My Kind of Place

Since February is the month of LOVE I decided it would be fun to participate in each of the weekly photo challenges this month over at "I *heart* faces." This week's topic is "Places I Love- My Story in Photos."
I'm a pretty low-key gal. Little things make me happy so you'll definitely understand why the place I'm about to show you is my kind of place.

Welcome to Nelson's Resort...

Located on Crane Lake in northern Minnesota just south of the Canada border.

I first visited Nelson's two summers ago with my family...

You see, not only is Crane Lake probably one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I've ever been,

but it also is good for fishing...

and has amazing sunsets!

But to top each of those things, Nelson's Resort holds a special place in my family's heart. Back in 1937, Nelson's was the setting of a true love story. One summer a 30 year old young man (who loved to fish) took a weekend trip up to Crane Lake. That same summer a 21 year old girl was working a summer job cleaning cabins at the very same resort. Long story short, they fell in love and the rest we can say was history! That couple was my grandparents. From 1937 forward, they took many trips back to Nelson's & Crane Lake and starting in 1956 they passed on that tradition. My dad always talked about the many family vacations spent in northern Minnesota while he was growing up. Finally, after years and years of talking about it, my family and I booked a trip for the summer of 2008...71 years later.

After we got back from our week-long vacation at Nelson's Resort I started to go through all the pictures I took and I told my dad how neat it would be if we had pictures from back when grandpa and grandma used to go. Well...lo and behold...after digging through boxes and boxes of black and white photos we came across a whole stack of "Crane Lake photos" nicely labeled by my grandma. What I found in that stack was amazing! It was neat to go back in time and feel the same emotions captured in those photos. Luckily my grandma was a photo nut just like me! (I love the first picture below!)

Here's my "Story in Photos": Past vs. Present

Can't wait to someday go back for a few more sunsets!

As you can see...my kind of place is not the glitz and glam and big city lights, to me, a true place is about the people and the memories. Nelson's Resort's website says it best... "a 75 year history of making memories."

P.S. Go check out i ♥ faces for more great photos!