Raft of Loons on Boot Lake, in Park Rapids, MN

Yesterday morning, Mabel and I were on our way to the lake for an early morning kayak ride when several Loons landed out in front of the resort. The raft of Loons graced us with their presence for about a half an hour, then dispersed back to neighboring lakes. It’s not uncommon to see four to six loons together on our lake, especially prior to them laying eggs and raising their young, but I have never seen this many together before. I did a quick Google search on why Loons congregated like this, and found this article if you would like to check it out.
Raft of Loons on Boot Lake in Park Rapids, MN

Raft of Loons on Boot Lake

Raft of Loons on a foggy morning on Boot Lake

Loons taking off from Boot Lake in Park Rapids, MN

Raft pf Loons on Boot Lake in Park Rapids, MN

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Bike around Boot

Michaela recently took a bike ride around the lake and took a few pictures of the sunset and wild flowers. There are some rolling hills along the ride that are beautiful, especially when the sun dips below the horizon and the fog starts to rise. The orange flowers below are Indian Paintbrush, which grow wild in many of the fields in the area. The taller flowers are Lupin, which are in the flower garden at the end of our driveway. They are stunning right now and have had an exceptionally good bloom this year.

Lupin Flowers in Sunset at Half Moon Trail Resort

Lupin flowers at Half Moon Trail Resort in Park Rapids, MN

Bee on Indian Paintbrush wildflower

Indian Paintbrush Wild Flowers around Boot Lake

Field of Indian Paintbrush Wildflowers at Dusk

 

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Boot Lake Fish

Here are a few pictures of some Boot Lake walleyes and crappies! It’s been a great June thus far for fishing, and we’ve seen some beautiful fish come in recently. We aren’t trying to get your hopes up, but couldn’t pass up posting these 😉
Crappies caught on Boot Lake in Park Rapids, MN

Walleye's caught on Boot Lake in Park Rapids, MN

Walleye's caught on Boot Lake

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Staff Intro

GroupWe had a little bonding time today with some of our full time summer staff at the Character Challenge Course! It’s a great place if you are looking to add a few extra thrills to your vacation. Awesome staff and cool facility, definitely a good choice if you want some time off the lake. Here’s a quick intro for our summer staff:

FORREST

Forrest is one of the full time summer staff at Half Moon Trail Resort, in Park Rapids, MN

Many of the past guests know this familiar face! After spending last summer in Texas, he’s back before starting his “real job” as a teacher and coach in Missouri.

Fun fact about Forrest: He can almost clear a two story building with a skinny fiberglass pole…and he’s the only guy I know who has bought a car for $1!

MANDY

Mandy is one of the full time summer staff at Half Moon Trail Resort, in Park Rapids, MN

This is Mandy’s second summer, but she’s like family to us, and we are sooo happy she is back!

Fun fact about Mandy – she jumped out of a plane, and survived!  And, she can crack an egg with one hand.

ANNALISE

Half Moon Trail Staff at the Character Challenge Course

Annalise has been a part of our amazing cleaning crew for quite some time, but she became part of our full time staff last year. We are thankful she is back and hopeful for more great years to come!

Fun fact about Annalise – she’s been cleaning cabins at Half Moon since she was 8!  And, as I found out on the obstacle course this morning, she is very fast!

KAYLA

Michaela is one of the full time summer staff at Half Moon Trail Resort

Kayla – Most of you know that Kayla is my younger sister, and we are very blessed to have her living right down the road. She is a huge help, and definitely gets the award for being the veteran around here.


Fun fact about Kayla – She can stand on her head for 4 minutes and 27 seconds! Can anyone say, headache? And, she’s a great photographer!

 

 

 

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Painting the Pool

Kim (our painter) and I put a fresh coat of white paint on the pool today. We constructed a temporary enclosure about a week ago in order to keep the rain and debris out so it could dry before painting.  A few more days of drying and we will be ready to fill it up!

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Spring Gardens and Grounds

Spring is in the air at Half Moon Trail! We are in full swing getting the cabins cleaned, water turned on, and the grounds cleaned up. I took a few minutes to snap these photos so you could see what grounds and gardens look like at this point in the spring. They look very different than later on in the summer when they are all filled out, but it’s still pretty fun when all those plants start poking through the ground in the spring!

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Guess what!?

We are excited to add an old time favorite to the Half Moon Trail menu this summer! We will now have on tap root beer, and root beer floats, served up in a deliciously frosty mug. We just got the tap up and running recently, so we will have plenty of time to do lots of taste testing to make sure it’s perfect when you all arrive 😉 Cheers!

Chalk board sign at Half Moon Trail Resort

Root Beer Float at Half Moon Trail Resort

Sprecher Root Beer tap at Half Moon Trail Resort

you all arrive 😉

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Family Day

It was beautiful here at the resort this past Sunday, and we took the opportunity for some family time. We love many aspects of the resort life, but spending time with family is one of the most important. Working with, and teaching our kiddos the value of hard work is a huge benefit of living at the resort, but it’s great to kick back and relax with them too! Mabel found her daddy’s hunting decoys, and thought they would make good friends so she insisted on having Liz and I carry them around and even sent them down the slide…life is never boring with youngsters!

Calm Boot Lake at Half Moon Trail Resort

Mabel at Half Moon Trail Resort

Liz, Mabel, and Mary Kate swinging at Half Moon Trail Resort

Mabel sending her new friends down the slide

 

 

Mary Kate on the grass at Half Moon Trail Resort

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Shop Time

We are taking advantage of the inclement weather outside and working on some cool chalkboard signs for the lodge. We are making the frames from some old barn wood that we harvested last year from a local barn that was being torn down. Mary Kate seems to like a little shop time, too, while Mom snaps a progress photo 😉

For those that are curious, the lake ice finally went out completely yesterday with a strong north wind to break everything all up!

Building board signs at Half Moon Trail Resort

Mary Kate in the shop at Half Moon Trail Resort

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Boot Lake Ice – On it’s way out!

We have another early spring on our hands! I know many of the lakes a little farther South have already been open for a while, but we are typically a couple weeks behind the twin cities.  I took a few quick pictures of the ice last evening. It’s started getting dark, cracks are widening, and it’s really opened up around the edges the past few days. As I was taking the pictures, I saw and heard several different kinds of ducks, swans, and geese as they are back in the area now with some open water for them to use – a sure sign of spring!

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Easter Weekend Campfire

It was a little chilly on Friday, with a few snow flakes swirling in the cool spring air, but we still enjoyed a toasty campfire at Mom and Dads, just down the lake. My brother Nate was home from college for a few days and had made some benches and campfire ring so we had to try it out with a hot dog roast. It’s great being close to family! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

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A Man of Many Hats

Today we are playing lumberjack! There is never a dull moment here on the resort, and it seems we are constantly switching our “hats”, which keeps life exciting. Today we harvested a few older trees that were near the end of their life and cut them up into specific lengths. We are taking them only a couple miles down the road to a friend of ours who will saw them into lumber to be used in one of our building projects in the future.

Bobcat Hauling Logs

Bobcat Hauling Logs

 

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