![[Lake scene drawing]](http://images.midwestweekend.com/graphics/lake_scene.gif)
Last call for lake breaks
A Bemidji resort is one of best places to snatch a few more days of vacation.
© Beth Gauper
At Ruttger's, inexpensive lodge rooms face the resort's long sand beach on Lake Bemidji.
In the Upper Midwest, there's nothing better than a week at the lake.
Lazy afternoons on the beach, boat rides, marshmallow roasts, catching strings of sunnies — it's pure essence of summer.
But summer — or vacation, anyway — doesn't last long. And while there's nothing better than a week on a lake, a few days can be just as good.
After peak season ends in mid-August, many lake resorts drop their rates and allow stays of less than a week. At lakeside inns and B&Bs, it's easier to book rooms for last-minute getaways, and some offer specials.
The best late-summer escape I ever had was at Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge on Lake Bemidji. It was early August, but already the weekday deals had begun, so after dropping off my son at Concordia Language Villages, my husband and I went there for a mini-break.
Spread along the northwest shore of Lake Bemidji, Birchmont Lodge was started by a local logger in 1915. In the freewheeling 1920s, it catered to the carriage trade; guests came from Texas and Oklahoma and often brought chauffeurs and maids.
Today, the resort still has a feel of old-fashioned gentility, and its 1921 white-frame lodge still is the center of activity. After dinner in downtown Bemidji, we checked in, dropped our bags and borrowed tennis racquets and balls from the friendly young women at the desk.
We played on the resort courts until it was too dark to see, then walked along the tree-shaded beach, settling into chairs to
watch a fat orange moon rise across the lake. In the indoor pool complex, we sat in the hot tub and swam until it closed, then
went back to the beach. Returning to the lodge, we went upstairs to a room flooded with moonlight and slept with our big window
open to the lake breeze.
In the morning, we helped ourselves to waffles, yogurt, fresh-fruit salad and warm pecan and cinnamon rolls in the dining room. Our table was next to the picture windows that line the dining room, and we watched children playing in the deck pool.
On the beach, the sand felt warm between my toes, and I was tempted to stretch out with a good book. Instead, we rented
mountain bikes from the boathouse attendant and rode around the lake to Lake Bemidji State Park, passing its curved sand beach
on our way to the Paul Bunyan State Trail, which starts there.
The first seven miles of the paved trail wind down the east side of Lake Bemidji, crossing the Mississippi River as it leaves the lake and finally begins its journey south. Near the trestle bridge over the river, we watched loons bobbing in the rushes, and a deer let me get so close I thought it wanted a handout.
Back at Birchmont Lodge, things had picked up. Children were playing, adults were sunning on inflatable rafts, and waiters were serving drinks to people sitting under umbrellas by the pool.
Affordable fun
It nearly killed us to leave, but we had a meeting that night in the Twin Cities. We hadn't known how much we would like the well-run lodge and its low-key, comfortable atmosphere.
For our little break, we paid $54; a few years later, also midweek in August, I paid $49 for another perfect stay. Villas and cottages are more, and a good deal for larger parties, but we liked our lodge room; it was small and a little scuffed, but with such a pretty view of the lake from the picture window, who's looking at the room?
The rates for lodge rooms at Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge are the best value I've found in this region, hands down. Besides
breakfast, they include children's activities and use of tennis courts, indoor and outdoor pools, hot tub, kayaks and, of
course, the long beach on Lake Bemidji.
Rates to rent bikes and motorboats are very reasonable. And often, proprietor Randy Ruttger takes guests for a spin in his 1949
wooden Chris Craft boat.
Even the regular weekend rate is a steal. Ruttger says the lodge rooms often go begging because many people think they're too
small and because there's no elevator, though the lodge only has three stories.
Oh, well — their loss, my gain.
Trip Tips: Summer break in Bemidji
Lodge rooms at Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge in Bemidji are a good deal any time and include a big breakfast and all resort amenities and activities.
Run by the Ruttger family since 1937, it has an excellent location, between lovely Lake Bemidji State Park and downtown
Bemidji, with its restaurants and the professional Paul Bunyan Playhouse;
don't miss its excellent plays and musicals. There's a golf course just up the road.
Cottages are spread out along a long, sandy lakefront studded with trees, and there's one for every budget. Reserve at 888-788-8437.
For more, see Bemidji's behemoths
and Bicycling the Bunyan.
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