Up North
Some of my earliest memories of "UpNorth" come from my grandparent's cottage up on Little Muskellunge lake in Vilas county. My grandparents Piekarski bought the cottage some time back in the 1940's or early 1950's. When they first bought it, it was a little rough inside. No paneling on the walls and that sort of thing. It was a three season cottage. I remember it being a little small, 2 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, living area,and a porch with an old gas space heater for the heat on chilly or rainy days.
Grandpa and Grandma went up there a lot with their sons. Dad enjoyed it more then my uncle Gerry. Mom and Dad even went up there once before they were married (chaperoned of course).
We spent a lot of Dad's vacations up here. He and Mom would pack the car the day before and we go to bed and then they would wake us up early - and I mean early! It seemed like the middle of the night. I don't know if it was because dad wanted his time up north to start or if it was because we kids would sleep most of the way up there and Mom and Dad wouldn't be listening to us say "Are we there yet?"Although small it was cozy. Mom and dad would be in one room, my sister and I, because we were the youngest got the second bedroom and my brothers would sleep on the couch in the living area and the porch. Mom would cook us breakfast inside, but dinner if it wasn't raining was always dad grilling something us, mostly fresh caught fish.
We would catch the fish in grandpa's wooden row boat with mercury outboard on it. The same row boat that he and dad went fishing in. As you can see dad and grandpa caught many fish on their trips. In that boat, with four small kids, my dad would teach us how to fish. I can't believe that he could bait our hooks, get all of us casting in different directions (so we wouldn't hook or snag each other), and still cast and fish for himself.
The lake had a sandy beach area and swimming was fun, but I remember that when we swam by the cottage, Mom would always have to check us over for leeches - yuck!
