Ely

Many believe that the journey ends when you run out of road,
but here in Ely, we think that your journey can’t really start
until nature pulls your senses off the road.


After shutting off my lights on one particular night I found myself stepping out into an absolutely glorious atmosphere. It was warm and comfortable. As I moved towards the door of my house, I felt a tug to turn around and just enjoy the evening for awhile, and with that I made my way to the shoreline of Garden Lake.

On the way I could fell the presence of something that I had not felt for a long time: humidity. Finally, after several weeks of bone-dry weather conditions, rain had made a graceful entry into the northeastern Minnesota where it was accepted with open arms by both people and plants alike. And so the grass thanked the rain in a special way by giving off its summer fragrance that it had withheld until the arrival of water.

Reaching the lake, I took in a deep breath; everything was peaceful as the animal kingdom laid down for the coming of dark, or at least I thought.

Thump!

I looked up, my senses revved into fifth gear. Glancing around I tried to distinguish who, what, or even where that noise had come from. It had sounded like a flat rock making a belly flop into the water, but knowing that rocks can only do cannonballs, I ventured that it was probably something more nature-like.

Peering towards the lake, I began to differentiate between the dusky lake and a little blob and the quiet wake it was producing. Then it came to me: I had heard a beaver swatting its tail on the water, and sure enough as I moved onto the dock, I could make out two beavers swimming wide semicircles in front of me. In a way it kind of looked as if they were guarding the lake from a foreign species, warding me off with an intimidating thump.

I smiled. It was fine with me if they controlled the lake that night. I was happy just observing tonight.

Behind these two security guards was an impressive yet fading orchestra of birds playing the last refrain of a day long songacross the narrow, motionless bay.

With the silhouettes growing darker and the stars beginning to shine through the sky's canopy, God himself was surely smiling down on me that night. I could not help but wonder: What I would have missed if I had turned in that night rather than stepping out into the wonderful theater of life?