Author Mark Munger (Cloquet River Press)

At one time, there were four elder statesmen on this trip. This year, due to age, death, and maladies, only one of the gentlemen made it. Mr. Walter “Frtiz” Mondale was the lone representative of the Greatest Generation to make the long trek to Lake Elsie in the Ontario bush. There’s a sadness in that equation, likely related to the fact that one of the missing guys is my father, Harry, the man who invited me on this trip more me than a decade ago. Dad underwent quadruple bypass surgery in December of 2016 and spent three months in recovery, but still made the journey from Port Charlotte, Florida to Lake Elsie in June of 2017 despite just having had a serious medical intervention to his 89 year old body. When he passed last April, he was getting his fishing gear together for the 2018 trip, ready to teach Mondale how to catch walleye. But such was not to be.

Mr. Walter’s right hand man in all things outdoors, George Millard, is also missing in action this year due to complications of knee replacement surgery. Bruce Meyer, the caboose of the quartet (he’s the youngest, a few years short of 90) and Harry’s longtime fishing and hunting partner, had to stay home in Iowa due to his own health issues. That left just Mr. Walter to protect the good name of his generation and prove, in the spirit of the camp, that even Norwegian pastor’s sons can fish.

There’s privilege attached to being the guy who’s responsible for driving a former Minnesota Attorney General, U.S. Senator, Vice President, and Ambassador to Japan into a foreign country. On the Friday afternoon before our trip, I picked Mr. Walter up at the Duluth airport, drove him the Willard Munger Inn, and got him situated with the help of my cousin Jeff (he runs the joint). I returned later with René to pick up my mom (her townhouse is close to the Willard) and Mr. Walter. We met Barb and Tony Perella (Sammy Perrella’s wife and son) at Valentino’s where we had a fabulous meal and caught up with family news and all things political. After dinner, I dropped Mr. Walter off at the Willard, dropped my mom at her townhouse, and headed up the hill.

Sounds pretty routine, right? Well, stop and think about it. Here I am, a retired state court judge, ferrying around a man who broke bread with the rich and famous and powerful, a man who was a heart beat away from the presidency. Me, this lowly Denfeld and UMD grad, a guy who visited the principals’ or deans’ office in every school he ever attended, is charged with making sure Mr. Walter gets to Ignace for the flight to the Litman Camp. Who decided I was trustworthy enough for such an assignment? Just askin’!

I picked up my passenger at 6:30am from the Willard. Jeff provided us with coffee and then, we began the seven hour drive north. A couple hours into the trip, we met Tony and Sammy Perrella in at the Blue Water Café in Grand Marais. It’s part of our annual tradition that we break bread at the Blue Water. More political talk, discussions of Tony’s interest in attending law school (he recently graduated from St. Thomas undergrad), and random jabbering about family and friends followed as we ate hearty breakfasts. Sammy paid the bill and then, we were back on the road.

Along the way, we saw a huge bull moose, his antlers sprouting velvet, standing out in the open, on the railroad tracks that parallel the Queen’s Highway. An hour or so after the moose, we pulled into Upsala, a hamlet with one gas station/restaurant and not much else. It’s also tradition that we stop and buy an ice cream treat in Upsala, something my father started years ago, before I was nominated to join the group. There’s utility in my having been asked along: all of the guys were, when I first started coming on the trip, nearly eighty, not the age one wants to be driving on two-lanes along the North Shore and through northwestern Ontario. Didn’t matter to me that I wasn’t asked to tag along for my fishing ability. I’m OK with being charged with getting my passengers, in this case, passenger, safely to Ignace.

At the Pigeon River, I handed our passports to the Canadian customs officer, a very polite yet business-like fellow in his early forties. And this is something that has happened before: the officer knew instantly who Mr. Walter was. Apparently, according to Sammy Perrella who had to go inside the customs building to declare some items, the guy was totally excited about the encounter: regaling his fellow officers with his brush with fame. That sort of reaction has never happened when we stop at American customs on our return to the States. I think the fact a young Canadian knew who Mr. Walter was says something about how Canadians and Americans appreciate history and how they’re taught history and public affairs in their respective educational systems. Can you name the current Canadian Prime Minister? I can. But how many Americans can? Anyway.

