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Big Lake Resort harkens back to an era whe … Big Lake Resort harkens back to an era when traveling forty miles to spend a week at a lake was a great vacation. There was a country store by the dual lane highway, and ten or twelve small white clapboard cabins along the cottonwood-lined lane that lead to the water. An ice house, which preserved ice harvested from the lake in winter for use in summer, stood next to the sandy beach. - Sally Weigold Charette
My mother's family spent a week or two there every summer in the forties. After mom was out of high school she and her younger brother stayed there alone for a week, and she met my dad, who was a local boy. They courted and married, and the first home they rented was Green Gables, the cabin closest to the water.
I grew up a couple of miles away, and Big Lake was our favorite place to go swimming. I remember stepping into the old country store still dripping lake water and watching my dark footprints soak into the thirsty wooden floorboards. They were worn soft as suede and dipped slightly in the middle. I'd pick out penny candy or get a Chick-a-Stick for a nickel. Sometimes I'd go to the back of the store, where Mom would hold me up so I could stick my hand into the cold-water cooler and pull out a numbing bottle of Orange Crush. Once the elderly woman behind the counter got cross with me for tapping my coin against it's surface. I was too little to be impatient, I was just enjoying the sound.
There's a new country store there now. Actually, it's owned by the son of the once cross woman and it's been there more than 20 years. Most of the cabins are gone, and Green Gables has fallen too far into disrepair to be revived. People don't think of a vacation at a nearby lake as much of a getaway, but the sunsets are still beautiful there, and mine is one of the hearts that will always dwell on its shore. Sally Weigold Charette ell on its shore. Sally Weigold Charette
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