…I mean buy all that stuff we were looking at.  Of course, then we have to haul the stuff home, find somewhere to stack it in the cabin that is already construction-zone messy and by that time it’s not so fun anymore.  I tend to get stressed out at that point about all the projects we have going at once and I have to get back to “my stuff.”  All of “Jay’s stuff” gives me a stomach ache so I give myself permission to walk away after unloading the truck.

Aren't they beautiful?! They're even prettier than that lakescape behind them.

But here’s the really, really big thing that makes us anticipate summer…it’s our guests!  All of our cleaning and fixing wouldn’t be nearly as fun if we had no one to share it with.  So we love to see our guests come rolling in the drive ready for their Minnesota vacations!  The kids usually burst out of the car like fireworks.  And for the first hour they are here they bounce between their cabin, the beach, the game room and the playground like deranged ping pong balls.  We love it!  What other profession could we have chosen where our customers are happy just to arrive at our place of business?!  Their excitement is infectious and it gives us the boost we need after working hard all spring to get the resort ready.

Look at those faces. Minnesota family vacation at its finest!

Minnesota family vacations have a long history in this state.  Many of our repeat guests have been coming to Wildwood for decades.  In fact, many of them have been vacationing at a Minnesota resort since they were kids.  It’s an unfortunate truth that the tradition of a MN family vacation is losing ground with today’s families.  The ease of air travel and the lure of far flung vacation destinations means that fewer families today consider a Minnesota resort vacation the “must have” that their grandparents did.  That fact concerns us for the obvious financial implication it has for our family-owned business.  However, it saddens us for a far more important reason.  The single greatest thing about bringing your kids on a vacation to a Minnesota resort is something that you can’t really put a dollar value on and that’s time.  We are all so busy running to keep everything on track that we never feel like we can just unplug.  In fact, with our smart phones (yes – I’m a junkie, too) we’re NEVER out of touch or out of reach.  I can speak for our family and say that Jay and I are never 100% focused on our kids unless we leave home.  With a home-based business like ours we are never off the job.  We’ll eat supper in exactly 30 minutes unless something comes up between now and then to throw a monkey wrench in that plan.  I bet the same it true for many of you!  And that’s what I love about Wildwood.  Our guests show up with nothing to do during their week except relax and spend time together on the beach or fishing for big sunnies or napping on a lounge chair.  There is a peace here that is soothing and, although I am completely biased on the subject, it is a refreshing change from the usual frenetic pace of life.  There is a reason many of our guests are teary-eyed when they are packing to go home!  Time is a magical thing that bonds families together with glue made from shared memories and maybe a little left-over stickiness from s’mores by the campfire.  Won’t you spend some time at a Minnesota resort this summer?  You won’t regret it!

The loons are back! (photo credit goes to ME! Gotta love a camera with good zoom...)

One last thought before I close my blog for today…the loons are back.    I heard them yesterday.  It’s always so thrilling the first time we hear them each year.  Summer really is around the corner!

Our best to all of you,

Kim & Jay

Yep - that's Jay without a hat! Even his mama might not recognize him without his Wildwood hat on.

Big sunnies through the ice!

We weren’t too happy with Mother Nature when she didn’t support our snowmobiling plans this winter.  However, what we didn’t anticipate was that our mild winter would be such a boon to MN ice fishing!  We’ve had more fishermen in this year than ever before and fishing has been really good.  Our guests have found lots of nice sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike and an occasional crappie.  Most lakes are very accessible right now with the low snow totals but be careful out there – spring is around the corner so we’ll start losing ice on those lake!

We have so much fun snowmobiling with friends!

We did manage to get out snowmobiling one last time a week ago.  Two back-to-back snowstorms left enough snow to enjoy the trails.  We traveled from Jessie Lake east to the Scenic Pines restaurant.  We had a great lunch (as usual) and then made our way back to our friends’ house.  We rode almost 100 miles and loved every second of it.  We weren’t the only ones with snowmobiling on our minds, though.  It was the busiest day we ever experienced on the trail – I think we saw over 100 sleds!