New folks own Ignace Airways, the charter float plane service the Litmans use to access their camp on Lake Elsie. Understand: Elsie is a long and deep body of pristine water with only two camps on its shores. The other place on the lake is occupied by a widow, Ava, who usually times her visits so as to be able to fly in or out with folks coming and going from the Litman Camp. Other than seeing an occasional boat from Ava’s camp fishing the lake, the only other folks we see are canoeists using the lake as a link in longer paddles. It’s a quiet, peaceful place when the planes are gone and the camp’s generator isn’t running; The sort of place a man needs to clear his head, his heart, and his soul. We unloaded our vehicles near the scale. Tim, the pilot, weighed all our stuff, loaded it into a trailer, fired up a four wheeler, hauled our gear to the Beaver, loaded the plane (with our assistance), and invited us to find a seat. I claimed in the co-pilot’s seat, a vantage point that gives one a clear and unobstructed view of the Canadian landscape rolling beneath the seaplane.

We’re greeted at the dock by Ross and Jay Litman, two of the camp’s owners and guys who know their way around both a fishing rod and a hammer. Owning a fly-in bush camp is taxing. There’s constant work to such a remote Shangri-La. The Litmans are the perfect family to run such a place: they’re forever fixing, improving, changing, and adapting things to meet the needs of their family and their guests. Gary Litman-a cousin, Sam Litman-Jay’s son, Ryder-Sam’s son, and a friend of Sam’s were also in camp, making the group a four generation lineup that should frighten any walleye into submission.

Saturday evening went well. I was assigned to captain a boat with Sammy and Tony as my crew. As the week progresses, we shifted boats depending upon the weather and who was interested in fishing and who would rather stay in camp and nap or read or prepare the next meal. There’s a lot of napping involved between rain storms and heavy meals and chores and the occasional adult beverage such that not everyone goes out to fish whenever boats leave the dock.

Gary and Jay battled small mouth bass on their fly rods, spending time in back bays in search of gullible, ravenous fish ready to attack anything thrown their way. We caught our fair share of walleye-sometimes at will, other times, after much effort and searching- as well as lake trout, whitefish, smallies, and pike. Almost all of the fish we caught were returned to the lake. Ross and Jay and Sammy and Gary served up gourmet meals (including a fabulous fish fry) with Jay being the chief chef and meal planner. Ross guided Mr. Walter and ensured that Harry’s pal caught fish. But, overall, the fishing wasn’t as good as it’s been on past trips, likely because the lake remained very cold. Trust me when I tell you Elsie’s waters haven’t warmed up: I took sauna and dove into the lake twice and the shrinkage, to steal George Castanza’s line, was noticeable!

A few days before the trip ended, a plane landed picked up Gary Litman and Sam’s friend, and their gear. Our nightly discussions of politics, life, and sports surely missed their contributions. Wednesday evening, our last night at the camp, we journeyed out on the pontoon. We found fish and I ended the trip with the battle of my lifetime. At first, I thought I had a snag. But then the tip of my rod started to twitch and dance. I’d switched from my medium light rod to a stiffer, shorter, medium weight rod but was still fishing with 6# test, a bare jig, and no leader. It became apparent, early on in the fight, that I’d latched onto a big fish, likely a pike, that didn’t want to be caught. The critter dragged me from the bow of the pontoon, to the stern, and then back to the bow, all the while trying to bite off that meager monofilament connection between fish and man. Eventually, Captain Ross made his way to the bow with the net. I let the fish tire herself out and reeled gingerly, hoping against hope I didn’t snap the line. Ross patiently planned the one and only dip of the net the big fish was going to allow, and in one motion, gathered in the giant. The fish was so big, only her head and one-third of her body fit in the net. We eyeballed the fish at 42″ or so and guessed the fish was somewhere between 16# and 20#. With little fanfare, I slipped the hook out of the pike’s mouth and slid her back into the lake.

Thursday morning came and it was time to clear out our gear and get ready to leave. Everyone has a job before the Beaver or the Otter arrive to fly us out. My job, since I’ve been coming on the trip, is to sweep and mop the floors of the main cabin and the bunkhouse. Now that there’s an on-demand hot water heater on site, it’s not nearly as arduous a task as when we had to boil kettles of water on the stove. By ten, our gear was piled outside the cabins and all the chores were done. In the midst of clean-up, Ross motored down the lake, picked up Ava, and motored back. But the plane didn’t come at 10:30 as planned. Tim, the pilot, was tied up flying other fishermen to other camps and it wasn’t until early afternoon that our group was flown out in two shifts. I went with Mr. Walter, Ava, Jay, and the Perrellas. The camp dogs, Sam and his son Ryder, and Ross followed in a second flight.

