E.B. White wrote a number of stories for children and adults, Charlotte's Web being perhaps his most well known. He also wrote an essay, "Once More to the Lake," about taking his pre-adolescent son to a cabin on a lake that he used to go to as a boy with his family. In the essay, White describes seeing the cabin for the first time in years and the joy he felt discovering the lake "right there, right where I left it."
It sounds funny at first. Of course the lake is right there, where it was when he last left it. But for anyone who has ever enjoyed good memories in a cabin on a lake--and returned--White's words make perfect sense.
For our guests who return to Garden Lake Resort every year--or even every few years--there's a certain comfort they feel when they drive the familiar roads to Ely and make the turns that lead them down Garden Lake Road to our Ely MN resort and to the cabin they stayed in last time on the lake that is right there, right where they left it.
Suddenly, memories come back full force: The smell of the red pines and fresh, crisp air; the sounds of loons' calls and water gently hitting against the dock, the feel the soft earth underfoot and the cool, clear lake water; and the sight of white clouds in a sky so blue that it looks more like a child's drawing than a real sky. It's all right there, where you left it.
There's a reason many of our guests request the same cabin year after year. Familiarity brings a certain reassurance. The picture window overlooking the lake, the comforters on the beds, the fireplace, the kitchen dishes, and the chair by the door--they're all there, right where you left them.
We've been around long enough that some of our guests who used to come as children with their families now bring their own families to the resort. We had three generation families these past two weeks and the same for the next two weeks. And so the cycle continues. Somehow through the years we change. But the lake?
It's still right here, right where you left it.