Just a little something to get you thinking about summer!

Jay and I have started our project list for the coming spring.  This is the time of year when we find ourselves wandering around Home Depot for no particular reason.  While most couples see a movie on “date night” we tend to go look at flooring, appliances and lumber before coming home at 7:00.  Yep.  We step out on the wild side every now and then!!  Anyway, the list is pretty extensive this year so we’re hoping for an early spring so Jay can get started.  He’s going to be a busy guy in a month or so.  (He should probably start working out or something.)  Our goal is to always provide a good value for the vacation dollar for our guests so we are constantly trying to improve our cabins and grounds.  After 13 years we struggle sometimes to see our resort with fresh eyes and can easily overlook issues that have “aways been that way.”  What is our project “Wish List” for this year?  We’re looking into different heating sources for a couple of cabins and we have to replace some dining room tables and chairs.  A couple of bathrooms need some serious TLC, Jay has to build some closets and we need to replace a kayak that we lost in a storm last year.  We will do the usual spring cleaning which involves wiping down all the walls in the cabins, washing all the dishes, cleaning carpets and washing all the bedding (again) that we used in the winter cabins.  Outside we rake the grounds again to clean up the pine needles and leaves that winter left behind, then put docks in, get the boats out of the shed and into the lake and set up the Lodge with all of our new clothing and gifts.   Whew.  I’m tired already – maybe I should start working out now, too?!

We are looking forward to getting Wildwood ready for summer!

Kim & Jay

The view out the back of Scenic Pines restaurant

There were just a few snowmobiles on the trails last weekend!

 

Ice fishing on Bass Lake

The girls FINALLY have some snow to roll around in!

Well, I doubt we were the only ones shocked by this week’s crazy weather.  Just as we had given up on Minnesota snowmobiling and started thinking of Minnesota family resort vacations Mother Nature let us have it.  It’s beautiful around Wildwood right now.  The trees are flocked and all that brown grass has finally been covered up.  We have about a foot on the ground and the Bushwacker snowmobile trail that runs just south of Bass Lake has been groomed for the first time this winter.  Jay and I are frustrated today because we’d love to hit the trails ourselves but we are busy with our part-time jobs and getting ready for the ice fishermen coming in this weekend!  Maybe we’ll get the sleds out tonight…for just a quick little jaunt.  That MIGHT hold us over until Saturday when we can head out for the day.  We hope you have the chance to hit the trails this weekend as well.  Feel free to plan a March stay with us if you don’t have enough snow where you are – we would love to have you!

Ice fishing on Bass Lake has continued to be really good.  Access is slightly more difficult with the deep, wet snow we got this week so we haven’t seen any truck or 4-wheeler traffic out there.  However, word on the ice is that the bluegill bite is good.  Stay tuned….

Senator Saxhaug listening to our concerns.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday this week down in Minneapolis at the Capitol for the Congress of Minnesota Resorts Day on the Hill.  We spent two days (in a blizzard) meeting with Representatives and Senators sharing our message about the importance of tourism in Minnesota and our concerns over the issues that negatively impact Minnesota family resorts like ours.  It was interesting to watch government at work and more than one legislator told us how important it is to take time to communicate our concerns in person or via email.  Some of our fellow resorters took their kids and it was fun to see those young, resorters-in-training in action!  Oh – and we stayed at Hotel340 in downtown St. Paul and ate at All-American Burger while there.  Both were awesome experiences!!

Jay at work clearing the resort (and getting ready to play pulling the girls on sleds...)

We hope your week is going well and that you get out and enjoy winter now that it’s finally here!
Kim & Jay

Minnesota state Capitol Senate Chambers - absolutely beautiful!

Our only day out on our snowmobiles this season was a beautiful one!

