The pictures of the Bloomfields at Bald Rock Camp on Rainy Lake in Ranier, Minnesota, appear so idyllic! Dad and I relaxing in front of our favorite cabin number 4 or Grandma and I enjoying each other by the water. But the appearances are deceptive.

Mother and Dad hated spending their vacations with Dad’s folks! Living under the same roof in Grandma’s house caused enough tensions all year long. And when Grandma and Grandpa came along to Rainy Lake it meant more of the same in a different location. It was NOT my parents’ idea of a happy, restful holiday.

Early in the grandparents’ game of “Let’s go to Rainy Lake together” my parents stopped telling the elder Bloomfields when they were going on vacation. They quietly packed up the car before dawn on the first day of vacation and headed for Rainy Lake. This trick hardly ever worked. In a day or so both of my grandparents managed to get off work and follow us. Feigning innocence Grandma always asked, “Why didn’t you tell us you were going to the lake?” as if they, too, had planned all along to go up to Rainy Lake at exactly the same time as my parents.

Mother and Dad wanted to go fishing, spend the whole day on the lake in a small boat and enjoy the sun and the fresh air. They wanted to put on old clothes and slop around. Grandma and Grandpa did NOT want to do any of these things and did NOT want my parents to do them either. For my grandparents — or at least for Grandma — Rainy Lake meant visiting her brothers Joe and Nick and their families in International Falls, Minnesota.