We waited at the seaplane base for the rest of our group and once the second plane arrived, loaded our gear into cars and a trailer, said goodbye to Ava and the folks from Ignace Air, and started the long drive back to Duluth. We met up one last time, at the Subway in Grand Marais, and then I drove Mr. Walter back to the Willard.

Friday, Sheriff Ross and Tony Perella picked Mr. Walter up at the Willard and drove him to the airport. Their route took them up Piedmont Avenue, a portion of which is designated “Mondale Drive”. The signage honoring Mr. Walter was always a bone of contention for my father: he went toe to toe with MNDOT over the diminutive nature of the placard. Mr. Walter, I believe, shares my late father’s view of things. That being said, I want our former Vice President to know that, despite the less-than-impressive signage posted along Piedmont Avenue in his honor, he’s huge in the hearts of his Lake Elsie fishing buddies. Thank you, Mr. Walter, for your service to Minnesota and America.

Peace.

(With apologies to the creator of Driving Miss Daisy)

Mark

My grandfather and grandmother, Jack and Marie Kobe, shared a vision. Jack, a Slovenian immigrant, and Marie, a school teacher born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois, somehow managed to find each other. Jack grew up the son of an immigrant miner and a miner himself. When Jack wasn’t working (he was employed in a local open-pit mine at age 14), his loves were hunting and fishing. With Grandpa’s connections to the railroads, he’d hop an ore train, jump off at a favorite lake or hunting spot, and catch a train back to Aurora at days’ end. In his early twenties, Jack and his brothers built a hunting shack on the shoreline of Wynne Lake (near present-day Giant’s Ridge) proving Grandpa also knew how to swing a hammer.

            Grandma Marie taught school in Aurora. She’d been lured to northeastern Minnesota by its lakes and beauty—her romantic, poet’s heart having been steeped in Service and Longfellow and summers spent with her family at resorts in northern Wisconsin. As a girl and a young woman, she dreamed of a camp surrounded by birches and pines. She met Jack on a tour of his mine. Sparks flew and they were married. Work required that the Kobe’s resettle in Duluth but Marie’s dream of having a place in the woods never abated. In 1939, after giving birth to daughters Barbara and Susanne, Marie found her Shangri-La. She and Jack purchased 160 acres of cutover land on Bear Island Lake near Ely and set about building a resort. It was to be a working man’s place: affordable, rustic, tidy, and clean. Because Jack worked as a salesman for Berwind Coal, he hired Finnish carpenters to build cabins, a fish-cleaning house, an ice house, and a small store. By the summer of 1940, the place was open for business. Marie originally wanted to name the resort “Back of Beyond” but settled on “Buena Vista” (Beautiful View) as being more appropriate.

            My mom and aunt grew up working the resort. They’d leave school in Duluth in April, finish the grade in Ely, begin the next grade in Ely, close up the resort in October, and enroll in the Duluth schools until the following April, when the cycle would repeat itself. All of the antics and heartaches and stories from the girls’ time at Buena Vista are chronicled by my Aunt Susanne in her memoir Back of Beyond. By the early ‘50s, with Barbara’s marriage looming and Susanne entering St. Scholastica, my grandparents decided to sell the resort to pay for a wedding and college.

            Over the years the resort, known as The Escape, and Timberwolf Lodge, managed to stay afloat as a no nonsense, family-oriented place.  The simple cabins built by hard-working Finns formed the cornerstone of a legacy. While working as an arbitrator in Winton, I stayed at Timberwolf Lodge with my three oldest sons and my wife, Rene’. When my eldest boy wanted to take a vacation with his family, he chose to stay in one of the original cabins at the resort. But times have been hard on small, family operated resorts. So, when I received an email from my daughter-in-law that the resort had been sold again, the news wasn’t earth shattering. What was surprising, and uplifting, and completely in keeping with my grandparents’ vision for Buena Vista is the new owner’s intentions for the place.

