The 3 o’clock hour, Monday, January 11, 2021

Alex Bleth was stretched out in a snow bank talking on cell phone while his dad was making a call on his phone seated on snowmobile trailer... Time out for phone calls....Alex: “We’re from Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a father son weekend. We drove up here from the cities the other night and decided to hit the trails. Drove from Shagawa all the way to down to Vermillion and back. Beautiful trails. Absolutely beautiful up here. We went from pretty warm weather, the 40s-50s to this but we absolutely love it up here. It’s God’s country. I’ve been to Ely over the summer for fishing but mostly we’re in Cohasset, Minnesota. I gotta say the nature is just stunning up here. We stopped multiple times on the trails just to take pictures. It was beautiful. And again, this is a great lodge to stay at. (The Grand Ely Lodge) It’s a great place to stay, great food. We absolutely love it up here. We already talked about it. We’re coming back next year. We’ve been here for two days. This is our final day of snowmobiling. So we’re going to be driving back down to the cities tomorrow. Hey dad! She’s from the local newspaper!” (His dad came over....) David Bleth: “I live in Georgia but I was born and raised in Bemidji, Minnesota.” (You’re having a father-son trip?) “That’s it! It’s going great. Great accommodations and trails have been really super. We’ve had a great time. We’ve probably put on 80 miles today.” Alex: “The Taconite Trail that we took was perfectly smooth. Best ride we’ve ever had.” David: “And so scenic. So scenic. Really pretty area.... I am a senior at UMD. I study computer science and absolutely love the north woods.” David: “I came up to hang out with him. I graduated from Bemidji State. I grew up in Bemidji so this is home to me. It’s so nice. We come up probably six times a year.” Alex: “I think we’ve been going since I think I was nine. We left to go down to Georgia but we come back every single year.” David: “My brother lives in Cohasset, Minnesota. So yeah, it’s been great!” Alex: “Again, what a beautiful town!” David: “You’re lucky you get to live here... One more thing, the food here is really great. The cooks here do an amazing job. We haven’t had a bad meal here yet!”