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Other stories in "Summer"

• Calling all Elizabeths
  A village near Galena plans to set a new world record every year.
• For football fans, a preview
  Watching is free and festive at team training camps.
• Follow the tall ships
  If you missed the Duluth festival, one in Wisconsin is even bigger.
• In Pipestone, an era ends
  After 60 years, town says goodbye to 'Song of Hiawatha' pageant.
• Steaming down the Mississippi
  Special excursions are birthday gifts to Minnesota.
• On the road/A grand hotel in Walker
  On Leech Lake, an Arts and Crafts classic rises from ashes.
• Hot tip/Mosquito-free camping
  Breathe a sigh of relief in southeast Minnesota.
• Tourist bait
  Dinged by disaster, Wisconsin sweetens the pot.
• Lots of Laura
  A new musical adds a stop to the still-popular "Little House'' fan tour.
• On the road/A find in Viroqua
  Chilito Lindo is a welcome bit of Mexico.
• On the water/A different kind of cruise
  Learn and sightsee on Lake Superior.
• Trail report/Wisconsin coulee country
  Time to ride the Elroy-Sparta and paddle the Kickapoo.
• On the road/A brewery in Potosi
  After a 36-year hiatus, taps flow again.
• Curiosity camps
  The University of Minnesota offers a cure for 'vacation-deficit disorder.'
• Free weekend in Wisconsin
  Take chance to visit parks, trails, historic sites and fishing spots.
• Finding more festivals
  They're all around the Upper Midwest.
• Report Wild Parsnip
  
• Visit the National Eagle Center
  

Last call for lake breaks

Penny pinchers, start your engines.

If you haven't taken a lake vacation yet, now is the time to go.

I love August. Thanks to all those kids who have to get home for sports and band practice, the lake resorts start lowering their prices the second week of the month,  though the weather still is perfect.

Many of the small resorts throw in the Labor Day weekend if people book the week of Aug. 23, and some start taking guests for partial weeks. Larger resorts offer  deals on their lodge rooms.

My favorite August destination in Minnesota is Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge in Bemidji. A room in the lodge (plain, but with a beautiful lake view) is $63 a night for the Aug. 15-16 weekend, $49 midweek, including a big breakfast and use of tennis courts, kayaks, hot tub, indoor and outdoor pools and, of course, the big beach on Lake Bemidji (pictured). I've stayed there twice, and it's the best deal I've found in this region; you can't even stay at a Super 8 for that little.

Another perennial good deal is Caribou Highlands Lodge on Minnesota's North Shore (see Summer's last gasp). It's not a lake resort, unless you count Lake Superior just down the hill. But there's lots to do — riding the gondola and Alpine Slide, swimming in the big outdoor heated pool, hiking the Superior Hiking Trail — and there are daily family activities and free Mountain Kids Camp for ages 4-10.

From August through October, guests get the third night free, including weekends, except Aug. 15-16 and Oct. 15-19. Stay for a whole week, and you only have to pay for four. There's a great deal for fall, too, when everyone wants to go to the Shore: Reserve by Aug. 15, and get the second night free for midweek stays in September in October, except Sept. 21-30 and Oct. 15-17.

Just look for the "Hot Deals'' button on resort web sites. For example, Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge in Grand Rapids has studio townhouses for $75 midweek, and the third night of lodging is free Aug. 24-29.

In Walker, the brand-new Trappers Landing Lodge on Leech Lake has lakeside lodge rooms for $79 midweek, $99 weekend. It offers free water-skiing and tubing every day, and people who stay a whole week in August get a free night, a half-day boat rental and a free weekend in November or December. At nearby Anderson's Northland Lodge, lake homes are half off Aug. 23-29.

If you've ever wanted to stay at Grand View Lodge in the Brainerd area, now's the time. A two-bedroom cabin for two — ordinarily $735 in summer! — is going for $445 for two adults and three children, including daily breakfast and dinner, Aug. 17-19 and Aug. 24-28. Go without the kids and the dinners and it's $199.

Wisconsin's entire Door County is a great place to go if you can travel midweek: Rates drop everywhere starting Aug. 17.

If you know a good resort, check its web site for deals. The Congress of Minnesota Resorts site lists resorts offering specials (use advanced search), and many lake areas — including Park Rapids, Bemidji and Brainerd in Minnesota and Hayward, Minocqua and Eagle River in Wisconsin — list Hot Deals right on their home pages.

Bed and breakfasts usually don't lower their rates, but some offer last-minute deals, and they always offer short stays. And many are on lakes. In Minnesota, I've stayed at and enjoyed swimming from Seagren's Pokegama Lodge in Grand Rapids, which has a sandy beach on Lake Pokegama and does offer late-season specials, 20 percent off regular rates. I've also stayed at and can recommend Duluth's Solglimt, right on the beach in Park Point; it offers last-minute specials.

I also can recommend the serene Inn at Maple Crossing on Maple Lake in northwestern Minnesota, and I just toured the Red Bridge Inn in Park Rapids, which has nice rooms and a lovely location on the Fish Hook River. Guests can paddle one of the inn's canoes across the placid river to the city beach and Fish Hook Lake.

In the central Minnesota town of Spicer, the Spicer Castle Inn is on big Green Lake. Near Fergus Falls in western  Minnesota, guests at Aloft in the Pines can swim off the dock in Pickerel Lake. Near Battle Lake, Xanadu Island B&B has a small beach on Elbow Lake.

Wisconsin has many B&Bs on water, and the inn association's Web site has an amenity search; check "on a lake or river'' and you'll get 60 names. I've stayed in and can recommend the Island View B&B near Bayfield, right on Lake Superior; Lakeside B&B on Fisher Lake in far northeast Wisconsin; the Inn at Pinewood B&B near Eagle River on private Carpenter Lake, which has a sandy beach; the Fo'c'sle Inn in Cornucopia on Lake Superior; the Pleasant View B&B on Lake Wissota in Chippewa Falls; and Sill's Lakeshore B&B on Lake Minocqua in Minocqua.

Last updated on August 11, 2008