            The Twin Cities YMCA purchased Timberwolf Lodge (and the adjacent Northern Lights Resort) to create a family camp. The Y needed another facility in northern Minnesota to accommodate families yearning for a connection to wilderness. When I learned about the transition being planned for Buena Vista, it brought tears to my eyes. Grandpa Jack and Grandma Marie are smiling! What better use of the original cabins, forested land, and sandy beaches of the old resort than a place for parents and kids to bond with nature? I shot an email to the Y. Niki Geisler emailed me back. She’d read Back of Beyond and was excited to make contact with the Kobe family. Niki invited the family to the dedication of the revamped facility, dubbed Camp Northern Lights. It was heartwarming to find out that the camp’s main road is now known as “Kobe Drive”, that the cabins built for my grandparents are now demarcated “Buena Vista”, and that new cabins built by the Y—in a style reminiscent of those built in the ‘30’s—bear the label “Back of Beyond”.

            On May 30^th, my 90-year-old-mother, my 86 -year-old-aunt, myself, and other family members—four generations of Kobe’s—were guests of honor at the dedication of Camp Northern Lights. As we toured the new facility with Y staff, Mom had tears in her eyes. My aunt, confined to a wheelchair by age and unable to take the tour, smiled broadly when asked to sign copies of Back of Beyond for folks visiting with her at the Sisu Lodge.

And as my seven-year-old grandson, Adrien, stood on a dock, the blue, crystalline, and clear waters of a border country lake rippling behind him, I knew Grandpa Jack and Grandma Marie were happy with the way things turned out.

(c) Mark Munger, 2019

An edited version of this essay first appeared in the Duluth News Tribune.

A judge says farewell…

Before I begin my remarks, I want to thank my two Irish friends, Judges Eric Hylden and Dale Harris for putting this splendid living wake together with my wife, Reneé. Thanks as well to Barb Harris and Hannah Hylden for being willing to act as money changers in the temple. Thanks also to my dear friend and folk musician supreme, Mark Rubin and his wife Nancy, someone I’ve known since grade school, for spending time with me in their cozy home, encouraging a neophyte John Prine wanna-be to stand up here before you folks and sing. If it went badly, you can blame them! And finally, thanks to the speakers who agreed to given their perspectives on my career in the law.

Tom Olsen of the DNT got it mostly right. Disgruntled with the private practice of law, tired of clawing and digging and fighting for clients, having come close to being appointed to the bench by Governor Arne Carlson in 1992, I took the advice of his advisor on judicial appointments, Paul Anderson (later, Justice Paul Anderson), who told me via the phone that “we liked you, Mark, but you need a little more seasoning.”  I went back to the practice of law, changing law firms and enlarging my scope of work from primarily plaintiff’s personal injury and municipal law to include insurance defense, admiralty, employment, and construction law. And then, I waited. For an opportunity. A chance. To become a judge.

When Galen Wilson let it be known that he was going to serve out his term, meaning his judicial seat would be filled through popular election and not by gubernatorial appointment, I thought, “I can do this.” My wife Rene’, a smart, poised, mental health therapist agreed. She’s my rock. She’s my North Star. She’s the one I owe any modicum of success I’ve had as a father and a husband. When she gave me the green light to run for Judge Wilson’s seat, that’s all the encouragement I needed.

1,200 lawn signs, 12 parades, countless dinners and fundraisers and appearances and interviews and speeches later, the people of St. Louis, Lake, Cook, and Carlton Counties elected me to my first six year term. That was November of 1998. I shared the ballot with my 88 year-old uncle, Rep. Willard Munger, and a former wrassler. They both won too. Yes, my uncle’s name recognition helped my cause. But it was the dogged persistence of my father, Harry, and a cadre of close friends and acquaintances, including my four sons (even Jack, barely a year old at the time, worked parades from his stroller), who did yeoman’s work in putting up those lawn signs and getting out the word. Thank you, guys and gals, for all the sweat and hard work you invested in a forty-three year-old lawyer who thought he could be a decent judge.

Three folks deserve special recognition for helping me during that first election. The late Bob Scott, long an icon of behind-the-scenes DFL politics, was my Iron Range campaign chairperson. He made sure that I attended every noteworthy event on the Range to solidify my support in the northern half of St. Louis County. His son John admirably performed that same role here in Duluth and, as my overall campaign manager, worked his tail off to see his fishing buddy and personal lawyer attain victory. And finally, my longtime friend, Bruce Larson, the CFO of Best Oil Company, kept the books and made sure that I didn’t violate any of the quirky finance rules attendant to running a judicial campaign.

