Arrowhead on Kabetogama

2011 Fishing Opener

2011-05-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we're off to a great start of the season! Cameron caught a 10 pound northern off the dock today! :) He was VERY excited!
And, we've got a "new" dock boy- Nathan!! He's been a big help on the dock- helping boats come in, getting minnows for guests, etc. We're excited that our boys are old enough to start helping out! hehe
Dave has been very busy working on the docks. He's made some sturdy supports for the walkway, so it feels a lot better walking across it now. What a nice improvement!
Larry has been busy building a couple of new decks for cabins- they look great!
Sally and Betsey have been busy opening cabins up for the season and getting the lodge ready.
We're so happy to see guests arriving for the Opener- it's great to see familiar faces and meet new people.
Here's to a great season!!

2011-01-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a great holiday season! We've had about 75" of snow so far this year. We live in a winter wonderland!

The snowmobile, cross country ski and snowshoe trails are in great shape. There is still some slush on the lake, but if you stay on the marked trails, there's no problems at all. The land trails are beautiful. The snow is clinging to the branches making the scenery like something on a postcard.

Larry & Betsey will be coming to Rosemont, Illinois for the America's Outdoors Show Jan. 26 through the 30th. They'll be in Booth #520, so if you're in the area, we hope you'll stop by. We're excited about the show and the improvements that have been made. We'll be offering some Sports Show Specials at this show as well as the Northwest Sports Show in Minneapolis March 30 through April 3. Dave and Sally will be attending that one in Booth #909. We hope you'll drop by and say hi.

Fall Already

2010-09-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

I wish fall would last longer. I love fall! The leaves are gorgeous, the weather is (usually) gorgeous, there are (usually) no bugs, the frost doesn't (usually) hit us since we're on the lake, and we get to see guests who come every fall to stay with us! :)
This year, the leaves seem to be particularly brilliant. It's gorgeous here!

We had a great group come and stay with us for a few days- 50 guys from Appleton Wisconsin. They stayed in all of our cabins and lodge rooms, took guides out for the day, and caught a lot of fish! Dave cleaned over 300 fish in 2 days. He's still in therapy...... hehe
If you're thinking about doing a corporate retreat- Arrowhead Lodge is the place to visit! Even if you're not thinking about doing a corporate retreat- Arrowhead Lodge is the place to visit! :) We're offering a 20% fall discount on a full week's stay, and a 10% discount on a nightly rate.
Pretty soon, we'll be getting ready to close the cabins down for the winter, but we still have a couple of weeks of good weather left!

Summer Time

2010-07-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a hot couple of days here on Kabetogama. Summer is here! The lake is warm (warmish), the waterskiiers are out, and the fish are biting. Come and join in on the fun! :)
We had some guests limit out on walleye this week- almost unheard of in July! They caught some nice smallmouth bass, too.
Dave and the boys went fishing last night (I was along for the boat ride) and caught some northerns and a couple of bass in Gold Portage. The rapids are really big right now from all of the spring rain. It was a gorgeous night!
We just had some guests here celebrating their 30th year at Arrowhead! (Hi Petrick's and Possin's!!) They found some amazing patches of blueberries this year- it's a bumper crop!
The blueberries like a lot of rain and a lot of heat, and that's what we've had (rain in June and heat in July). Come on up and pick some berries!
The Bannister's from St Louis are here this week- they've been coming for many years, too, and we so enjoy having their family here.
It's been a great summer- lots of repeat guests who we love to see every year, and a lot of new faces, too. (which we love just as much!)
We have a family here this week who flew to Minneapolis from California, and are following the Laura Ingalls Wilder trail. What a fun trip! Their girls, Stephanie and Julia, are so sweet.
I've been busy taking outdoor portraits- senior portraits, family portraits, children's portraits- you name it. If you'd like your family portraits taken while on vacation in the beautiful northwoods, just give me a call! These make great Christmas card pictures! :)
Hope everyone is having a great summer.
-Sally

Governor's Opener was a success!

