Monday, July 4, 2011

A magical visit to the Land of 10,000 Lakes

That's Minnesota.

But not only Minnesota as Mr. Lileks points out. There is a spot an hour's drive down the highway from here that still has a few well-worn billboards that, if you look really closely, identify it as the land of 10,000 lakes. There were places all over North America that pitched themselves as the vacation spot where you could go and fish, and swim and just hang out and read a magazine in a lodge or cabin by the lake.

James Lileks has scanned a Minnesota 1958 tourist guide for our enjoyment. It's a wonderful trip into the past. Not just the past that was but the past of fantasy as well. If you visit page 12 of the stuff he has put up, for example, you will see a lovely posed shot of a family at a lodge somewhere in Minnesota.



I've been there. Not that exact there but to places just like it. And I would love to be able to go back just for a second. I want everything in that picture: the room, the furniture, the view, the fir tree. I want to stand outside and smell the needles in the heat, hear the power boat way out on the lake, feel the feeling of being out of school and on vacation with my family.

And yet not. Because stop a moment and try to imagine what it would be like to get two people who want to read, their daughter who wants to play the electronic organ (and probably isn't very good at it) and their son who wants to play shuffleboard into the same room together.

I still want to go there. And I want to sit on the floor laughing at this.



Mom will enjoy herself more if you treat her to "eating out'. I bet she will!

Perhaps not as much as the Serpentine One and I would have enjoyed ourselves laughing at these promotional materials. Why, oh why, did the editor put those scare quotes around "eating out"? It's like they meant us to take it the wrong way. And look at the expressions on the faces of "Mom" and "Dad". He just made a lewd offer but couched it as a joke and she just one-upped him by telling him she intends to hold him to it. His leer is a mixture of shock and not believing his luck and her smug look says she enjoys still being able to do this to him all these years later. It's a good thing that they are so wrapped up in one another because their daughter overheard and her expression suggests that she has just become aware of a side of married life she hadn't thought possible before and is getting a vicarious thrill out it all. Only kid brother is absolutely oblivious.

Sigh. A world that is gone forever. A world that was both innocent and "innocent" if you know what I mean. I'd even be willing to be the obnoxious, shuffleboard-playing kid brother who doesn't get the hidden subtext to be able to go back there for a while. Go visit Mr. Lileks' site. Every page of this brochure is a joy.

But what I'd really like is to go back right now and sit at that table and .... And I know just who I'd take with me.


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