To Akra and Back

This is the Pembina County Courthouse in Cavalier

A pretty Icelandic church at the Icelandic State Park

Another Icelandic church near Akra

Well, the trip to Akra was a bust. It's not there, anymore. I was so disappointed. I really wanted to see the Akra Store and there's not a thing there that even indicates that there ever was an Akra Store. The spot where the store sat was overgrown with trees and bushes.

The house next door wasn't there, either. It was the Morrisons' house and it had a big screened in porch on the front. It sat back on the lot a bit. They also had a barn just down the road a bit. Not there. Not the house or the barn. Akra has been relegated to a faded but fond memory. Life goes on.

I remembered the road past the store wound down around the river where my friend Patty and I used to play Nancy Drew! We were sleuths and very good ones, too. That's funny considering that my some of my favorite books are crime novels. However, I can't read them late at night - ha! Some sleuth I'd make.

I spotted Auntie Hanneson's house. She wasn't my aunt but that's what everyone called her. She was very, very old and when we asked her (as kids do) she would tell us that she was as old as the hills. We believed her. She would walk along the road and pluck the sheeps' wool from the fences and then go home, card it and spin in into yarn...she'd knit hats and mittens and I don't know what all. Auntie Hanneson's house isn't nearly as picturesque as it was...it's been updated but not in a good way. Or maybe that's just my memory at work.

We left Akra. For good.

We drove West of there to the Icelandic State Park. We just zipped through so I could shoot these photos of the old Church plus the church across the road from the park. You can really see the influence of the Icelandic culture in the architecture. Stark but beautiful, I think.

Then we traveled five miles East to Cavalier. Not much has changed. A few neat old buildings have been replaced with more modern buildings. I don't consider that much of an improvement, truth be told.

The Pembina County Courthouse is still there in all it's glory, though. We drove down to the City Park which is still pretty. There were (and still are) very nice homes near the park. I recognized many houses even though lots of them have been updated.

The school, on the other hand, would not be a point of community pride. Boy, whoever designed the improvements to that school would win no awards for aesthetics! All the big beautiful old school house windows (not energy efficient I'm certain) are gone. Am I crazy or do I remember trees around the school. No, I do remember trees. They lined the front of the school. There was grass. Now there's a parking lot. All concrete. Not even any shrubbery.

Well, enough of that. I'm sounding ungrateful and I'm not. We really did have a great trip. It was fun traveling back in time and it made me ever more thankful for my life as it is, now, and for my family and friends.

Thank goodness for Lake Mary.