2010-05-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

The Opener came and went so fast, it's hard to believe it happened! :)
Friday night started out the Opener with the Community Picnic at the Visitor Center. A huge tent was put up to seat everyone- there were approx. 950 people at the dinner! The Governor and his wife were both there, along with the Lieutenant Governor. Nathan's class had a field trip to the Visitor Center earlier in the day, and they all got to meet the Governor and take a picture with him. He was really good with the kids, patiently answering all of their questions ("Have you ever been to the White House?" "Did you sleep there?" "Did you get to jump on the beds?" "Did you meet their dog?" "How old are you?"). The Governor's wife was at the Littlefork school that day reading to the kids. Cameron thought that was pretty cool.
Saturday morning, dad got to sing the National Anthem at the send off! He was pretty nervous, but after all of his practicing while mowing the lawn, he did very well!
We had our family (my grandpa, aunt, uncle and cousin) here from IL to help out while we were working at the Opener- we couldn't have done it without their help! They helped tend bar, cook and serve meals to our guests, and answer the phone, among many other duties.
It was a fun weekend- and people caught fish!! :)

Spring is Here!

2010-04-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

The ice went off the lake early this year! A month early, to be exact. Usually May 1 is the expected ice-out, but this year it was April 3!! Woo Hoo!! It's SO nice to see the water again. The lake level is coming up a bit every day. It's nice to have this extra time for the water to come up so we can float some boats at our docks at Opener!
Speaking of Opener.... The Governor's Fishing Opener is on Kabetogama this year. We've all (the entire community) been working hard trying to get everything ready for it. It's a very big event, and we're excited to see how it all works out.
The new dock is almost done! Just a few more boards on the decking and it'll be good to go. It looks great! (pictures to come when it's all done).
The guys put a new deck on our duplex cabin. Some friends from the cities came for the weekend to help us out, which is SO appreciated!!! It looks great!
Nathan and Cameron come home from school every day and go directly to the kayaks. They are very excited to see the water again, too! They're itching to swim, but it's still a little too chilly- even for them! :)

Nothwest Sports Show

2010-03-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone- Just wanted to let you know that we'll have a booth at the Northwest Sports Show at the Convention Center in Minneapolis next week. We'd love to have you come by and say hi! The dates for the show are March 24-28. Hope to see you there! :) (see how much fun we have there?)

The dock

2010-03-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

The new dock is really coming along nicely! Dave has been working so hard at it for a few weeks now. He had to spend 2 weeks jackhammering the ice and rocks out first and then rebuilding from the ground up. What a job! We had really nice weather, though, which was a nice change. Although, all of the snow melted and the ice started melting on the lake, which made for some super sloppy days! By the end of this week, the guys were working in really deep puddles. But the job's almost done and we think it's going to be great! (sorry the pictures are not in the right order, still working on figuring that out, hehe!)
Dad's been busy in Cabin 9 this winter- new tongue and groove walls and a new kitchen floor! YIPPEE! That cabin is a great cabin, since it's right on the water and perfect for larger groups, but we've really been wanting to redo the inside for some time now. It's not done yet, but for now, it's a good start! :)
With the Opener right around the corner, we're starting to get excited for spring. There is always lots to do in the spring, but it's nice to get the season going. We love seeing all of our repeat guests again and meeting our new guests. We're hoping for another great season!

2009-12-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

Winter has officially arrived and we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

The lake has frozen over - the guys have been ice fishing - the National Park has marked the snowmobile trails on the lake - life is good :>)

We will be open for winter business beginning Jan. 7. Hope you can come up and experience Voyageurs National Park in the winter. You'll love the snowmobile trails, cross country ski and snowshoe trails & just the solitude and quietness - a great place to "decompress".

Buoys

2009-10-18T10:32:00.001-07:00

The guys are just about done taking the buoys off the lake. The first day they went out, it was 23 degrees and a bit foggy.
It's been chilly here lately, but we had the most beautiful fall. There are still some pretty leaves out there, but they're falling fast. Darn it. I almost wish fall could last at least half the year! :)
We had some die-hard fishermen here this past week, and they did pretty well! They all took home fish, which is what we always hope for.
We've just about got the cabins closed down for the winter, now we'll just wait for the snow to fly! (let's give that some time, though, ok?)

October

2009-10-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning- gorgeous! This morning, we woke up to SNOW! Just a dusting, but still...

September

2009-09-29T12:42:00.001-07:00

Man, have we had the most perfect fall weather this year! Guess Mother Nature is making up for the not-so-great summer weather!
We recently had a group stay with us, who stays with us each spring and fall. Some of them have been coming to Arrowhead Lodge for many many years. Dick Keep just celebrated his 85th birthday - happy birthday, Dick! Their group took home a ton of fish this year. Way to go, guys!!

