Orr, MN
300 people. 430 miles from Madison, WI. 50 miles from the Canadian border.
You bet’cha.
Orr is a small town! Population 300. A few buildings, a hotel. Pelican Lake is the action in these parts, an 11,000 acre fishing lake with 53 islands scattered about.
(click all thumbnails below for more pictures)
Northland Lodge
Eileen’s cousin Lulu married into a family that has owned a quaint resort called Northland Lodge for at least two generations. This resort is about 10 miles from Orr itself, occupies a choice site on the south shore of Pelican Lake, and consists of 9 cabins, a house, the main lodge, and various out-buildings. The cabins are of two vintages. The oldest are pure log, the newer are yellow wooden frame, as is the lodge and the house. Dave and Nancy, Tim, Eileen, and Madeline got to stay in the house, a classic farm style.
The Pocrnic Cabin
Eileen’s uncle, Ed Pocrnic, is the younger brother of her mother. He lives in Silver Bay, a few hours to the east on the northern shore of Lake Superior. He owns a sweet cabin, recently remodeled, on property adjacent to Northland Lodge, and this was the site of the Pocrnic Family Reunion Party.
The small green building in this set of pictures is the Sauna.
Pocrnic Family Reunion – Sunday July 18, 2010
Attendees:
Ed Pocrnic – our host and Uncle of Eileen
Lulu Fry, Eileen’s first cousin, and owner of Northland Lodge.
Tony Vukelich, brother of Lulu, longtime Orr resident, and owner of just about everything else.
Steve Pocrnic – 1st child of Ed (wife Amber, Gary age 9, Noah age 7), soon to be relocating to Hawaii !
David Pocrnic – 2nd child of Ed (wife Amy, William age 3, Isaac 9 mo), from Proctor, MN.
Michael Pocrnic – 3rd child of Ed (wife Jesse, Abby age 6, Anna age 3), from Prior, MN.
Dave Pocrnic, 1st cousin of Ed, and wife Dorothy, from Hibbing.
John Pocrnic, 1st cousin of Ed, also of Hibbing.
Ed Lakatz, 1st cousin of Ed, and wife Helen, from Buhl, MN.
Annette (Jugovich) Spolarich, cousin to Ed on his mother’s side. From Eveleth, MN.
Matt Jugovich, brother of Annette. Famous for flying his seaplane to the last family reunion and taxying right up to the dock.
Matt’s daughter, Kerry, with husband Joe, and three grandkids in tow. From International Falls, MN.
Tim and Eileen Goode, with daughter Madeline (age 14) from Madison, WI. Eileen’s mother Mary is Uncle Ed’s older sister.
Dave and Nancy Goode, parents of Tim, from La Crosse, WI.
(click)
What Croatian get together is complete without some yummy Blood Sausage ?
Bucko Island
Later in the party, a flotilla consisting of Ed’s new pontoon boat, and Tony’s venerable power boat with its massive in-board 6, ventured out to an island in the lake to see Tony’s latest project, a beautiful log cabin in the later stages of development.
The Farm
Day after the party, a group of us headed by Lulu went for drive. Our first stop was the Pocrnic family farm. This is where Ed and Mary Pocrnic grew up.
Second stop, Vermillion River. Lulu wanted to hike around “Vermillion Falls”, an area where the entire river drops through a rock chute no more than 5′ across. It’s pretty wild. Skeeters were fierce all around there. We hit a restaurant in the area on the way out, which is where the flower pics were taken.
Sunsets
Apologies. Flowers . . . puppies . . . sunsets . . . all are hard to resist. For three evenings the skies over Pelican Lake were completely lit, unlike anything I’d ever seen, due to some unique weather blowing through. Cloud formations to the east and south added their own shows. These were taken on 3 separate nights.
Fishin’
Ed took Madeline and DaveG out fishing twice. Madeline caught one the first time out! These are shots from the various outings.
