Laddie Lake and Winter Stories
     
by Kay 

Laddie Lake Cabins

BIG family, LITTLE cabin!  How long?   Two?   Three weeks?   I recall it was dark and cozily crowded.   It was October so the sun set early.   So Duane and I escaped as soon as we got home from school or right after supper and went to our hangouts, the bowling alley and roller rink.   Mom and Dad had no problem with that.  It just gave them a little more elbow room. I don't know what Don did during that time.  Probably homework, hanging out with Jim Nelson or working at the Big Ten grocery store.   We were all happy when we were able to move into our new home!

Then as winter set in, I discovered that wonderful pond across the street.  Because of all the trees surrounding the pond, snow did not accumulate and the ice was almost like glass.   I spent quite a lot of alone time skating there absorbed in my own thoughts.  It was serene and peaceful.


Laddie Lake Inn

I don't remember there being very many places to eat when we lived on Bronson Drive.  But that didn't matter because we had Laddie Lake Inn.

It was a great place for a first teen date.  We were still on Bronson Drive.  It was the summer of 1955 and I was 15.   Mom gave me permission to go on a double date.  Dad, like many dads, was not keen on his daughter going on a date at such a "young" age and was adamantly against it.  But Mom said she started double dating at that age and it was the right time for me too.  So Mom won that argument.

My date was Don Piller who's family owned the trailer park on Spring Lake Road at Hwy 10 north of Spring Lake.  We double dated with another couple (don't remember who).  They walked all the way from the trailer park to my house to pick me up and then we all walked to Laddie Lake Inn for hamburgers and malts. I loved those old wooden booths with the juke boxes at each table.  Then of course Don Piller walked me home and then walked all the way back to his home. That was a whole lot of walking, but nobody seemed to care and we had a fun time.

I remember one year going to Laddie Lake Inn for prom dinner too.  I think it was with Dick Dahlin.  We didn't need to go to fancy places back then, at least not in Spring Lake Park.


Laddie Lake and Snowy Roads

That fall I started 10th grade and had a new boyfriend - Don Esler.  His dad had a new 1955 Ford Fairlane. During the school year Don turned 16 and got his driver's license and his dad let him drive his car all the time.  His dad repaired radios and TVs and his shop was in his garage so he didn't need the car very much. No one was suppose to drive onto the frozen Laddie Lake and, that of course, was an invite to the teens. Don and I along with other kids piled into the car and would drive and do donuts all over the lake.   The boys would whoop it up and the girls would scream out of fear.

We always had lots of snow back then and many of the roads were more like country roads.  The boys would race their dad's cars against each other until someone landed in a big snow bank and got stuck.   Then the boys would dig us out and do it all over again.   And, again, the girls fearful and the boys laughing.

Duane told me recently that Don Esler did this stuff with him too.  Duane said Don was a little wild.  I guess I would have to agree.


Winter Fun at Spring Lake and on Bronson Drive

While living on Bronson Drive, Don, Duane and I spent a lot of time at Spring Lake in the winter.  Don had an old pair of wooden skis and there was a small hill down to the lake on the south side.  The boys, especially Don if I remember right, liked to ski down that hill.  I was chicken, always afraid I'd go too fast.

I remember Don and Duane along with some other boys clearing snow off the ice to play hockey on the south side of the lake.   While they did that I'd find little patches of ice without too much snow to skate on.

When the ice started to thaw was another adventure. Mom always told us, "Don't get on the ice"!   We said, "We won't".  The ice would become kind of spongy and when we stepped onto the ice it would break apart and we would step and jump from one ice chunk to another.  We were careful to stay close to shore and never did fall into the icy water.  Boy, would we have been in trouble if we ever came home wet!

On the north side of the lake the city maintained a skating rink.  There was a wonderful warming house too for us to dry off and warm up.   Can't remember now what the heat was...  a fire?  or was it a furnace? Don or Duane may remember.   It was always toasty warm in that room.

With all the snows we got, Don, Duane and I built caves and forts, the forts being used for snowball fights.  And, of course, we made snow angels and snowmen, and did some sledding.

I remember we'd come in the house wet and frozen. No water proof clothing then.  We'd hang our frozen wet clothes on the clothes lines in the utility room and dry our socks and mittens on the oil stove, sending the smell of wet wool "cooking" through the house.

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