The three day rush...

"Wow - what a rush! After fighting traffic all week, I get to do it again on a Friday afternoon!"

I think about this each and every Memorial Day. I am sure it is somewhat different in other parts of the country, but in Minnesota it is somewhat unique. After suffering through what seems like a mini-ice age most every winter, suddenly Spring hits with a vengeance. The air is crisp and warm and the landscape contains just about every color of green one could imagine. The countdown to summer has begun!

This is how it plays out for thousands of Minnesotans. Prior to the Memorial Day weekend, intense cabin planning has taken place. Stuff which has been stored at home is taken out and inventoried. A list is made for what to bring to the cabin. How to open it up. Whom to call for services restored. The boat has been tested and ready to go. Grocery shopping has been done for not only the upcoming work week, but also staples bought for the cabin.

At 2pm you sweet talk your boss in letting you leave a bit early. Seems like everyone else did also. Leaving a bit early allows a jump on the traffic headed north. So you thought. As you travel home, you hear on the radio there is still construction on I-94, which had taken out one lane for the entire summer. Also, there has been a bad accident on Highway 169 just outside of Elk River. The traffic is already backed up miles before Otsego. As usual, Highway 10 is a parking lot. Weekend vacationers always seem to flock to that artery thinking it will be better than I-94 or 169. It never is. And that is when it sinks in - you are screwed. You should have taken one of your valuable vacation days.

By the time you get home, get the family ready, hook up and load the boat with everything needed, you are dead tired and hungry. No time to eat however- try to grab something on the road. Unfortunately, that is the same thought everyone else has. Every restaurant or fast food joint is packed to the gills. As the radio had forecasted, traffic is at a standstill. Sitting in traffic you can hear the clock going "tick, tick, tick" as your three day weekend becomes shorter with every minute stuck in traffic.

By the time you get outside of Longville, the family is maxed out. Another 20 minutes and you should be at the cabin. Once you arrive, it looks like something from a Steven King novel. Rather than inviting, it looks scary. It is a deserted mess. Grass needs to be cut, the dock needs to be put in, the boat needs to be launched, and the inside of the cabin needs a top to bottom cleaning. By 10pm it is almost pitch black dark. The family has had enough and falls into bed exhausted. More to do, much more to do tomorrow.

The next day the family awakens and a breakfast is prepared. You think of how much is left to do to complete the "cabin opener". Just thinking about it makes you want to crawl back into bed. What you really want to do is chuck everything and just go fishing. That is after all, what you fanaticized about all winter. However the kids want to go tubing, even though you told them the lake water is still freezing. Just as you finish breakfast and are finally ready to get some outside work done - it starts to rain. Starts light, and then starts raining harder. And then harder yet. Rains hard for hours, most of the day.

Sunday is somewhat better, but everything is wet. The rain has stopped, but it is not even 60 degrees. It is a dark and dank day. You do what you can with the day being just short of a washout.

On Memorial Day, the weather finally improves. Even though it is supposed to be in the mid 70's and sunny, it is now time to pack up. About noon, the cabin is locked up and the family is loaded in the car for the journey home. Only a fraction of what needed to be done was accomplished. Plus, not one minute of fishing. Nor tubing. The ride home is somber with everyone mulling over another disappointing three day weekend. Plus reality is now setting in. More huge traffic jams on the way home. Getting an entire weekend of work done a in a couple of hours before dark once arriving home. Finally, getting ready to back to work or school on Tuesday.

The following weekend(s) are somewhat similar. Each weekend things seem to get a bit better, but there is never enough time. And the traffic sucks. Some weekends, it is worse than others, but even the good weekends are painful. Come Labor Day, the cabin will be put back to bed again, and weekends at home will return to somewhat normal.

Until Labor Day however, every weekend is a rush. Starting with Memorial Day. The three day rush. But living in Minnesota, for some reason these weekends are a right of passage. The mayhem, the traffic, and the expense are all part of it. Minnesota summer weekends are ours, and we are not trading them. As painful as they can be, we are keeping them.