Posted by: GLR
on Aug 7, 2009
Because Garden Lake Resort is a small resort of four cabins, it's not uncommon for families to book all four of our Ely Minnesota cabins for their family and extended family for a week.
Grandma and grandpa, mom, dad, brothers,sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles share time together in ways that they may not have the opportunity to do in everyday life, especially if they live far apart.
Posted by: GLR
on Jul 31, 2009
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.
Posted by: GLR
on Jul 24, 2009
It's blueberry time in Ely!
One sure sign is seeing cars parked along the road in the Ely area where there is seemingly little else around. Today, there were two parked cars at different places along the Kawishiwi Trail, just before the turn down Garden Lake Road to our Ely MN resort. Sure enough, about 100 yards from one of the vehicles, someone with a bucket was crouched down in the brush, picking wild blueberries.
The berries are here--ripe and ready and just in time for Ely's biggest event of the year, The Blueberry Arts Festival.
Posted by: GLR
on Jul 17, 2009
We had a stretch of beautiful weather up at our Ely Minnesota resort for a few weeks. Warm days in the mid 70s, cool nights in the mid 50s. Some days have been clear with a sky strikingly blue. Other days the sky has been dappled with white cotton clouds that are as animated and entertaining as a two-year-old child. Perfect weather, really.
The days are long now, and the great weather makes you want to start early and end late and soak up as much of the day as you can. We have over fifteen hours of daylight to fish, swim, hike, bike, picnic, paddle, golf, and camp until--whew!--finally a rainy day.
Thank goodness!
Today we got our rainy day.
Posted by: Chris
on Jul 14, 2009
June was a great bass fishing month for most Ely Minnesota resort guests. Early June is usually a great time for finding bass in shallow water as they get ready to spawn. Later in the month, they move out into deeper water along breaks and points. Due to the colder weather this spring, the fishing patterns were a few weeks behind schedule.
In mid June, two friends and I decided to take a day trip into a near-by BWCA lake. Normally we would look for a fourth person so we could use two canoes but this time, my friend Wade decided to use his kayak for the trip.
Posted by: GLR
on Jul 10, 2009
From our Garden Lake Resort dock, guests can get to the BWCAW via South Farm Lake and the Kawishiwi River. Mark Ellerbroek often gives them a short tow to the mouth of the river, and from there they are able to fish and explore the hundreds of miles of paddle-only lakes in the Boundary Waters.
Most of the time, our guests use canoes or kayaks on paddle-only lakes and rivers. But not always! One of our resort families has mastered tube fishing in northern Minnesota.
Posted by: GLR
on Jul 3, 2009
When the time comes that you're ready to put your fishing gear aside for a bit and move from the water to the shore, consider the many hiking trails around the Ely area. There are as many trails to navigate and explore as there are lakes, it seems. Some of our favorites are within a ten-mile radius of Garden Lake Resort.
Posted by: GLR
on Jun 26, 2009
At Garden Lake Resort, we are surrounded by natural beauty. But we like to add to it, too!
Dianna believes something about gardens make a place. She devotes hours tending to the eight annual beds around the cabins and on the piers and a big perennial garden next to the house and office. Perennials around the resort include hostas, old-fashioned bleeding hearts and fern leaf bleeding hearts, bluebells, peonies, lilies, irises, and day lilies. Hanging baskets and potted annuals--geraniums, canna lilies, begonias, petunias and more--can be found all around the resort.
Posted by: GLR
on Jun 19, 2009
Minnesota resort vacations are relaxing, rejuvenating, and refreshing. No doubt, a week or two up north in a Minnesota cabin can renew your soul. At Garden Lake Resort, a week or two at our Ely MN lodging is good for your body, too--in more ways than one. Since December 2007, we've gone green!
Green
The term green is used to describe efforts and actions that are safe and beneficial to our environment. For us at Garden Lake Resort, green means using natural, non-toxic cleaning products and energy efficient appliances. Green means being aware of our habits and inviting our guests to be aware of theirs, too. Green means doing our part to ensure the pristine wilderness environment we love remains preserved for generations to come.
Posted by: GLR
on Jun 12, 2009
One of the things our guests like best about staying at our Ely Minnesota resort is our nightly campfires.
It's our ritual. As day gives way to night, we gather around the fire ring that's centrally located behind our cabins. There is a time and place for serious conversation, but it's not when we're sitting around the campfire! Then it's a time for stories and sometimes skits and almost always s'mores. On occasion, Mark and friends will bring out the guitars and the singing begins.
