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The first time I visited Paris, I put money into a soda machine at the train station and nothing came out.
“Zut,” I thought (trying out my impoverished French skills).
Then a couple of little old men – yes, in berets, sorry about the stereotype – came to my aid. I couldn’t speak enough French nor they enough English for us to converse, but they understood that my francs went into the machine and a can did not flop out.
They beat up the machine a little on my behalf, then had an “oolala” moment. One reached into his pocket and deposited some coins. Voilà, soda pop. I hadn’t put in enough money.
Seems you can meet nice, helpful people wherever you go … especially if you look for the good in people.
I recently met someone who looks for the good in others and shares the good in himself.
That’s Matt Blair, the former Viking football star standing next to me. (This photo is proportionally correct, and there was no way I could reach high enough to do my usual “bunny ears” behind Matt. My hand made it about to his shoulder.)
Matt became especially familiar with our Lake Superior region when he agreed to be in the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon a few years ago to support Special Olympics, one of many causes he helps. Since then, he’s returned to our Lake to explore his newest talent in photography. You can see some of his work in this issue.
Over on the Bayfield Peninsula in Wisconsin, resident Julie Buckles offers tons of neat people to meet and cool places to visit in her Not-So-Secret tour of the peninsula and beyond. Julie called researching the story “quite a ride” as she traveled far to uncover things to do and places to see that might be off the usual radar. Wherever she went, she met friendly folk.
Within that same feature, you’ll meet a couple who met and fell in love at the Bayfield Apple Festival. The festival turns 50 this year, and we’re celebrating its longevity with the painting honoring the fest on our cover, and a free pull-out poster. (Use that poster to remind you to attend the fest in October). Says Frank Hozzsu – the Ole who met his Lena at the festival, as you’ll find out – despite the tens of thousands who attend there, “no one ever gets arrested.”
We’ve also got neat places to meet in an unusual take on our annual “Best of the Lake.” We focus on our national, state and provincial parks by the numbers. Which has the most visitors, the most space and the most waterfalls? Take a look at Bob Berg’s report and be prepared to make a list of parks you want to visit.
Some of my favorite traveling, of course, has not been to foreign lands, but in our Big Lake neighborhood, where my husband and I constantly meet genuinely nice people.
We will not forget a memorable evening when we lucked into a potluck with friends and crew of Naturally Superior Adventures in Wawa, Ontario. We took a ride with about 10 others (plus an akita dog) in a 36-foot canoe, singing voyageur songs and paddling to and from a local waterfall with perfect strangers – and I mean “perfect” because of their genteel companionship. On Isle Royale, the loan of wool blankets from Candy Peterson, whom I’d just met, saved me from freezing to death – I’m not joking – in a tent one June. Or there was the police officer in Thunder Bay who, seeing us fumbling for proper Canadian coinage at a parking meter, told us not to worry, he wouldn’t ticket us since we hadn’t yet made a cash exchange.
If you need more, the online stories from our free Lake Superior Circle Tour Club verify the helpfulness one will encounter. Perhaps the most oft-repeated phrase in those stories: “met a lot of friendly people.”
Truly, these are the friendly adventures you’ll find in our Lake neighborhood. So while we love to have you read our magazine in the comfort of your home, we hope it will inspire you to travel here (even if you’re a local, like us) to report “Voilà, met a lot of friendly people!”