Greg and Monica also had some really great fishing luck this fall- they caught some nice-sized walleye and bass! It was great to see you guys again! :)

In other Arrowhead News... a man named Dayton Duncan came here last year to shoot some video for a PBS series on National Parks that is produced by Ken Burns. That series just started airing recently, and my dad (Captain Larry :) ) is listed in the credits as a Boat Captain! He's famous!! Cool!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful fall. Enjoy the crisp air and crunching leaves.
Sally

Big Fish!

2009-08-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

A guest of ours, Robert Christensen, caught a HUGE fish the other day! It was a 20 pound, 42 inch northern- very cool! He's a taxidermist, so he decided to take the fish home and mount it. We stored it in our freezer for him overnight- don't tell the health inspector! :)

Summer Is Finally Here!!

2009-07-26T13:46:00.001-07:00

It's almost the end of July, and we finally have a warm, sunny summer day- woo hoo! We have not had very many serious fishermen here lately, so I can't really give a reliable fishing report.... BUT, we do have some families here who are having a blast! :) My boys have been making new friends, which is so much fun to see.
There is a lot of tubing and boating going on around here, and today-on his first try- Cameron got up on water skiis!! So very exciting!!! (Cameron is now 7 1/2).
The water temperature is still pretty chilly, maybe around 69? The kids shiver after they've been in the lake for a while...

To answer the questions on the last post-
1. The Lady Slipper Festival is the second weekend of July, and it's held across from the Community Hall on Lake Kabetogama. This year, there were approximately 25 craft booths, plus some really good food booths. There were also a lot of children's activites- some of which were free, and the National Park had a few speakers come to the festival to give presentations inside the Community Hall. There was also a wonderful travelling musician there all weekend and a performer on Saturday. It was really a nice festival!

2. The Governor's Opener is going to be held on Lake Kabetogama in 2010! Opener is on May 15th next year, but the festivites will begin on Thursday night and will continue all weekend long. Our community is VERY excited to have been selected- this is a really big deal! We're hoping to get some recognition to our area, and we hope people realize what a gorgeous place Lake Kabetogama is! There are many committes, and a lot of volunteers are needed to make this event successful. A lot of people have already stepped up to volunteer- it's great to see everyone pulling together.

Hope everyone is having a fun summer so far! Thank you to all of our guests who have visited this summer- it's been great having you all here, and to our future guests- we're looking forward to seeing you! :)

Lady Slipper Festival

2009-07-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Kabetogama hosted their 2nd annual Lady Slipper Festival! We had great weather this year, unlike last year with the high winds, hail, torrentual downpours and a tornado touchdown 5 miles away.... We did have some wind this year, but that was nothing compared to last year!
I had a booth for my photography. I am trying to pick up some portrait sessions this summer, so it was fun talking to people about that. I also sold some of my photo notecards. It was a good networking weekend! :)
Nathan and Cameron LOVED the festival- there was a barrel train ride, a petting zoo, plenty of kids games, hair painting and tattoos, and really good food. They spent a lot of time just running around with their friends- it's awesome to live in such a great community where we felt safe enough letting our kids just be kids.
We had quite a few of the vendors staying in our lodge, it was fun to have them here!
We're hoping for an even better turn out next year- come on out and join the fun!

Welcome to our new blog

2009-06-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

We hope you enjoy keeping up with what's happening at Arrowhead Lodge throughout the year.

Have you heard that Kabetogama will be hosting the 2010 Governor's Fishing Opener? We're really excited about this great opportunity to promote the area, especially Voyageurs National Park.

We had a successful Fishing Opener. Fishing slowed down, but is starting to pick up again. Lots of 19-23" being caught.

After many years of leasing our motors, we decided to purchase some new Honda 4 strokes this year. We have three 25hp, one 30 hp and one 40 hp in addition to our two pontoons.

Lots of work was done on some of the cabins this Spring. Cabin 11 had new tongue and groove on the bedrooms walls & new carpet in the living room. Cabin 3 & Cabin 4 have new decks and Cabin 5 has a new front porch. We just had the driveway graded and new rock put in - much nicer!

For those of you who know Nathan and Cameron, Nathan is now 9 years old & Cameron is 7. They completed their 5th year of hockey and have started their 2nd year of baseball. They love all sports. Their cousin, Julian, will be here this summer to help out around the resort. They're very excited about that. Julian is 15 and lives in Belleville, IL.

Let us know what you think about our website and this blog. Things you'd like to see included in it, improvements that can be made, etc.