Hello everyone!  I feel like I’ve been away a long time.  I certainly haven’t blogged in the last few months as I intended mostly because this winter has not turned out as expected.  I really thought I would be posting weekly MN snowmobiling reports but that’s what I get for thinking!  Our snowfall has been skimpy and, as a result, snow conditions around us have been poor.  In fact the Bushwacker Snowmobile Trail that runs just south of the resort was never groomed this year.  Not enough snow!  (Boo Hiss!!)  However, we did manage to get in one good ride.  At the end of January we trailered up to our friends house on North Star Lake and snowmobiled from there.  They had about 8 more inches of snow than we did!  It was a long day – we rode as long as we possibly could – and we saw trail conditions from good to terrible.  But still – we can say we rode and that means a lot during a winter like this one.

What a beautiful fish! Photo courtesy of some of our wonderful ice fishing guests.

While snowmobiling options have been limited this year the ice fishing opportunities abound!  Low snow means that the lake is very accessible by vehicle so we’ve seen everything from mini-vans to Gators out there!  (For some reason mini-vans out on the ice crack me up.)   Early accounts reported the sunfish in the shallows since the lack of snow means the vegetation didn’t die off as it normally does.  However, fishermen in this weekend caught their sunnies in 18 feet of water.  Overall fishing has been good and our ice fishermen this season have generally caught their limits.  Jay has dumped a steady amount of fish guts every weekend that we’ve had guests.  It keeps him out of trouble!

We are really looking forward to the summer season already!  This time of year it’s really fun to answer the phone and talk about Minnesota family vacations.  Makes me think of summer days on our sandy beach even though I’m looking out the window on a winter scene.  I’m ready for s’mores by the fire, potlucks on Monday nights, fun works-of-art created during our kids’ activities and checking in and catching up with our guests.  Our summer has booked up nicely but there are still some prime summer weeks open.  If you haven’t planned your summer vacation at this point we would love for you to consider a visit to Wildwood!

I say “Bring on Summer!”  Until next time…

Kim (& Jay, of course)

What a cool photo of a bluegill in the "tube." Again - photo courtesy of guests.

A white Christmas after all!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We woke yesterday to some snow so our it’s finally looking like Chrismtas around here.  We are still hopeful for more snow but now that the holiday is here the snow might as well hold off until everyoone finishes their traveling!

Life at Wildwood is full of blessings for us.  However, the greatest blessings of all are those of you who have come into our lives because of the resort!  We wish each of you a magical Christmas and a blessed New Year!  We hope to see you in 2012!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

Kim, Jay, Karlee & Katie

Looking north from the beach - looks strange without the docks in the lake!

Life at Wildwood has been pretty quiet these last few weeks.  Jay got the docks out of the lake the first week of November and the shoreline looks very lonely now!  We were tempting the snow fates again this year by waiting until November to get the docks out but, fortunately, he got a nice day for the last chore of the year.  So now the cabins are buttoned up, the boats are put to bed and the docks are stowed for the winter.  It feels good to be ready for winter and we have been taking it pretty easy for the last week or so.  It’s the first real break we’ve gotten since April and we (hardly) feel guilty about not accomplishing much last week.

We have missed out on the snow that southern Minnesota and Iowa has gotten lately.  We hope this is not indicative of how our winter will go!  Doesn’t it just figure that we sit up north wanting feet of snow and you southerners can’t get out from under it.  Oh well, we have appreciated the very decent weather through October and November since it makes shutting down the resort so much easier.  We did get some snow one night last week and it made us really happy!  We are dreaming of hitting the snomobile trails and we’re hoping for early snow like last year.  We were on our sleds on the trails before Christmas last year and would LOVE to get the same chance this year.

Docks everywhere on the road to Cabin 4!

However, we do need some ice on the lake this year before it snows since last year’s ice conditions were poor all winter due to heavy snow before we had good ice on area lakes.  Oh, the things I’ve learned in our decade here!  My high school guidance counselor never talked to me about dumping fish guts, non-stop cabin cleaning and monitoring ice conditions as possible career choices!! 

We are busy putting together our winter newsletter and just finished compiling the fishing contest results.  We saw a lot of big bluegill last year!  Lots of folks had fish big enough to win the contest in years past but this year one big, old fish won that category.  We saw fewer northern and walleye entered in the contest than in past years which is odd since the walleye fishing this year was better than it has been in any recent year in memory.  Overall it was another great Minnesota fishing year at Wildwood.  Watch the mail for our newsletter to find out who our contest winners are for 2011!