As the DNT article said, I was a bit headstrong as a young judge, pretty sure of myself and my ability. I quickly learned, while serving half-time in Carlton and half-time in Duluth my first two years on the bench, I may have known the law but I knew nothing of justice. I thought, as Tom Olsen accurately reported, that becoming a trial judge was just another job opportunity. Within a month of hearing cases, I knew that assumption wasn’t true. Being a trial judge is finding yourself in the midst of people’s stories and lives. It entails far more nuance and fortitude and discretion than any other legal position I can think of. It took a while for this headstrong former litigator to get it. But I did, at least, I hope I did.

To all of the law enforcement officers and probation officers and social workers and Guardians who appeared in front of me, I hope, despite our occasional disagreements, you came away knowing that I took your testimony and opinions to heart. I hope I always treated you as professionals, doing hard jobs for little pay and scant appreciation. Thank you for your service.

To the myriad clerks who work all aspects of the courts: you are the foundation of what we as judges do. You are the public’s first interaction with the system of justice and are required to deal with folks who are angry, frustrated, scared and quite frankly, at some of the lowest points in their lives when they come to court. And to the supervisors and administrators and support staff who work behind the scenes to make the Sixth the best and most innovative district in the state, I thank you as well. Your patience in seeing justice done is much appreciated.

Our security staff and transport staff, from my first Bailiff, Cathy Brown, whom I called Betty for my first two weeks as a judge until she got up the gumption to correct me, to George and Jeff and Becky and all the others working in the sheriff’s office who provide protection and order during court: You folks are on the front lines, dealing with upset citizens whose lives are in turmoil, handling tumultuous court sessions with a fair but firm hand.

You know, judges have two important employees they hire and manage. Over the years, I’ve been blessed with 11 bright young men and women who worked for me as law clerks. These are young attorneys who’ve graduated from law school and are trying to find their professional niche. They provide legal research for the judge, prepare jury instructions and orders, and attend every contested hearing or trial, learning aspects of the law and lawyering you can’t learn in law school. My thanks to: Rebecca Eisenmenger, Megan Preblich, Heidi Murtonen, Stacy Johnston, Jen Claseman, Jon Holets, Ben Hanson, Rachel Bell, Kory Horn, Ellen Anderson, and Peter LaCourse for all your hard work and dedication in helping me make the right calls.

The other employee judges hire and confide in is their court reporter. Over twenty years of judging, I worked daily with two fine, young women who were my sounding boards and my other mental health therapists day in and day out. Their job is far more than keeping an accurate record of every court proceeding: they are, along with the law clerk, some of the only folks judges can confide in when weighing difficult decisions. But whereas law clerks come and go on a regular cycle—the position being an apprenticeship—court reporters are there for the long haul. Renata Skube was my first CR. She served our district for over twenty-five years, teaching this new judge, during our fourteen years together, what real justice should look like. Never shy about telling it like it is, this half-Finn, half-Slovenian firebrand made me a far better judge than I would have been on my own.

I finished my time on the bench presiding over two lengthy murder trials, one of which took me to Brainerd for the last month of my career. Deb Dreawves, my second court reporter, was by my side that entire month away from home. Much different in personality from Skube, but every bit as willing to share her thoughts when this judge was headed down the wrong path, I’ll miss our discussions of cases, families, life, and the Orange Headed One, Deb, that we shared these past 6 years. You are a blessing and the right person to work with me into retirement. And to all the other CRs who worked with me when my regular CR was off sick or on vacation, you too deserve appreciation for jobs well done, especially when reporting a motor mouth like me!

Finally, I want to acknowledge that, over my two decades of judging, I’ve had the good fortune of being able to count on a cadre of smart, dedicated, wise, and sometimes playfully weird brother and sister judges throughout the 6^th district. I’ve been able to call upon each of the judges I’ve served with, from my first chief judge, John Oswald, to my last chief, Sally Tarnowski, for support and guidance, both personal and professional, as the need arose. Judging is, as my friend Carol Person once warned me before I took the oath, a lonely job. Having colleagues willing to hash out issues in a confidential setting, whether they are case related or not, makes the job bearable. Without brother and sister judges willing to step in and take calendars during the last illness of my stepfather, or after the sudden death of my father, such tragic occurrences would have been magnified and intensified by the stressors of judging. You all pitched in and helped and for that, I am forever grateful.

