The Occasionally Magnificent Seven

Silver Bay

Posted on by Anna

When you are road tripping the entire west-to-east breadth of Canada, there are some bits (just like in the US) that are a little monotonous scenery-wise. Not to say that those bits are not good to see or incredibly important from the standpoint of supporting our existence in the style to which we are accustomed, but they do lack the touristic excitement one might look for in a blog post.

For a brief respite from the mesmerizing Prairie Provinces and eastern Ontario, allow me to recommend a stop in Silver Bay, Minnesota. Actually, let me qualify that. I can only fully recommend it if you are in the hands of our amazing hosts, Nancy & Chris Viola. Nancy is my first cousin, once removed (i.e. my grandfather was her father’s brother). She grew up in Minneapolis with her 4 siblings (inspiration!) but married Chris from Silver Bay, a tiny town on the north shore of Lake Superior that grew up around a plant critical to the iron/steel industry. Nancy suddenly went from being a big city girl to living in one of those small towns where everybody knows everybody else. And, naturally, she’s now an integral member of said town.

Here she is paddleboating on Lax Lake (and entertaining my children), where she and Chris have a cabin.
Rainier, continuing in his love of all things boating, got into the action, too. Nancy took Rainier and me kayaking down the shore to meet her kayaking buddy, Sue, with whom we had a lovely conversation. Sue’s daughter spontaneously used the term “uff da” without any prompting from me.
Did someone say “uff da”? Whoa. That almost made me want to invest in Silver Bay real estate right on the spot.
Chris has saintly patience and showed the kids (except for Rowena, who did not allow this to pass unnoticed in later conversation) how to fish. In spite of (or perhaps because of?) his apparent serenity during these proceedings, no one got a fishhook in their cheek.
Nelson even mastered the skill of loading his own hooks with night crawlers, which, if you know Nelson, is pretty amazing. Actually, he has quite a thing for fishing since getting into the Animal Planet show River Monsters.
When not floating on the lake, Nancy & Chris were busy entertaining the kids with some game or other. They have 4 grandchildren and are pretty much expert at this.
Here’s the crew playing their latest obsession, a sort of foozball version of ice hockey. Rainier tells me that they were later able to play this again at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
Thanks, Violas! You sure know how to show a family a good time. We can’t wait to see y’all again!

7 thoughts on “Silver Bay”

  • We were thrilled to be included in this world tour! Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to check off many “things to do on the north shore” list! None the less enjoyed the conversations and game playing! Very entertaining group! ❤️

    • I know! We need to come back and play golf, see the lake and Gooseberry falls again, and jam with concertina neighbor! Next time 🙂

  • So great! Proud of Nelson! And love seeing Bun on boats. The matching jammies are also a hit. And the Uf-da shirt has seen a lot of use. I remember Jeremy buying that in Seattle when he visited me eons ago. XOXO

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