Minnesota x-ski trails, beautiful scenery and warm accommodations at Wildwood Resort

Do you enjoy cross-country skiing in the winter?  We have a number of excellent x-skiing trails located very near Wildwood.  All are well-groomed and some are lighted as well.  Visit us at for more information on a cross-country skiing weekend at Wildwood!  Ski rentals are available at Itasca Trail Sports and you can check x-ski trail reports on the Visit Grand Rapids website.  Don’t forget to purchase your Minnesota Ski Pass before hitting the trails this winter.

Maybe a Minnesota snowmobiling weekend is more your speed?  Fortunately we can accommodate that as well!  We enjoy direct access to the county-wide snowmobile trail system which offers riders hundreds of miles of scenic & well-groomed trails to explore.  Snowmobile rentals are available at Rapids Rental in Grand Rapids, MN and at The Shop in Bigfork, MN.  For more information on a snowmobile weekend at Wildwood please visit our website at:  http://wildwoodresort.net/winter_snowmobiling.html.

This Veteran’s Weekend we would like to add our thanks to the multitude of those grateful for the men and women who have served bravely in the past or who serve with honor today in our country’s military.  We owe our freedom and eternal gratitude to you and your families!

Let it Snow!

Kim & Jay

Minnesota snowmobiling weekends at Wildwood Resort

Looking south at our shoreline the docks are noticebly absent!

We store the docks around Cabin 4 in the winter

Jay manages to pack the shed pretty tight!

After making room in the shed for the pontoons we started the arduous task of stowing the boats. You would think that after 13 years we would have it down to a science but, apparently, we forget “how we did it last year” and have to re-learn where everything goes each fall. The day was really windy and raining so it was a *PERFECT* day to pull the boats out of the lake. We had the first boat on the trailer and were getting ready to pull it from the lake when Jay made a speedy exit from behind the boat.  Apparently a muskrat had made a nest in the bottom of the boat and when Jay went around the backside of the pontoon to hold it in place on the trailer the muskrat was sitting on the battery looking at him. You’ll be relieved to know that he didn’t scream like a girl or anything. We cleaned out the muskrat nest and maneuvered the pontoon into place in the shed before remembering that the reason we don’t use a 24 foot pontoon trailer is because it’s too long to get it out from under the pontoon once the boat is in place. Hmmmmm….not good. Remind me again: How many years have we been doing this? Anyway, we finally got the trailer out of the shed and back into the lake to pull out the second pontoon.

Muskrats make a big mess!

We got the pontoon out of the lake just fine but halfway up the driveway that muskrat jumped up out of the back of the boat and ran off! (I’m left with the impression that muskrats aren’t too smart.) Apparently when his first home was removed from the lake he decided that our other pontoon was a good place for the next one.  Once the varmints were out of the way we were able to get all the boats put away. I have to say that Jay does an pretty incredible job of packing our shed as full as he can get it. I don’t know if you can tell from the pictures (below) or not but there are mere inches between all those boats. Pretty amazing! The docks will stay in the lake for a couple more weeks yet. We like to wait until it is good and cold out before we start that job. Where is the challenge in pulling docks in 70 degrees and sunshine??!

The DNR stocks walleye fingerlings every other year. This year the Bass Lake Association supplemented the DNR stocking program with extra fingerlings.

Earlier in the month we got some footage of the DNR stocking Bass Lake with walleye fingerlings.  They do that every other year and this year the Bass Lake Association raised funds to supplement the DNR’s stocking with additional fingerlings.  We plan to supplement even more walleye the next time (2013) the DNR stocks our lake.  There are some great videos of the whole process on the Bass Lake Association’s Facebook page.