You know, I once wrote in a DNT essay that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. Every person of prominence or success, in whatever field, stands on the shoulders of his or her family and friends, teachers, coaches, and other mentors. I’ve had so many folks, including my mother, Barbara, my father, Harry,  my brother Dave, my sister Ann, my wife Rene’, and my four sons: Matt, Dylan, Chris, and Jack gift me with their love and nurturing and guidance, I am who I am because of them all.

So, to those who helped tutor and instruct and mentor and mold me during this forty-year journey, from serving divorce papers my first year of law school to drunks in the bars of South St. Paul, to taking the verdict in the case of State v. Davenport, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. As Warren Zevon, one of our greatest songwriters—about the only thing Jesse and I ever agreed on— said: “Make us be brave, and make us play nice. And let us be together tonight.”

God loves you. And so do I.

John Myers sort of stole my thunder. Now, before you get all upset with me, I’m not blaming a fellow scribe for pilfering a story idea. John came up with his storyline all on his own. Nothing nefarious. On that, I need to be clear. And damn, as I said in my post on Facebook, he did a marvelous job reporting the genesis and longevity of the Ski Hut’s annual trip to Bridger Bowl in Montana. Exceptional feature story, is what I’d say. But here’s the thing: I was thinking, while riding the chairlift at Bridger this year, my left knee bone on bone from 44 years of racing, moguls, too much Munger girth, and old age, my low back screaming from just below where I had a spinal fusion 30 years ago, Man I should write an essay about this trip. How family oriented, how friendly, how laid back, how multi generational the whole vibe is. I was pretty sure I’d sit down some morning after I returned from the fifteen hour car ride across Montana and North Dakota and Minnesota to tackle the story. Until.

Back home, catching up on my newspaper reading in my easy chair (after digging out from the big snows God “gifted” us while we were gone) I learned I was too late. “Damn it,” I muttered, loud enough for Rene’ to hear, “the DNT beat me to the punch.” My wife looked up from a stack of crossword puzzles (all clipped by yours truly from the same stack of newspapers I was wading through) and said, “Oh?” “John Myers wrote a nice article about the annual Ski Hut trip.” Not wanting to appear to be a whiner, I posted a link to the piece on FB and advised Rene’ that she “really needed to read it.” She did: she enjoyed it as much as I did. I also posted that I wouldn’t be writing anything about the trip because, well, because it had already been handled. But here’s the thing: after thinking it through, I figured maybe folks might appreciate an essay written by someone who’s been on 12 of the last 15 trips (that’s an estimate; don’t quote me on it). So here goes.

After a short stop in Williston, ND to see our son Dylan, his wife Shelly, and our two-year-old granddaughter, Saxon, we resume the long grind west in the Jeep. We left Duluth in sub-zero cold on Friday morning and arrive at the Comfort Inn in Bozeman, the hotel Wes Neustal and his son Scott (of Ski Hut fame) have reserved rooms for 150-200 Duluthians and their friends for over twenty years, late Sunday afternoon to the same Arctic freeze we left behind. Here’s the thing about the Comfort Inn. No, it’s not slopeside. It’s a half-hour drive to Bridger Bowl from the hotel. But it’s cheap (thanks to preferential rates Gene, the owner charges his friends from Minnesota), has a spectacular complimentary breakfast, is close to all of Bozeman’s shopping, eateries, and places of libation. Plus, it’s only an hour to Big Sky, if one is so inclined. But this is, in all respects, a family trip. That’s how Wes Neustal and his late wife Shirley conceived of the event; setting it during President’s Week so school-aged kids can join their parents and learn the joys of real mountain skiing. Scott and his wife, Kathleen, and the staffs of the Ski Hut and the Comfort Inn, have continued this tradition in spades.

