Retreat Reflections 2011: Sunday

Several years ago, Jeff and I went to a Pastor's Retreat. The Retreat was free to pastor's and their spouses; and idea that we thought had to be too good to be true. But we signed up anyway and took a week long sabbatical from ministry, family, and life in general and found a time and place of spiritual refreshment and rejuvenation for our marriage. As a result, the church agreed that we should take a retreat every year and set aside 1 week and some money for us to do just that. They understood that we would not be able to find a "free" respite every time and gave us a generous amount to be applied towards that need. We have used it every year...except one...and were scolded soundly for not taking advantage of their generosity. So we go. Here is the photo evidence of our Retreat 2011 style. We've started taking the family...as they need the respite as much as we do and we stumbled upon the perfect "retreat" for our family. Friends of ours moved to Northern Wisconsin a couple of years ago and we had the priviledge of staying at the Inn at Timber Cove while up there. The Cabin in the Woods was wonderful, but we needed something a bit bigger with everyone (except JP) along. We had gotten a tour of Victor's Cottage when the Vik family moved and I secretly wanted to move in there myself, but we hadn't gotten the chance to get up there again for a while. so when talk of a northern retreat came about we looked into this lovely place.

We left Sunday right after church and quick lunch. The drive to our destination is only 8 hours on a good driving day, but this was not to be such a day...we ended up in road construction and heavy traffic returning to the Cities after spending the weekend somewhere. But most of the kids put that portion of the drive to good use and slept. We finally broke through to the end of construction and made good time for the rest of our journey. We did take note of the backed-up traffic on the other side of the median trying to enter the city from the north and realized we'd need to leave extra early if we traveled back on Sunday.

As the sun was setting we crossed the bridge from Minnesota and into Wisconsin, and knew our destination was near. We only had an hour to go to reach the place we were going to stay, sleep, retreat for the week.

The kids kept one another entertained, but we were all very ready to get out of the van and enter our home away from home for the week.

Victor's Cottage sits just up the hill from Lake Superior. The home is owned by a wonderful Christian couple.

The garden table overlooks Lake Superior and offers an inviting sitting area for chatting, games, or picnics.

The children loved the stairs leading down to the secluded beach. Steps leading to hiding places.

Steps leading to beauty.

If you are looking for a quiet place for rest and reflection this summer, head on up to Ashland, Wisconsin and Lake Superior. There are a number of places to stay and the disconnect from our regular lives was much appreciated!

A welcome respite as we live, love, and laugh

Lori

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com