There are lots of great things going on in our area in the coming weeks. The Reif Center has its usual variety of incredible performances including the Cab Caloway Ochestra, The Phantom of the Opera and Paula Poundstone performing for Bambi on the Hood XI. Visit their website at http://reifcenter.org for a list of performances. November marks the start of Bazaar season in our area. Every weekend there are craft sales and church bazaars. However, the largest weekend is the weekend of Firearm Deer Season Opener (Nov. 5th) when 100s of vendors display wares in area-wide craft sales.

As we slowly get Wildwood ready for winter we are getting more and more excited for the next change of season.  We live in an incredibly beautiful place and appreciate getting to make our life at Wildwood – muskrats and all.  Enjoy these last days of autumn…winter (and snowmobiling) is on the way!

Kim & Jay

It was a "little" windy the day we decided to take boats out!

Jay manages to pack the shed pretty tight!

NOW we remember why we don't use a 24' pontoon trailer!!

Jay is pretty good at that! (Don't tell him I said so...compliments go straight to his head!)

Doesn't seem like enough room, does it?

Yep! There's room.

Ok - last pontoon going on the trailer.

The shed is 'almost' full. Only about 100 more things to stick in there.

With the addition of another pontoon I'm afraid one of them has to stay outside for the winter. Looks like an old covered wagon!

Fall colors on Bass Lake

When we started this blog I was concerned that I would lose track of time and forget to post.  It only took me 2 months to do it!  I’m afraid that September knocked me flat.    The change from our summer rhythm to our fall groove is never very graceful.  Off season means that our guests come and go every day so we’re cleaning cabins and mowing almost every day while the cabin is empty.   Add to that a new school routine that includes a bedtime (what is that?!), homework and back-to-work for me (at my part-time job) and I can safely say that I’m glad September is behind us.

The truly incredible things about September were the weather and the fall colors!  We are just now past peak colors and I think this is the latest we’ve seen in our 13 seasons at Wildwood.  The beauty of the fall colors set against the green pines is simply breathtaking.  We’ve also had such beautiful weather to go with it that now we are spoiled.  We should have been getting more outside work done these last few weeks.  Pulling docks out while it’s sleeting isn’t very fun!

Riverbirch Lodge decked out in beautiful fall colors!

Thursday night marked the first night that we have spent alone at the resort since early May.  Our crazy life is one of such extremes!  We left the house that night for supper and didn’t have to let anyone know or put a sign on the door.  It felt strange but also liberating.    I have been working hard to get all of the resort bedding washed before Jay shuts down the resort laundry room this weekend.  Two extra washers and dryers makes the chore go so much faster!  I think he plans to drain the water lines in the four seasonal cabins this weekend, too.  That is always such a chore!  He has to drain the water heaters and empty the toilets then he hooks up his big air compressor and blows out the water lines to each cabin.  It takes him several days to get it done to his satisfaction but that extra work has always paid off since he hasn’t had a broken water line in all these years!  (better find some wood to knock on…)  The pine needles have fallen as well so while he lets his compressor run he usually is on the mower mulching or raking up the leaves and needles.  I’ll put the seasonal cabins to bed by bagging up the clean laundry, cleaning the kitchens and stowing all of the outside stuff.  It always feels so strange to close them up for the winter but I’m glad when the chore is done.  I think the plan is to pull out the docks on MEA weekend so I’ll post some video of that on Facebook after we do it.  It’s quite a process.

Minnesota Quilting Retreats at Widlwood Resort

Did you receive the email we sent out this week?  In the summer we use it to advertise discounted and/or split weeks as well as special offers.  This month we are offering our Winter Rate of $35/night/person to anyone who mentions our blog (or the email) while booking.  October is a great time to plan a girlfriend getaway, scrapbooking weekend or quilting retreat!  We can help arrange appointments in town for massage or spa treatments, massages in your cabin, or discounted tickets to the Reif Center. (http://reifcenter.org/)  Minimum occupancy and/or 2 night minimum are required in conjunction with our Winter Rates.  You can sign up to receive our emails on our website at http://wildwoodresort.net/emailsignup.htm

Enjoy these last days of Autumn!

Kim & Jay

Fall Fishing in Minnesota at its Best!

Nice largemouth bass!