We have four sons. One year, we convinced all four, (along with their wives and children) to make the trip. That was a highlight for Rene’ and I: having all four of our boys in the mountains, skiing as a family. This year, only Matt, our oldest, his wife Lisa (a non-skier but a trouper none-the-less) and their three kids; Adrien (6), Avery (3) and Ari (1) joined us. They got a late start thanks to the God-of-all-things in Minnesota: youth hockey. So Rene’ and I take to the hills at Bridger on Monday without them. It is, as I’ve said, below zero. But such weather can’t daunt rugged Duluthians, right?

Matt and Lisa and the kids arrive on Monday evening. My sister Ann, her husband Dave, and their two lively, lovely teenage daughters, Maddie and Em, have already skied a day by the time the rest of us arrive. The girls, who alternate between snowboarding and skiing, stick to skis in the high mountains. More control and with that, the possibility of outback treks to the very top of the mountain. The families take their time getting to the hill. But by noon, the main lodge at Bridger is full of Minnesotans recounting their downhill exploits, chattering away in faux Canadian to the amusement of the Montanans who’re also braving the cold.

Matt and Lisa’s boys take lessons, though Avery is a reluctant student and learns more from his Auntie Ann, his cousins Maddie and EM, and old Grandpa, than he does from the professionals. On the other hand, Adrien proves to be not only an adept student but a natural athlete. After one lesson, he’s ready for the blue runs: the steeper intermediate terrain. So I take him to the top of Pierre’s Knob.

Wednesday, we take a break from the cold and introduce Adrien to cross country skiing at the Cross Cut facility just up the road from Bridger. Again, he takes to it like a duck to water. We put in three plus miles on beautifully groomed trails and get in, as Rene’ likes to say, “our steps” for the day. Afterwards, we drive with Matt and the two boys to Chico Hot Springs in Paradise Valley, about an hour’s trip from Bozeman, to laze around in the naturally heated outdoor pools of the spa. We join a throng of other Duluthians-including my sister’s family and her friends-under an open blue sky. After a long soak we attempt a family picture outside the Chico Saloon. Avery is having none of it. “But Grandpa, I hate pictures,” he whines. Grandpa says: “Get in the picture or no skiing tomorrow for you.” So I guess what you see below is the Munger version of a compromise.

On the drive back to the Comfort Inn, as Matt’s Tahoe speeds along Highway 89, a memory-one that will never fade-is made. I’m looking at oodles of deer, some of which are standing on top of giant, round hay bales munching away. It’s an odd sight, to be sure, to see deer grazing ten feet above frozen ground. But that’s not the memory I’m talking about. A small stream, open due to the warm waters of the valley’s geothermal properties, follows the course of the highway. Or rather, the roadway follows the stream. In any event, out of the corner of my eye, I see something remarkable, astonishing, and, quite frankly, inexplicable. A deer has launched itself over that stream, soaring a full eight feet above water, attempting to leap from bank to bank. I see what I think is another deer trailing the lead animal. But then my brain recognizes the scene for what it is: prey and predator, a death struggle in mid-air. The second animal lashes out with its right paw. It’s then I note the long tail, the laid back ears, the feline face, the distinctive markings. “It’s a f_____ing cougar!” I blurt out, forgetting my two grandsons are with Rene’ in the back seat. I’ve never seen a mountain lion outside of a zoo. I’m beyond excited by the drama playing out in that stream bed as the Tahoe speeds past. I have no idea whether the deer made the leap or not. Matt’s attempt to stop the car and return to the scene is for naught.

My wife and I avoid injury. We eat well, drink a few adult beverages, laugh a lot, tell tall tales, and bond with family and friends on the hill, in the Bridger lodge, and during apres ski time; the Ski Hut hosting a banquet where “fabulous” prizes, including some Munger books, are awarded in a drawing. And then, it’s Saturday morning. We pack up the Grand Cherokee and head home.

As a teenager, I grew up traveling to the Rockies to ski. My mom and dad brought me with them on a number of trips sponsored by the Continental Ski Shop in Duluth to Colorado. Despite being an alpine racer, it was on those trips that I really learned the sport.

But the beauty, the joy, the family-oriented aspect of these Ski Hut sponsored trips, the brainchild of Wes Neustal-the 98 year old patriarch of this fine tradition-is that we all, related by blood or not, are family. It’s that simple. What a wonderful idea in this time of controversy, arguing, mean spiritedness, and discord.

So, with apologies to Mr. Myers, that’s my report from the road. Until our next visit to Bozeman…

Peace.

Mark